Recommended actions to foster the adoption of Corporate Social ...

environment and ties with the community. Since2006, CEMEFI has awarded the ESR mark to 125enterprises. Moreover, CEMEFI organizes an eventto recognize the best CSR activities every year 98 .Business elite Carlos Slim Helú, recognizing thepotential social unrest, led the Chapultepec Accord(National Agreement for Unity, the State of Law,Development, Investment and Employment) tounite all sectors of society, including public, private,and civil sectors, to define the current challengesand a strategic response. The accord was signed onSeptember 29, 2005 when a group of leadingMexican entrepreneurs convened with Slim inChapultepec Castle to discuss the needs of thecountry's business community and the ways inwhich those needs coincided with the needs of thenation. The result was a brief document calling for:a private-public partnership in support of the rule oflaw, public security, greater private investment,accelerated economic growth, greater employment,and the development of the country's physical aswell as social capital, including health, educationand housing. The pact was at once a statement thatprofitable private investment must be the drivingforce of economic growth and a recognition thatsuch growth has to be embedded in a legitimatesocial order, one thought of as “just,” in which asignificant percentage of the population has theirbasic needs satisfied. This accord has receivedbroad-based support and is a significant example ofthe growing role of the private sector in addressingsocial inequities.3.2 WorkplaceIn Mexico, the workplace area is not perceived asvaluable by SMEs. They think that workplaceissues, such as health and safety norms,employment policies, equal opportunities andcompliance may affect the overall Mexicansustainable development, but not the profitability ofSMEs. However, in the research on CSR in LatinAmerican SMEs (Vives, Corral and Isusi, 2005) andaccording to the panel, Mexican SMEs show stronginterest on the workplace area, where they developmost of their CSR activities and have positive,strong relationships. 99Panelists and experts claim that labor regulationsexists but are not often implemented, because SMEsare driven by short-term profits. Therefore, CSRworkplace actions can be determined by a focus onsustainability and workplace equity rather than bytheir capacity to enhance SME development.However, since globalization requirescompetitiveness, and this requires productivity incontinual progress, Cardoso Brum (2003)demonstrates that even in the Mexican case it is notpossible to obtain the latter without the workers’loyalty to the enterprise, something that isaccomplished when they are able to fulfill theirwelfare needs. The social situation is, thus, aconsequence of economic development and, at thesame time, a requirement for it. This appears to beunderstood at the macroeconomic level, but hasgained little ground at the business level, whichconstitutes its basic unit.3.3 CommunityMexican SMEs perceive the community area of CSRas valuable. SMEs perceive that community issues,such as participation and public-private partnershipare well spread and may affect the Mexicaneconomic growth, including efforts to gain andassure equity in the mid- to long-term.Surveys and reports that have examined theinteraction between SMEs and local communitiesstress the importance of the strong ties that are partof the Mexican culture and history and of itstradition of community help and solidarity. A keytheme of Logsdon, Thomas, Van Buren (2006) isthat, because Mexican culture expects business towork towards the achievement of public purposes98 www.cemefi.org99 Namely, cooperation in labor-employer relations (WEF rank 53 out of 117) is progressing positively.108 Recommended actions to foster the adoption of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)