El propósito del presente documento es la elaboración de un análisis de la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa de la Cámara de Comercio de Dosquebradas, para describir y estudiar cómo esta empresa ofrece educación, la tecnología, promueve el cuidado del medio ambiente y el desarrollo de la vivienda.

1. DOSQUEBRADAS’S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE A VIEW TO CORPORATE
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
SEBASTIAN BETANCUR
SEBASTIAN VILLADA
JULIANA GARCIA
DIANA TAPIAS
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF PEREIRA
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
PEREIRA, 2012

2. DOSQUEBRADAS’S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE A VIEW TO CORPORATE
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
I. INTRODUCTION
In the globalized economy of the present day, it is not only important to gain major
profits and monetary benefits, but it is also very significant to contribute to the society
and to the environment. In this new era, the gaps are bigger, this means that the richer
are richest and the poor are poorest, this is why the companies have to give their share
to the community and try to reduce the breach of the society. This new form of
contribution is known as corporate social responsibility, according to Stanwick and
Stanwick, (2009) can be defined as the obligation that companies have to develop and
implement courses of action that aid social issues that impact society.
The purpose of this present document is to elaborate an analysis of a Corporate Social
Responsibility of the Dosquebradas’s Chamber of commerce, to describe and study
how this company provides education, technology, promotes environmental care and
housing development. First it is mainly important to provide a short history of this
company and know general aspects to further on introduce the readers to the analysis
of the social contribution to this company mainly to Dosquebradas and the
surroundings.
I. OBJECTIVES
General objetive
Analyze the importance of corporate social responsibility of the Chamber of Commerce
of Dosquebrada's and evaluate their macro-economic, socio-cultural and political
variables.

3. Specific Objectives
 Evaluate the actions and programs of the Chamber of Commerce of
Dosquebrada’s.
 Analyze the internal and external politics of the Chamber of Commerce of
Dosquebradas.
 Review internal issues related to business ethics and triple Performance
Indicators (GRI).
II. COMPANY DESCRIPTION
The Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas was founded on April 23 1990, by
decree 874 of the ministry of economic development on initiative of the private sector
with the aim to strengthen the small, medium and great company by means of the
creation of Industrial Development programs and works with national and international
entities.
Later to this process of installation of the Chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas it has
had a whole of four managerial meetings with a whole of 44 members that have
represented such sectors as the wood, metal, food, distributors, confections and
textile, plastic, trade to retail, department stores, construction.
The mission of The Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas is a nonprofit
organization that seeks to represent the different companies and the community in
general in the satisfaction of its principal needs inside jurisdiction and those that
require it.
By the other hand, the vision of the Chamber of Commerce is to be leaders in the
social, cultural and economic development of our region satisfying the different needs
of the companies, supporting the operation and construction of new organizations, in

4. successful form, which one result is the generation of employment and a harmonic life
for its habitants and a city with conditions ideal to live together.
a) Political variable
The chamber of commerce of Dosquebradas has both national and local policies which
implement in order to promote and govern every step it makes, in the competitive field,
strategic; such as strategic plan of the Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas,
commission and regional competitiveness plan.
a) Legal variable
In the Colombian Commercial Code in Title 4 from Article 78 to 97 deals with provisions
to be met by chambers of commerce in Colombia and which should govern its functions,
affiliations with international institutions, among others (Colombia’s Commerce code,
1971). Moreover, there is a regulation which makes up the laws, decrees, and unique
circular that governing each step that makes a chamber of commerce of Dosquebradas,
following you will see it (Camado, 2012):
• Decree 622 of 2000 - jurisdiction of the chambers of commerce.
• Unique circular
• Law 1429 of 2010 - formalization and employment generation
• Rates year 2012
• Decree 4463 of 2006 regulations for the establishment of new companies.

