CSR-related competitiveness and legitimacy in MSMEs

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as an important strategy in business contexts.This study's main objective was to identify and characterize the basic elements of CSR in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that can contribute to improving these companies' competitiveness and legitimacy.The research was based on the premises defining CSR's scope laid out by the Spanish Association of Accounting and Business Administration and the conceptual framework for corporate responsibility proposed by the European Commission's Directorate-General Enterprise and Industry.A 2004 compilation of good practices in small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe provided the foundation for a systematic analysis isolating elements common to the two cited organizations' frameworks.This is a descriptive study, on a sample of 23 companies belonging to the Autonomous Community of Extremadura, in Spain, involved in the practice of CSR and very sensitized to implement this strategy.Based on this list of features, a theoretical framework of CSR was constructed in order to identify the most significant elements and distinguish those of greatest importance to MSMEs' competitiveness and legitimacy.The originality of this study combined public and private CSR frameworks to categorize the distinctive elements of CSR in MSMEs.

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