Key Tools for Social- and Environmental Performance, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Corporate responsibility provides the foundation for sustainable development. It is a complex sphere since there are several confusing initiatives intended to help companies incorporate sustainability. From an international perspective, the UN initiatives have had the most impact. I provide a short introduction to the history of key UN initiatives associated with environmental and social issues and how they relate to business and corporations. As the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have a key global framework for sustainable development, they will be discussed in detail with special attention to challenges and practical relevance for corporations. Well-known and widely applied initiatives to evaluate corporate performance like Fair Trade Certificate and ISO 14001; greenhouse and climate reporting initiatives, like the GHG Protocol, CDP, TCFD; sustainable reporting frameworks, like GRI and IIRC; and supply chain guidance and due diligence like the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and new laws on transparency, will be presented.

The Value of Planning: Views from Management Consultants

Professional planners working in the private sector intersect with a complex sphere of business interests. Management consultants have a growing influence in many organizations, including private sector planning firms. Using a mixed-method approach to examine the strategies and priorities of management consultants, I find that management consultants view the “value” of planning as opening the door to future contracts and selling firm services. This has implications for understanding how practitioners reconcile professional values (such as autonomy, neutrality, and protection of the public interest) with market imperatives, and for the profession as one driven by societal, rather than entrepreneurial goals.

Improving the efficiency and quality of carrying out certification in the agrarian and industrial complex sphere

One of key problems of improvement of system of standardization is the greatest possible application of the international (regional) standards for implementation (confirmation) of compliance of production, services to the established requirements. In this regard harmonization with the international standards of three interstate standards directed on increase of efficiency and quality of carrying out certification of works (services) in the agrarian and industrial complex sphere is carried out: GOST "Diesels tractor and kombaynovy. Delivery in repair and release from repair. Specifications"; GOST "Tractors agricultural. Delivery in repair and release from repair. Specifications"; GOST "Combines self-propelled grain-harvesting and their assembly units. Delivery in repair and release from repair. Specifications".

Concept and Essence of Individual Regulation of Property Relations

Property legal relations are a complex sphere, complex and capacious from the point of view of the specifics of the processes occurring in it, which are completely different both in terms of the status of subjects and in terms of legislative regulation. The purpose of this research is to define the concept and essence of individual regulation of property relations. To achieve this goal, it is necessary, first, to reveal the concept of «individual regulation» at the General theoretical level, and second, to consider the features of individual regulation of property relations in the field of Economics. The study used dialectical, logical, systematic, formal and legal methods. The conducted research allowed us to conclude that individual regulation, expressed in the relevant acts, allows us to take into account the specific situation and personal will of the subject, and is an important link in the mechanism of legal regulation of property relations.

Women Workers of St. Petersburg in the Late 19th — early 20th Centuries

The article is devoted to the analysis of the conditions of labor activity, as well as the peculiarities of family life and everyday life of women employed at the enterprises of the factory industry of St. Petersburg in the late 19th — early 20th centuries. At the present stage of development of Russia, there is still a high proportion of female labor in industry, which determines the relevance of the problem under study in order to take into account the historical experience in regulating the complex sphere of labor relations. The question of the main factors in the formation of the female labor force in St. Petersburg during the post-reform period is raised in the article. The industries in which female labor was most widely represented are identified. Issues related to the peculiarities of the professional activity of female workers (working conditions, level of wages, problems of social protection, etc.) are discussed in detail. The circumstances of private, personal life are analyzed, the influence of material factors in the life of workers on the family life is revealed. It is concluded that the contradictions between the new status of a woman, who is able to independently determine her own fate, and the preservation of her unequal position in society, led to the wide participation of women workers in the political life of St. Petersburg during the First World War and the 1917 revolution.

HOSPITALITY AS AN INDUSTRY

The tourist industry is developing at a fast pace, generally accepting and serving tourists, creating and offering a tourist product. It includes different sectors that cooperate, perform their specific functions (restaurant, hotel, event organization, etc.) aimed at one goal - demonstrating hospitality. Hospitality is an activity that, thanks to progress and time, has become a powerful industry that employs millions of professionals, creating the best for service users (tourists). The hotel industry includes different areas of human activity - tourism, recreation, entertainment, hotel and restaurant services, catering, sightseeing, organizing exhibitions and conducting various scientific conferences. This means meeting the needs of the guests and satisfying their needs, courtesy, guaranteeing the security and comfort during their stay. Hospitality is a fact when meeting the guest's needs with the attitude of the hosts, they go hand in hand. In this report I will try to justify hospitality as the most important consumer property of the tourist product to talk about turning it into an industry. The popularity of tourist accommodation sites is determined by many factors, but above all by the qualifications of the staff. Consequently, the phrase: "Personnel decides everything" is valid in the tourism business. Thus, the hospitality industry is a complex sphere of activity for employees who satisfy the wishes of tourists. The client is the most important factor in tourism activity and should be subject to excellent service. In the process of communication between tourists of different nationalities and staff, a number of business etiquette rules should be considered to save moments of inconvenience and misunderstanding. It is good to know the peculiarities of greeting, posture, distance, gestures in order to communicate effectively and avoid ambiguity in contact with foreigners. Good manners are those that will build an atmosphere of cooperation and understanding, not of hostility and conflict. The skills that make contacts with partners and clients can affect the tone and the results of the whole conversation, and hence the future relationships and their opinions about the company. Rule: The way you meet someone the first time can determine if there will be a second time as a customer.