5. b) Socio-cultural variable
Social Action Camera "SAC” is a transversal program and social responsibility of the
productive sector, which seeks to impact the different levels of society and its needs,
strengthening public-private synergy in the municipality, department and region, through
the Culture, Recreation and the environment; culture projects and recreation such as
music the poem and the coffee and the bambuco municipal contest message are made
at the chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas, and for the environment the project
planting for life which is done as long as people buy a tree for a special date like
marriages, baptisim and birthdays.
c) Environmental variable
The chamber of commerce of Dosquebradas has a program for the environment that
calls planting for life, it consists in make activities that are aimed at selling the seed
certified for life. Planting activities are carried out which are the advice and guidance of
the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Risaralda. It has sold 8 trees have been
planted and 10 which are located in the village of Santana High (Strategic Plan
Chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas, 2011).
III. DEFINITION OF SERVICE
The Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas offers to the community in general, the
services of registration and enrollment to all economic entities established in the
municipality, likewise it allows the entities already established to disintegrate legally by
meeting the requirements to the government and controlling entities. By the other hand,
the Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas offers a variety of services providing
assistance to the entrepreneurs to the public in general of the region, from legal advice
to meeting rooms for social events.

6. The services offered by the Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas are specifically
technical assistance to all entrepreneurs of the region, It also has become an obligation
to regulate trade in the region not only statistical purpose, but informative, so that the
users can have references from those companies incorporated in the municipality and
as such ultimately those unfold in the specific sectors of the economy and its impact on
business dynamics.
By the other hand the chamber of commerce of Dosquebradas, through this strategic
line is encouraged and contributes to entrepreneurial formalization according to legal
regulations in force in each of the components: tax statute, trade registration, legal
consulting and mediation center and affiliates.
In the area of trade register are carried out a series of procedures that complement the
rationale of this area, such as: enrollment, renewals, mutations, registration, labeling,
stamping, inscriptions and registration of books, scanning, archiving and storage,
considered one of the most important, it has implied the responsibility that have the
officials on the documentation that enter daily. The annual reports, semiannual and
monthly and statistics contribute to accomplish the quality objectives proposed for the
area. Carrying out the activities set forth in the quality plan, procedures RUE
(responsible-receiving), fingering and quality control of the constitutions of commercial
companies and nonprofit entities, and transverse to the above activities on their
participation in nature almost mandatory legal advice runs the personal assistance
activities, telephone and in some virtual cases, all merchants that require it in addition of
those that their form and contents fully comply with the standards established by the
law for this faith the law.
 CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION CENTER: The Center for Conciliation of
the Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas to date has a total of 41 facilitators
registered and endorsed by the Ministry of Interior and Justice, all qualified
lawyers and suitable to celebrate the conciliation hearings for which they are
appointed, have been held so far this year 40 conciliation hearings, leaving as a

7. result 15 in agreement and 25 failed. Among the activities that have been made
in 2010 can be emphasized two free workshops that by law we make, these were
held in June and September 2010, in addition to the academic seminar update
for registered conciliators the center and trial lawyers interested in benefiting
from the issues raised in this, given by experts.
 LEGAL CONSULTING: Given that this area is transversal to the procedures
performed in trade register, it is necessary to establish that some of the
consulting offered are before the documents that the traders will subscribe, some
of them allowing to correct the errors in the form or bottom of this, based on the
above, it may reveal a total of 641 documents reviewed and recorded in
compliance with current legislation.
With the services offered, the chamber of commerce aims to streamline and control the
creation and registration of companies in the region so that the paperwork required for
this is concentrated in this entity, obtaining the information necessary to maintain
accounting records, statistics and make the corresponding analysis.
The Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas, as a private organization with public
functions assigned by the state, has the power and the ability to offer the main object of
the entity, the commercial register of companies in Dosquebradas, where as the
Registrar, but with economic entities, is responsible for registering all entities constituted
and when these disintegrate they have to register the disappearance. This is the main
service offered by the Chamber of Commerce.
Last but not least, the project area Chamber of Commerce is to promote and conduct
initiatives for the community, including sectors of municipal economy which seek to give
sustainable development for Dosquebradas.

