For us, a recognizable player of the Ukrainian woodworking industry, following the governmental regulations is not enough. We are looking far beyond and want to provide future generations with only better standards of the human being. Therefore, we decided to conduct and follow the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

To find the best fit of our business model and possible CSR initiatives, the Triple Bottom Line concept (TBL, also known as three pillars or 3Ps concept) was applied. According to this theory, a firm should take responsibility for three aspects of CSR, to be more precise, People, Planet and Profit. All these dimensions of CSR are closely related and, therefore, only an enterprise that cares about all of them can be named sustainable.

The Profit aspect of TBL is also known as the aspect of economic responsibility. Profit generation is the main objective of any business as it provides a company with a possibility to develop. However, the economic aspect of CSR is not only related to making a profit. The most important challenge is how to use it well. Consequently, this aspect includes three sub-categories, such as the multiplier effect, taxes and avoiding actions that damage trust.

According to the multiplier effect concept, the higher the financial performance of an enterprise, the higher the salaries which people spend on goods and taxes. This is how it works on our factory, to be more precise, the higher the output, the higher the salaries. From a company’s side, larger profits allow investing more in the development and socially responsible initiatives. The second sub-category is contribution because of taxes. The bigger the profit, the more taxes received by the state which could be spent on people, healthcare, education, and so on. Taking into account that our entity is one of the biggest in the sub-region, we play a strategic role in our local community. Lastly, when the reputation is shattered, it is extremely difficult to recover it. Therefore, we have never ever participated in bribery, corruption, illegal wood harvesting, etc.

People are the main driver of any company. It is obvious and has been proven for a significant number of times. The People aspect of TBL refers to social responsibility. It consists of three smaller categories, to be more precise, the responsibility towards customers, towards employees and towards the community.

Firstly, consumers should trust a company they are buying from. To achieve that, we promote open and honest communication with our partners. We speak English on a professional level, so it would be easy to understand each other face-to-face, via email, phone or video call. Moreover, our partners are always welcome to visit our production facilities to assure in our capabilities. No less important, we are always grateful for the opportunity to visit our customers’ production facilities or warehouses to better understand their needs. When it is production turn, we follow simple but, at the same time, complex principle, precisely, customers have to receive what they need in the agreed timeframes and place. Secondly, employees should benefit from CSR activities their firms implement. Workers of the Malyn furniture factory are key stakeholders who personally contribute to the success of the enterprise. We believe that CSR activities addressed to the human resource can increase their intrinsic motivation. For that reason, we improve the working conditions of our employees day-by-day and provide them with the possibilities of self-realization. Moreover, we implemented the KAIZEN concept (also known as the approach of continuous improvements), so every worker has an opportunity to contribute to the development of operational or, even, strategical activities within an existing technological flow. Thirdly, the last sub-category of the People aspect is the responsibility towards the community. Malyn furniture factory contributes to the conditions’ improvements of local hospital and schools.

The Planet aspect of TBL is also called environmental responsibility and can be divided into two sub-categories, specifically, the environmental impact and win-win of environmental responsibility. Taking into account that our company operates in the nature resource-based industry, the implementation of CSR initiatives directed to positively contribute to the environment is essential.

Starting from the first sub-category of the Planet aspect, namely, the environmental impact, there is a lot of information to disclose. First of all, we promote responsible forest management. Therefore, we are FSC certified since 2018. All round timber we use in our products is supplied by the state forestries only. It guarantees that the logs are harvested according to The European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR). Additionally, we always help state forestries to conduct environmental harvesting in order to keep the forests clean. The second sub-category of the Planet aspect is the win-win of environmental responsibility. This sub-category includes activities in which both parties benefit. For that reason, the Malyn furniture factory substantially invested in the research and development of technologies of efficient usage of resources. Consequently, we were able to become the closed-cycle wood processor, meaning that our technological processes cover all the activities from primary wood processing to the end-product manufacturing and waste recycling. Waste recycling means biofuel production, namely, pellets from the waste materials that were generated during the main production processes. The waste materials that are not even suitable for pellets manufacturing are used as fuel for heating and drying needs (instead of the gas that produces much more carbon dioxide while burning). As a result, we achieved raw materials utilization of almost 100%.