Corporate and Social Responsibility - CSR for smaller

businesses

Corporate Social Responsibility for SME’s

‘CSR is it not about philanthropy, but about fundamental business practices’

Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, speaking
at the United Nations Global Compact Summit, Shanghi, China, 2006

Corporate Social Responsibility (or more recently social responsibility) has increased in
importance around the world. Much of the content of the reports focus on large company’s and
statistical analysis – all very well but for small lean business like mine and yours we need a
different approach.

This page aims to explore CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility from the practical stance of
the smaller business. For CSR to be adopted as a principle, it needs not only to be
understood, but practical steps provided to make this valuable concept accessible and
sustainable - in other words - you as a manager needs to know what and how you can do this
easily and today.

Is CSR important to SME's?

Yes CSR is important, and yes it can help us be more effective, efficient and most importantly
more profitable.

In 2002 a survey of Small-Medium sized Enterprises (SME) attitudes to CSR conducted by

MORI sponsored by the DTi, it found that:

• A large number of SMEs were already engaged in social responsibility where

defined as a contribution to the community, relations with employees and
protection of the environment
• Training, employment and education were the top priorities for SME
investment
• SMEs were not yet defining social responsibility as an issue that could be
integrated into all core business activities.

So why is it relevant?
Managers and owners in smaller businesses are often heard asking...

• ‘I am increasingly being asked for information on environmental and

community issues as part of tendering for contracts and from larger clients
and I don’t know where to start.’
• ‘My business is struggling to recruit, motivate and retain good staff.’
• ‘How can I ensure that I run an environmentally friendly business without
costing me a lot of time and money?’
• ‘I have a business to run with limited resources, so how can my business
benefit?’
 Corporate Social Responsibility – a definition:
A responsible business is achieving commercial success in ways that honour ethical values and
respect people, communities and the natural environment. These businesses minimise any
negative environmental and social
impacts and maximise the positive ones.

Approaches

• There are several approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• The Three-P Approach to CSR:
o Level 1: Principles of social responsibility
o Level 2: Processes of social responsiveness
o Level 3: Products (or Outcomes) as they relate to the firm's societal
relationships

We need to adopt these as appropriate for our business. For many of us we will only work at
level one with some elements of level 2.

What does a sustainable and responsible company look like?

• It is run for and can be seen to be run for the benefit of profit, people and
planet.
• It integrates responsible business practice so that it is built in to business
purpose and strategy rather than being a bolt-on to business operations.
• Employees value it as a great place to work.
• Customers and suppliers value it as a good business to do business with.
• The community values it as a great neighbour.
• Investors and financiers value it as worth investing in.
• It has a good health and safety record.
• It has environmentally friendly premises.

Keeping it simple and adding value:

11 simple things you can do today to apply CSR principles to your business

1. Recycle printer and toner cartridges – or use continuous ink systems

2. Buy and use fair trade products – tea, coffee, etc
3. Buy materials and from suppliers that use sustainable sources
4. Look at how your staff travel to work – walk, drive, bus, cycle etc
5. Ensure Lights, computers and other equipment are switched off when not in use
6. Pay staff, suppliers and creditors on time
7. Turn the heating or air conditioning down a degree
8. Replace lighting with low energy bulbs – and turn off at night
9. Print and photocopy only when necessary and double-sided – only print the first
page of emails
10. Encourage support for local not-for-profit and community based organisations.

11. Set up flexible working

 Benefits for your business
The business benefits will vary depending on the business, the specific actions
proposed and the effectiveness with which they are implemented. Often, the kinds of
business benefits which other smaller companies have reported, include:

• Attracting, retaining and developing motivated and committed employees.

• Winning and retaining consumers and business customers.
• Improving business reputation and positive publicity.
• Maintaining and improving their licence to operate from the local community.
• Cost and efficiency savings.
• Networking and speaking opportunities.
• Anticipating future legislation and protecting yourself

Why get started?

• The need to increase profit

• The need to reduce costs
• The personal values of the owner manager/CEO
• Questions being asked by large business customers
• Developing a new or revised business strategy
• Writing a business plan
• Newspaper/trade magazine article
• Talk at a local chamber of commerce or business club
• Employee’s suggestion
• High utility bills/costs

An ACTION plan for Social Responsibility

A simple approach to introducing CSR in a structured way.

A C T I O N
Assess Commit Tell Integrate Organise Nurture

Whatever To a Set out your Responsible The project Involve your

you do statement of ethical and business management, the clients and
should be what business behaviour details, relevant supply chain.
relevant for
being a cases, across business resources and Once your
your
responsible communicate different set targets. programmes
business as
well as business them and functions are established
society. means to promote them and Look at one off, you can have
your at every activities individual and team greater impact
Think about business and opportunity. within building activities. and raise your
the issues to clear the Look at building a long profile by
that affect ethical Make business. term relationship with widening your
you, your values from responsible community resources.
staff and the top business an Identify organisation/s.
 down. issues that Clients and
your Appoint a agenda item are affecting Communicate the aims suppliers will
business champion/s on all team your bottom and boundaries to all be
and what to meetings. line and how staff and stakeholders. surprisingly
you can do ensure the responsible Collate the results and grateful you
Communicate
to help commitment business thank any staff for their
asked and
to staff,
support
is followed clients, practices involvement. usually very
these.
through. You customers, can help willing to get
need a suppliers and address Make sure all staff know involved.
Assess
champion others what these. about and are able
where you
currently who walks you are doing. to get involved in your Measure and
are so you the talk. It is not Prioritise responsible business report what
have a The boasting to things which practices/opportunities. you are doing
benchmark champion, tell people you can do and feedback
to measure like any what you are as: the learning
future boss, doing. (a) early into your
progress has to model wins; (b) business
Establish
against. the things that planning.
This may be
effective, two-
behaviour way dialogue will need to Measuring the
formal or
informal. they want to with your key take some benefits you
see in their stakeholders time to have made to
co-workers if (those who prepare; the business
they are can affect or and and the wider
going to be are (c) long- community
credible. affected by term goals. helps motivate
your staff,
They also business). List the risks customers and
need to be There are real that your investors.
given the business company
authority to benefits to faces or Reporting can
make any informing might face be done
necessary people and the informally
changes. through actions you through word
local/trade need to of mouth, staff
press, take to team briefings,
notice boards, address presentations
newsletters, these. to business
websites and networks or
achieving more formally
awards. through
management
systems and
achieving
relevant
standards.

If you integrate responsible business practices into the way you run your business and
proactively communicate what you are doing, you not only increase your business success but
the benefit to society as well.
 By communicating what you do to a wider audience and by giving your business a voice, you
will find that you inspire many others to do the same and your example could lead to much
bigger impacts. By keeping quiet about what you do, you might be missing out, so shout
about it and you might be surprised at the results.

Effective Promotion
Promoting that you are approaching your business in a CSR way can enhance your business
opportunities, doing this is one thing... telling others about it is quite another.

Internally Externally

• Make sure your staff know about
what you do and can talk about it.
They are your best sales force.
• Use the intranet, website,
newsletters, meetings, staff award
schemes and community corridors
to showcase your activities and
events
• Generate positive publicity through
local, regional or even national
media.
• Get your story into relevant trade
magazines.
• Tell your customers, suppliers,
investors and other stakeholders
what you are doing.
• Enter relevant award schemes.
• Commit to achieving relevant
standards that you can then tell
people about.

• Benefit from speaking opportunities

that arise from your story and
attend networking events.

Areas to focus on:

Policy:
Business Principles, Defining your Purpose, Innovation, Know the law, Managing risks,
Measuring success, Sharing good practice
What are the theories and business principles which drive successful businesses?
Here you can dip into information on the law and its implications for your business. There is
also information about how to measure the intangibles e.g. how can you measure increased
customer loyalty? Plus you'll find useful signposts and pointers as to where you can find more
information on each topic.

Practice:
Better payment, Developing skills, Diversity, Equality, Health and safety, Managing resources,
Marketing with a cause, Minimising waste, Volunteering
If you want to save money through managing waste more effectively how do you go about it?
What about health & safety? In a recent survey* 60% of small and medium sized business
owners said that they had been asked about their practices in this area by a large corporate
customer. Make sure you're one step ahead of the game and start by reading the guide to
health and safety contained within this section.
Stakeholders:
Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities

Stakeholder is an umbrella term, which covers every group of individuals you deal with as a
business.
Here we focus on four stakeholders- your employees, the community, your customers and
your suppliers. By listening and talking to these groups on a regular basis you can really
improve your business's reputation and it doesn't cost a fortune.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Corporate Responsibility is about managing your
business to achieve both commercial and social benefit. In essence it's about managing your
social, community and environmental impacts to help you improve results, reduce risks and
enhance your reputation. It is also about growing your business in a way that has value for
everyone connected to it.

Measuring Success
For the majority of SME’s and small businesses, it is not about copying what the ‘big
companies’ do, but to use these principles in the way we work. This means treating them as
principles, not yet another administrative burden. So measure them…no!