CSR and Competitiveness European SMEs - KMU Forschung Austria

CSR and Competitiveness - European SMEs’ Good Practice - Consolidated European Report 5
2 Introduction
2.1 Background and Objectives of the Study
In the framework of the Lisbon Special European Council of 23 - 24 March 2000 the European
Union has set the strategic goal for Europe to become the most competitive and dynamic
knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and
better jobs and greater social cohesion. Enhancing the competitiveness and performance of
European enterprises, especially SMEs, is at the heart of this strategy.
A company’s success is the result of the level of satisfaction of the enterprise’s stakeholders,
including, not only the owner(s) but also employees, customers, suppliers or the local community.
Companies begin to understand that they need to operate in a complex network society to
be successful, and also that social and environmental issues are part of that complexity and
constitute factors of sustainable success. Nevertheless, there is still a comparatively high
number of SMEs not being aware on the relationship between activities based on a wider
stakeholder approach and the enterprise’s competitiveness.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), to be understood as an approach whereby companies
integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction
with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis, is gaining importance in public and policy discussion
at European and national level. Also many SMEs traditionally take up their social
responsibility, even though these activities are not explicitly communicated to the community or
even inside the company (Taipalinen/Toivio, 2004). Next to the self-imposed ethical/moral obligation
of the entrepreneurs/management this is also due to the increasing demand for socially
responsible acting by clients, business partners, public authorities and the society as such.
However, like in many other business concerns, also CSR needs support and stimulation from
outside the company. This is especially true, if CSR is understood as a strategic means and
management tool to enhance the competitiveness of SMEs. So far, there have been some
attempts to measure the scale of CSR among SMEs in Europe (European Communities, 2002),
but still the available information is not sufficient for increasing SMEs’ awareness on the positive
potential outcome of respective activities and making them become involved to a higher extent
as presently. Thus, mainstreaming CSR among SMEs will mean to develop and communicate
successful business cases to SMEs (and to inform the companies on how they can get handson
support with implementing CSR activities).
In 2005, the European Commission launched a call on Mainstreaming Corporate Social
Responsibility 1 to support the take-up of CSR among SMEs as a means to enhance their competitiveness.
This should support the implementation of the recommendations of the European
Multi-Stakeholder forum on CSR (CSR EMS Forum) which was set up in October 2002 as a key
element of the Commission’s 2002 Communication on Corporate Social Responsibility. These
recommendations are related to the following three main topics:
• To raise awareness and improve knowledge on CSR
• To develop capacities and competencies for mainstreaming CSR
• To ensure an enabling environment for CSR
1
Specific Call for Proposals. Mainstreaming Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Among SMEs, Grant Programme
2005.