What is Corporate Social Responsibility? - InnoTrain CSR

� Medium-sized enterprises: 50 – 249 persons employed
Companies with 250 and more persons employed are large enterprises. The average
European business provides employment for 4 persons, including the owner.
Altogether, SMEs in the EU provide around two-thirds of all employment.
The Observatory of European SMEs by the European Commission found already in
2002 that around half of European SMEs have been engaged in some form of
socially responsible activity in favour of their local community. These activities range
from donations for charitable causes or sponsorships for sports and cultural activities,
to employee volunteering or partnerships with non-profit-organisations. Also today,
many of these activities are not carried out in a strategic way. They miss a relation
with the company’s core business and its communication. Nevertheless, SMEs have
always been very close to what we call today “CSR”. Through their typically local
anchoring, they are well placed to make a strong contribution to socio-economic
development at a local level and act as responsible members of a community.
In 2005, the European Commission has established the “European Expert Group on
CSR and SMEs”. The group that comprises experts appointed by EU member states
has summarized facts and developed solutions on CSR from a SME perspective.
Some of the key messages of the expert group are:
� CSR is not a new concept for SMEs in the European Union. What is new is the
growing attention given to CSR by policy-makers, consumers, trade unions
and non-governmental-organisations. Those actors should give more
recognition to what SMEs already do in CSR. SMEs realize CSR mostly less
formal and more intuitive than larger enterprises. But this fact does not make it
less valuable.
� CSR can bring strategic advantages to SMEs. CSR is not a short-cut to
business success, but a strategic investment that can pay off in the longer
term. By managing CSR in SMEs in a more strategic and conscious manner,
enterprises can better reap economic advantages. At the end of the day, CSR
is about continuous improvement and quality management and should be
seen by SMEs as part of the modern model of business excellence.
� Personal and ethical values are important. A common finding within most
countries of the EU is that the personal and ethical values of SME owners,
managers and employees are a strong motivation to pay more attention to
social and environmental issues. Support for CSR in SMEs should seek to
build on and respond to these value-based motivations, not to replace or
ignore them.
As SMEs usually identify themselves closely with the region or town where they are
located, CSR issues of concern will probably be local and regional in nature. The
positive impact of having a greater uptake of CSR in SMEs can best be felt – whether
The project "InnoTrain CSR" is organized by GILDE GmbH and has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 12/2010
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InnoTrain CSR
www.csr-training.eu