Member Article

SMEs unhappy with term ?CSR?

71% of SMEs dislike the term ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) and avoid using it to describe their social, environmental and community work.

A report published by Cardiff University found that smaller companies disliked being referred to as ‘corporate’ as this was seen as a ‘big business’ term that did not fit with their ethos.

The majority of SMEs surveyed undertook a wide range of CSR activities, such as Environmental Management Initiatives, Community Projects and Employee Development Programmes. On the whole, SMEs felt they had benefited from CSR activities by improving their image and reputation, increased employee satisfaction and motivation, as well as increased efficiency.

The report, titled: Make a Difference Where You Can: Corporate Social Responsibility in UK SMEs sets out to progress understanding of both limitations on, and opportunities for, CSR in SMEs. The full report can be found at the Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society (BRASS) website at Cardiff University: www.brass.cf.ac.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .