Small Business Social Responsibility: Collaboration and Support as Key Levers to Strategic CSR

Despite the growing need to understand how SMEs deal with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), its adoption process and organizing remain underexplored to date. Therefore, we propose to take a closer look at how SMEs decide to voluntarily collaborate on CSR as one possible path to finding innovative solutions to adopting strategic CSR. To date, we have little knowledge on how SMEs use the time and resources that is dedicated to engaging in networking with their peers and partners on CSR. We also have little knowledge on how SMEs use business support and training on CSR. Our results broaden the existing literature on strategic SME CSR by exposing the links and modalities of SME participation in collective work on strategic CSR. SMEs that strive to develop their CSR strategy are integrated into local networks to gain knowledge, skills, and create business links based on shared values. Their continuous involvement helps them stay atop of newest trends and regulations and fight their feelings of isolation in the face of uncertainty and mounting pressure on CSR.