8. IV. COMPETITION
The chambers of commerce in the national level are private and nonprofit organizations,
focused on the same objectives, for this reason, it’s difficult to say that the Chamber of
commerce of Pereira could be a competition for the Chamber of commerce of
Dosquebradas, however; some of the different services that this entity offers are the
same than offer the other one, for this reason there is a grade of competition.
According to the municipal jurisdictions the people who resides in the area of
jurisdiction, can only register as natural and legal persons in the chamber of commerce
that belongs to their municipality. Thereby, Dosquebrada’s chamber of commerce can
only register the natural and legal person of the municipality, in this case
Dosquebradas. By the other hand, the services in corporate training that offer the
Pereira’s chamber of commerce are the direct competition for the Dosquebradas’s
chamber, because could decreases the public or the market for the local chamber of
commerce.
This means that the chambers of commerce represent competition with each other,
regardless they only have a specific area of action; but the other services are offered for
all the public that would go. However they complement each other thru capacitating the
community, employees, and clients, among others, directed to any person residing in
the department or the nation, who is interested in the conference.
IV. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
a. Principles
This chamber of commerce is based on the following principles:

9.  Teamwork and the solution of problems are the basis of the success of the entity.
The quality of our services is our constant concern.
 Education, training and training of our staff are the foundation of human resource
development.
 The constant search for mutually beneficial relationships with our customers and
community.
 Strict compliance with the provisions established by the state and control entities.
b. Code of ethics
The code of ethics of the Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas (according to the
attendant woman of human management, Juliana Marin), is fully structured and which
only need to be approved by the board of directors. In this code there are relevant
topics such as: how should be the behaviors of all employees from the organization and
the organization to the employees, how they should be the dismissal and the
permissions of the staff, among others.
c. Board of directors composition
The board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas 2010-2012 is
formed by the same entrepreneurs, government representatives, auditor and advisory
committee
d. Quality policy
The Chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas Quality Policy is to provide services that
satisfy the requirements established highly by their customers. Also, the Chamber of
commerce is committed to this policy, to comply with requirements and continually
improve the effectiveness of the System of Quality Management implemented in the
state.

10. V. STAKEHOLDERS
a. Community
Through the programs carried out by the Chamber of Commerce, the purpose is to
strengthen the weaknesses of the community to improve the economic and business of
the municipality. Thus, training programs created for the certification of certain sectors
of the economy takes care of training people to contribute to the community in an
academic sense or technical training, which in one way or another promote business
development and with this the municipality's economy.
On the other side and with a focus purely social, the chamber of trade has programs
through which improves the quality of life of the community in a specific age and
somewhat vulnerable in the municipality. The contribution made by the chamber of
commerce, goes beyond the economic to the management of resources to finance part
of the social activities carried out by this entity, thus social programs focus on improving
the life of the community are divided into different programs with different forms of
financing which together are part of corporate social responsibility of the Chamber of
Commerce.
Within the programs of outreach to the community include:
 The night of music, the poem and the red (Dancing, singing, music, poetry,
theater, painting)
 Corporate Gala Night
 Support for social and civic committees
 Safety parking
Also, using the corporate responsibility program develops different activities within
which are:
 Breast cancer Campaign: is being developed to support a group of women who
are at high risk of developing this disease, which have an order of mammography

11. over 2 years and that for economic reasons have failed that examination
performed. It is supported by the Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas,
Santa Monica Hospital, Venus Foundation and Mrs. Margarita Medina, consists
in raise money to make the ladies Mammography through a bond that has a
value of $ 20,000.
 Bank of Time: the consultants and trainers hired by the agency is asked to
donate two hours per month of their time to advise and train a select group of
business people and students on topics of general interest (Strategic Plan
Chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas, 2011).
 Plastic covers in exchange for smiles campaign: This project has been
developed to help children with cancer, and to support the SANAR Foundation
which is located in San Jorge Hospital, the campaign consist in recollecting
plastic covers and sell them for 1000 pesos to support the children economically,
providing grants for transportation and food for those children that have low
resources to assist to their chemotherapy and radiotherapy appointments. The
aim is to sensitize the students, community and companies, and to link them in
the campaign.
b. Environment
As social programs carried out by the chamber of commerce, this has like all entities
engaged in economic activities today, a commitment to the environment, which must be
covered by any of the programs carried out by this, so the Chamber of Commerce
seeks to contribute to local reforestation through the planting of trees rather than legal
sense of environmental awareness and aims to finance other social action programs,
compliance with environmental commitment.

