Abstract
The academic literature reveals the need to undertake more in-depth field studies in order to discover the organisational culture, the difficulties and the perceptions surrounding CSR in SMEs. This study presents the results of analysis of four case studies on Catalan companies that stand out for their social and environmental practices. The conclusions of this paper are the result of dialogue with the main actors – four medium-sized companies – focusing on their actions, understandings and resistance with regard to CSR. The methodological perspective used was Grounded Theory, with the aim of the study being to contribute towards formalising CSR in SMEs, in their daily practices, by analysing some primary data. The results obtained show how difficult it is for SMEs to understand CSR, beyond the explanation of the specific practices carried out by the companies. They highlight the role played by the values of the founding director in the implementation of CSR programmes; they reveal that SMEs still have a long way to go towards learning how to inform both internal and external stakeholders of their best practices, and; finally, they show the interesting links that SMEs establish between responsible practices, improved competitiveness and economic results. Finally, the text points out the implications that the results of this analysis may have on creating ways of promoting CSR in SMEs. We believe that, in light of the opinions expressed by the companies, public organisations should try to concentrate on creating a favourable framework for responsible competitiveness, as a way to deal with CSR when addressing SMEs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chamber of Commerce of Bilbao: (s.d.), ‘Responsabilidad Social Corporativa de las Empresas’ [‘Corporate Social Responsibility in Business’]. http://www.camarabilbao.com/campag/2062_RSC.pdf (Web Access: April, 2006)
Conill, J., A. Ariño, D. García-Marzá, E. Garrido, E.␣González, M. Llofríu and C. Soriano: 2000, ‘La dimensión ética de la cultura empresarial en la Comunidad Valenciana’ [‘The Ethical Dimension of Corporate Culture in the Regional Community of Valencia]. éTNOR – Economía 3
Deusto University: (s.d.), ‘Responsabilidad social en las Pymes de Bizkaia’ [‘Social responsibility in SMEs in Biscay’]
Enderle G. (2004) ‘Global Competition and Corporate Responsibilities of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises’. Business Ethics: A European Review. 13(1): 51–63
European Commission (2001) Promoting a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility – Green Paper. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. COM (2001) 366, Luxembourg
European Commission (2002) Communication from the Commission Concerning Corporate Social Responsibility: A Business Contribution to Sustainable Development. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities COM (2002) 347, Luxembourg
European Multistakeholder Forum: 2004, Report of the␣Round Table on ‘Fostering CSR among SMEs’, 03/05/04
Glaser B., Strauss A. L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Aldine De Gruyter, Chicago
Granovetter M. (1985) ‘Economic Action, Social Structure, and Embeddedness’. American Journal of Sociology. 91(3): 481–510
Granovetter M. (2000) ‘The Economic Sociology of Firms and Entrepreneurs’. In: Swedberg R. (ed.), Entrepreneurship: The Social Science View. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 244–275
Holliday R. (1995) Investigating Small Firms Nice. Work? Routledge, London and New York
Lee A. S. (1989) ‘A scientific methodology for MIS case studies’. MIS Quarterly 13(1): 33–50
Lozano, J. M.: 2005, ‘Ética o responsabilidad social de la empresa: ¿ Es esta la cuestión?’ [‘Ethics or corporate social responsibility: Is that the question?’] La Vanguardia 09/01/2005
Moore G., Robson A. (2002) ‘The UK Supermarket Industry: An Analysis of Corporate Social and Financial Performance’. Business Ethics: A European Review 11(1): 25–39
Morimoto R., Ash J., Hope C. (2005) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Audit: From Theory to Practice’. Journal of Business Ethics 62(4): 315–325
Murillo D., Lonzano J. M. (eds), (2006) RSE y Pymes: Una apuesta por la excelencia empresarial [CSR and SMEs: A commitment to corporate excellence]. ESADE, Barcelona
Observatory of European SMEs (2002) European SMEs and Social and Environmental Responsibility. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg
Peloza J., Hassay D. (2006) ‘Intra-organizational Volunteerism: Good Soldiers, Good Deeds and Good Politics SMEs, Social Capital and the Common Good’. Journal of Business Ethics 64(4): 357–379
PIMEC (2004) Anuari de la PIME Catalana [Directory of Catalan SMEs]. PIMEC, Barcelona
Quinn J. (1997) ‘Personal Ethics and Business Ethics: The Ethical Attitudes of Owner/Managers of Small Business’. Journal of Business Ethics 16(2): 119–127
Spence L. (1999) ‘Does Size Matter? The State of the Art in Small Business Ethics’. Business Ethics A European Review 8(9): 163–172
Spence, L.: 2000, ‘Towards a Human Centred Organisation: The Case of The Small Firms’. Paper presented at the 3rd Conference on Ethics in Contemporary Human Resources Management, Imperial College, London, 7 January
Spence L., Lozano J. F. (2000) ‘Communicating about Ethics with Small Firms: Experiences from the UK and Spain’. Journal of Business Ethics 27(1): 43–53
Spence L., Rutherfoord R. (2003) ‘Small Business and Empirical Perspectives in Business Ethics. Editorial. Journal of Business Ethics 47(1): 1
Spence L., Schmidpeter R., Habisch A. (2003) ‘Assessing Social Capital: Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Germany and the UK’. Journal of Business Ethics 47(1): 17–29
Stern, P. N.: 1995, ‘Grounded Theory Methodology: Its Uses and Processes’, in Glaser, Barney G. (ed.), Grounded Theory 1984–1994 (Sociology Press 2), pp.␣29–39
Thompson J., Smith H. (1991) ‘Social Responsibility and Small Business: Suggestions for Research’. Journal of Small Business Management 29(1): 30–45
Trevino L. K. (1986) ‘Ethical Decision Making in Organisations’. Academy of Management Review 11(3): 601–617
Vyakarnam S., Bailey A., Myers A., Burnett D. (1997) ‘Towards an Understanding of Ethical Behaviour in Small Firms’. Journal of Business Ethics 16(15): 1625–1636
Zadek S., Raynard P., Oliveira C., Nascimento E., Tello R. (2005) Responsible competitiveness. Reshaping Global Markets through responsible business practices. Accountability, London
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
David Murillo is a Researcher at the Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES), ESADE Business School, Universitat Ramon Llull and Academic Assistant at the same institution. He is the current coordinator of the SMEs and CSR research field at IPES. He holds a degree in Business Administration, a degree in Human Studies and a diploma in Sociology. He is currently pursuing his PhD in SME CSR.
Josep M. Lozano is currently a Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at ESADE, Universitat Ramon Llull and Director of the school’s Institute for the Individual, Corporations and Society (IPES). Co-founder of Ética, Economía y Dirección (Spanish branch of the European Business Ethics Network), member of the international Editorial Board of ‘Ethical Perspectives’ and member of the Business Ethics Inter-faculty group of the Community of European Management Schools (CEMS). He has been a highly commended runner-up in the European division of the Beyond Grey Pinstripes Faculty Pioneer Award. Author of Ethics and Organizations. Understanding Business Ethics as a Learning Process. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Murillo, D., Lozano, J.M. SMEs and CSR: An Approach to CSR in their Own Words. J Bus Ethics 67, 227–240 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9181-7
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9181-7