Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Multinational Companies (MNCs), Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and Small Businesses

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) debate has long focused on multinational corporations (MNCs) driven primarily by a western-centric conception, whereas the debate has remained largely limited for small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (Jamali et al. 2009). Even though SMEs may not have huge impacts on the economy individually, their collective power is quite significant (Pastrana and Sriramesh 2014) as they comprise over 90% of businesses worldwide and account for about 60% of employment (Jenkins 2004; Vives 2006). As such, SMEs and their specific attributes have recently attracted much attention in CSR research area (Jamali et al. 2009), although few studies have focused on the CSR behavior of SMEs (Grayson 2004; Spence 1999; Spence et al. 2000; Spence and Lozano 2000). Holliday (1995) and Spence (1999) describe SMEs as independent, owner-managed firms that are stretched by multitasking, have limited funds, are built on personal relationships, and controlled by informal mechanisms. As such, SMEs generally lack the resources to generate knowledge about CSR and need the guidance of external stakeholders to perform CSR activities (Russo and Perrini 2010). MNCs differ from SMEs in terms of CSR conceptions, motivations for engagement, decision-making processes, and challenges faced. According to Baumann-Pauly, Wickert, Spence and Scherer (2013), these differences regarding CSR actions between MNCs and SMEs stem from the relationship between firm size and organizational costs.