12. c. Employees
Like its outreach to the community, the Chamber of Commerce works for the welfare of
their employees seeking the improvement of the quality of work and this condition
survey, thereby the chamber evaluates the performance of workers to detect the failures
and strengthen the competencies of each to optimize their job performance through
internal training to employees.
For the chamber of commerce is primary a good working environment, since it is clear
that better work environment becomes more enjoyable and more productive, this is how
the tests are done to detect any problems that may damage the harmony among
employees. Similarly, the coexistence between employees promote good working
conditions making these more compact equipment, working in a better way, so this is
why the "novena" is planned as a team in December, also around the year there are
celebrations held on particular dates in the year, it has a employee of the Month and
more.
The legal working conditions for employees are met to perfection, as provided in the
quality plan, thereby, the Chamber has education grants to employees who has been
part of the company for longer than one year, also theres an encourage to the
employees to enter their severance into the National Savings Fund to gain access to
housing loans and to achieve grants from the compensation funds such as Comfamiliar.
d. Suppliers
The Chamber of Commerce, as a private entity with state delegated functions has no
providers as it’s an entity that provide services, those who in one way or another could
be considered providers of the Chamber of Commerce are those skilled that are
contracted to provide chat, conference or training specific to the particular audience.

13. Thus the ratio of the Chamber of Commerce is through contracts for services which are
organized under the laws in force and with the guarantees given.
e. Government
The relationship between the chamber of commerce and government is quite narrow,
the registration function of the chamber of commerce is precisely where delegated by
the government that should be in control, accounting, and statistics for all economic
entities are formed in the municipality in accordance with government requirements.
Thus the Chamber of Commerce meets the government to perform the functions
delegated, on the other hand, it helps with tracking and collection of tax through the
information provided, likewise promotes a government together with development
economic and business dynamics.
f. Share holders
As a private entity, the Chamber of Commerce should have few shareholders or owners
to whom or accountable to show results, but in the case of chambers of commerce
nationwide, these are non-profit, so it will only get income to carry out the projects set
out and cover the payroll of its employees. However, as close to the share holders
found in the Chamber of Commerce is the board, which is responsible for ensuring
compliance with the targets set for the entity and its internal functioning.
VI. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
a. Education
The Dosquebradas’s chamber of commerce, aims to develop education to the
community thru assessment, chats and conferences provided to a specific audience
depending on the topic of the conference. There are some of these seminars that are
free and any person interested in the topic can access to it and receive a certification,

14. however there are others that have costs because they require hiring professional
personal that can extend their knowledge to the entrepreneurs and people assisting to
it.
b. Housing development
The chamber of commerce of Dosquebradas, doesn’t have a program that aims
housing development, however as we mentioned before they encourage their
employees to record their severance in the National Saving Fund to receive benefits
and grants, to acquire their own house.
c. Science and technology
The chamber of commerce has a Chamber of Technological Action which, according to
their website, it has a structural strengthening program in advanced technologies in the
productive sector, powered through and Micro-cluster Metalworking Cluster Robotics
and Automation sector companies, with a range of:
 Development technology solutions
 Technology training
 Business participation national and international
Through this strategic objective seeks to incorporate science, technology, innovation
and technological development in the business, contributing to the reduction of
technological breakthroughs of the companies for the competitiveness and productivity.
To this end, develop different actions: identification and formulation technology
development and innovation, technological monitoring, development of technology
solutions, technology training and consulting relevant intellectual property.
d. Donations
The chamber of commerce of Dosquebradas, has its own Chamber for social action
“CAS” which aims to impact different sectors of the society and their needs. In this

