Corporate Responsibility and SMEs

The network has been established after the December 2005 conference hosted by Durham Business School entitled “Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Identifying the knowledge gaps”. The conference resulted in the special issue of Journal of Business Ethics.

On 26^th October 2006 Copenhagen Business School hosted a conference entitled The Social Responsibility of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises – Integration of CSR into SME Business Practice”. In a follow-up meeting, the network identified a number of European research and knowledge gaps.

Research priorities

• The “society case” for CSR – research into the causal linkages between CSR practices among SMEs and European policy issues including competitiveness, sustainable growth, sustainable development, innovation, skills development and social exclusion.
  
  

• Developing a segmentation model for CSR in SMEs – research into a model for segmenting SMEs (e.g. by size, host country, age, ownership structure, sector) and the link between such segmentation and SME support agencies including sector-specific trade associations.
• Building institutional capacity within SME support agencies – mapping pan-European SME support agencies and assessing existing interventions

Experts from the following Universities and organizations are involved:

• Durham Business School, UK
• The Copenhagen Centre, Denmark
• Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management, Poland
• Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
• Teesside Business School, UK
• Ghent University, Belgium
• Vlerick Leuven Business School, Belgium
• University of Manchester, UK
• Universita Cattolica di Milano, Italy
• ESADE Business School, Spain
• Bocconi University, Italy
• Waikato Management School, New Zealand
• Brunel University, UK
• Cranfield School of Management, UK

The network is currently exploring opportunities for an international research project.

EABIS Members can visit the project space of this project on the EABI Intranet, where more details on the activities of this network can be found.

For further information please contact Geoff Moore, Durham Business School, Coordinator of the Network, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or Bart Neerscholten, EABIS Coordination Team, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .