CSR and Competitiveness European SMEs - KMU Forschung Austria

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18 CSR and Competitiveness - European SMEs’ Good Practice - Consolidated European Report European Awareness Raising Campaign on CSR for SMEs including a wide range of events throughout Europe as well as the establishment of an informative website 16 . Furthermore, DG Enterprise realised the “Responsible Entrepreneurship” project which identified case studies from SMEs across Europe as well as the “Mainstreaming CSR among SMEs” launched in September 2005 – whereof the study on hand is a part of. A recent initiative of the DG Enterprise and Industry is the European Responsible Entrepreneurship Bulletin (first issue: 1 st quarter 2007) which is a quarterly e-newsletter aiming to exchange information and ideas about responsible entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility and small and medium-sized enterprises. 17 A specific initiative of the European Union in the field of CSR already mentioned (see chapter 3.1) was the European Multi-stakeholder Forum on CSR, being active between 2002 and 2004. It was chaired by the European Commission and consisted of European representative organisations of employers 18 , business networks 19 , trade unions 20 and NGOs. The Forum aimed to foster CSR and promote innovation, convergence as well as transparency of CSR practices and tools through improving knowledge and exploring possibilities for establishing common guiding principles at EU level. Next to this forum, there exists a comparably wide range of supra-national networks in the field of CSR, some of which will be presented in the following, giving a brief clue on the heterogeneous approaches taken towards CSR: • The European Alliance on CSR initiated in 2006 is a political umbrella organisation for new or existing CSR initiatives by large companies, SMEs and their stakeholders aiming to give a new impulse to make Europe a pole of excellence on CSR. It should lead to new partnerships and new opportunities for all stakeholders in their efforts to promote CSR. 21 The Alliance is supported by the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE), the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME) and CSR Europe. • CSR Europe is a business network consisting of more than 60 leading multinational corporations as direct members and of further 1,400 companies through 18 National Partner Organisations. Since its launch (under the name of “European Business Network for Social Cohesion”) in 1995 the network aims to help companies to achieve profitability, sustainable growth and human progress by placing corporate social responsibility in the mainstream of business practice. 22 • The European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC) are a unique collaboration between the advisory councils for environmental policy and sustainable development. It was set up by European governments in 1993 aiming to provide independent, scientifically based consultancy regarding the environmental and sustainable development. In 2006, more than 30 councils from 16 European countries participated in that network. 23 16 See http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/campaign/index_en.htm 17 Source: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/sme.htm 18 E.g. Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE), the European Centre for Public Enterprises and Services of General Economic Interest (CEEP), the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME) or Eurocommerce 19 E.g CSR Europe, the European Round Table of Industrialists, the European Confederation of Workers’ Cooperatives, Social Co-operatives and Participative Enterprises or EUROCHAMBRES 20 E.g. European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) or the Comité Liaison CEC, Eurocadres 21 Source: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/policy.htm 22 Source: http://www.csreurope.org/ 23 Source: http://www.eeac-net.org/
CSR and Competitiveness - European SMEs’ Good Practice - Consolidated European Report 19 • Various networks (e.g. the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN), Social Venture Network (SBN) Europe or the European Social Investment Forum (Eurosif)) 24 devote themselves to promoting business ethics, including social and environmental engagement. The focus and objectives of European-wide initiatives are different. First of all, there exists a rich portfolio of initiatives targeting at raising the general awareness on CSR. As an example, the European Business Campaign on Corporate Social Responsibility was launched in November 2000 by a group of international business organisations led by CSR Europe. The campaign aimed to make the benefits of CSR visible to the wider business world and, therefore, organised events and projects. Additionally, the campaign has launched a range of concrete tools and activities to spread CSR to a wider audience. For example, the “SME Key”, a step-by-step guide to help SMEs to evaluate their current socially responsible practices and integrate them into their core activities and strategies, or the “SRI Compass”, an online toolkit that provides stakeholders with an overview on the socially responsible investment (SRI) market and guides to green and ethical funds in Europe. 25 To recognise excellence in the promotion of entrepreneurship in European regions the European Commission has, for example, launched the European Enterprise Awards in 2006. The award categories include a “Responsible Entrepreneurship Award” for initiatives that promote Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainable business practices in the social and/or environmental domain. 26 Another kind of awarding is the listing of the 100 best workplaces in Europe which is done by Great Place to Work® Institute Europe. 27 From a more “intermediary” viewpoint the CAESAR project (CSR RELAYS in Chambers of Commerce) of the EUROCHAMBRES may be mentioned, focusing on supporting employers’ representatives in their work on disseminating CSR among European enterprises. In the framework of this project (being financially supported by the “Mainstreaming CSR among SMEs” programme of the DG Enterprise and Industry) EUROCHAMBRES have organised a training programme for 50 representatives from chambers of commerce and industry across Europe. This training is followed by company visits of the trained advisers as well as the development of practical guidelines and a website to make it available to other chambers. 28 Another project in the framework of this programme is conducted by the UEAPME. The project “Responsible Entrepreneurship in SMEs” aims to develop tools and activities to support intermediary business organisations at assisting their member SMEs in the improvement of competitiveness through actions of responsible entrepreneurship. 29 In operative/practical terms, a variety of CSR management tools were developed to support the implementation of CSR in the enterprises. For example, Codes of Conduct have been signed by the social partners at European level in the textile, clothing, woodworking, footwear, commerce and private security sectors with a specific focus to promote organisations' environmentally friendly behaviour. 30 Furthermore, different fair trade initiatives and labels have been developed at European level (e.g. by the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA) 31 or the Network of European World Shops (NEWS!)). 32 24 Sources: http://www.eben-net.org/, http://www.svneurope.com/, http://www.eurosif.org/ 25 Source: http://www.csreurope.org/whatwedo/EABISCSR/ 26 Source: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/entrepreneurship/smes/awards/index_en.htm 27 Source: http://www.greatplacetowork-europe.com/ 28 Source: http://www.eurochambres.eu/activities/CAESAR.htm 29 Source: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/ms_sme_projects.htm 30 Source: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/soc-dial/csr/csr_links.htm 31 Source: http://www.european-fair-trade-association.org/ 32 Source: http://www.worldshops.org/index.html;jsessionid=53368A5480E080748205B33B554B3EE2
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