15. development program, as it has been already mentioned, the main campaigns and
activities they develop are for the community (such as Breast cancer Campaign - Bank
of Time - Plastic covers in exchange for smiles) and the environment (such as seed for
life program). With these projects they also seek to link students, community and
entrepreneurs to be interested in the social matters, but also to collaborate however
they can so that the social development can be sustainable.
VII. TRIPLE RESULT INDICATORS (GRI)
Financial indicators
ENTERPRISE CLASIFICATION
At 30 of July of 2011, there were 6.894 enterprise
Micro 95,07%
Small 3,81%
Middle 0,87%
Large 0,25%
COMPOSITION BY ECONOMIC
Retail and wholesale commerce 56,16%
Manufacturing Industry 18,14%
Other activities and community, social and personal services 9,64%
Restaurants and hotels 9,38%
Transport, storage and communication 6,68%
CLASIFICATION OF THE ECONOMIC SECTOR BY INVERSION LEVEL
Manufacturing Industry 48,88%
Retail and wholesale commerce 41,49%
Other activities and community, social and personal services 4,75%
Transport, storage and communication 4,19%
Other sectors 0,68%
Source: V statistic newsletter of Dosquebradas

16. The chamber of commerce of Dosquebradas’s registered a total of 6.894 enterprises in
the first semester of 2011. This classification shows that the commercial sector is
composed mainly of micro enterprises with 95,07 percent, this compared to the minority
of the large enterprises in Dosquebradas’s which has a percentage of 0,25. Also, the
most important economic sector is the retail and wholesale commerce, which has a
participation in the economy of 56,16% and the transport, storage and communication
has a 6,68% of participation, however the manufacturing sector has the major
percentage in inversion.
This financial indicators lead to conclude that the major enterprises in continue develop
and creation registered in the municipality of Dosquebradas are the micro-enterprises.
Regarding the social and environmental participation, there are no rubles within the
financial indicators or indicators that can show the results and the contributions for
social responsibility.

17. CONCLUSION
The Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas was created with the goal to strengthen
the enterprises through the creation of industrial development programs and collective
work with national and international entities, also satisfies the main requirements into
the jurisdiction to develop and promote the functions the state delegates. Is a leader
in social, cultural and economic development of our region, satisfying
the different needs of the enterprises, creating employment generation and a city
with ideal living conditions.
The Chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas provides specific technical assistance to
all employers in the region and become an obligation to regulate trade in
the region, with the employments in specific sectors of the economy and
its impact business dynamics. To finalize, the Chamber of Commerce of
Dosquebradas promotes and carries out initiatives to seek sustainable
development in Dosquebradas in political, social and cultural development. And despite
the fact that the Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas was founded 22 years ago,
and it has still subjects that can improve.
The main recommendations to the Chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas against
corporate social responsibility project are:
 The code of ethics should be established almost from it own creation -in 1990 - it
is an essential tool for development and function of the entrepreneurial activities
of the camera, and more to base the behavior of the personal who work there.
 The Chamber of Commerce of Dosquebradas should specify wich percentage of
money are aimed to the projects of social responsibility, discriminating them in
social indicators and environment which this camera lack.

18. REFERENCES
 Stanwick, P., and Stanwick, S. 2009. Understanding Business Ethics. Pearson
Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.
 Strategic Plan Chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas. Extracted March 23, 2012
from the website:
http://www.camado.org.co/prueba2008/archivos/plan_estrategico.pdf
 Chamber of Commerce Dosquebradas. Extracted March 23, 2012 from the
website: http://camado.org.co/mute/page/?page_id=1074
 Colombia’s commerce code. Extracted March 23, 2012 from the website:
http://www.secretariasenado.gov.co/senado/basedoc/codigo/codigo_comercio_pr
002.html#91