Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Discussion Paper

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Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Discussion Paper June 2005

Contents
1. Introduction
2. SMEs and sustainable development
3. SMEs and Corporate Social Responsibility
3.1. Existing approaches to CSR and SMEs
3.2. Creating a business case for CSR among SMEs
4. Bringing the two agendas together: Future lines of enquiry
4.1. Bottom of the Pyramid
4.2. Clusters and linkages
4.3. Bringing CSR into business support services and institutions
5. Conclusion: Bringing SMEs to the heart of the CSR agenda
Bibliography

1. Introduction From an individual street hawker to a complex multinational enterprise, every business entity has its stakeholders and its impacts on society, both positive and negative. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), broadly defined as the overall contribution of a business to sustainable development (SD), should therefore be equally valid for large and small enterprises. But when CSR is discussed in policy circles, academia, the media, and wider civil society, the focus tends to be on the largest companies. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often overlooked. Some related policy debates, however, ...