University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

end of the fifth year of life marks the point at which the probability of involvement
of small enterprises in CSR emerges (Observatory of European SMEs 2004: 282).
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In addition, the adoption of social responsible behaviour seems to be directly tied to
the daily question of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the business
activities and the creation of value, therefore the interventions are directed above all
to the inside dimension of the enterprise.
The Responsible Competitiveness of the Enterprise:
Winning Strategy in “Hostile” Territories
The adoption of responsible and ethical behaviour produces an improvement in the
image of the enterprise (Freeman 1984: 276; Sciarelli 2007: 310), and therefore
improves the competitiveness of the enterprise in international markets. Such an
effect happens, first of all, for those enterprises located in a social context that shares
the value system of the enterprise, attentive to the theme of “environmental
sustainability" and characterised by "growth of wealth" and, therefore, eventually
prepared to spend more for products coming from the enterprises characterised by
social engagement 15 .
For those enterprises, instead, that operate in a context in which the society is not
ready to receive certain phenomena, or in which they are not able to make their
"voice" heard (for instance in the poor and underdeveloped countries of the world),
the acquisition of responsible behaviour seems, instead, to be an essential factor of
competitiveness for the development of their activities out of the national borders.
CSR is a strategy that can be pursued by the enterprise to redeem itself from the
possibly negative image of the country of origin and to operate in foreign markets
that are, by contrast, attentive to the environmental and social theme.
In the case of a negative image projected by the country of origin of the firm, the
impact produced on the competitiveness of enterprise (IPO) could negatively
predispose consumers toward products coming from that country and could
jeopardise the enterprise’s international development process there.
In the presence of small enterprises, if the territory transforms from a fertile basis
from which to draw resources and competencies to a hostile area, the actors can no
longer enjoy the advantage of the differential endowment of resources and possible
comparative advantage on international level, and will further suffer from the
increased costs that they must sustain for overcoming the inefficiencies produced by
the local system.
In the cases in which the association between product / enterprise and country is
unfavourable, we believe that the enterprise could remedy the situation by choosing
15 These factors, together with the change in “expectations towards the firms” after the lost of trust in the
institutions and the “globalisation and the wide diffusions of information” that allow consumers to know what of
good or bad has done by firms, are considered the main factors driving the increasing importance of CSR in firms
(Werther & Chandler, 2006: 384).