corporate social responsibility (CSR), idiosyncrasies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), social capital, stakeholder theory,

While corporate social responsibility\ud (CSR) is becoming a mainstream issue for many organizations,\ud most of the research to date addresses CSR in\ud large businesses rather than in small- and medium-sized\ud enterprises (SMEs), because it is too often considered a\ud prerogative of large businesses only. The role of SMEs in\ud an increasingly dynamic context is now being questioned,\ud including what factors might affect their socially responsible\ud behaviour. The goal of this paper is to make a\ud comparison of SME and large firm CSR strategies.\ud Furthermore, size of the firm is analyzed as a factor that\ud influences specific choices in the CSR field, and studied\ud by means of a sample of 3,680 Italian firms. Based on a\ud multi-stakeholder framework, the analysis provides\ud evidence that large firms are more likely to identify\ud relevant stakeholders and meet their requirements\ud through specific and formal CSR strategies

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has acquired an unquestionably high degree of relevance for a large number of different actors. Among others, academics and practitioners are developing a wide range of knowledge and best practices to further improve socially responsible competences. Within this context, one frequent question is according to what theory should general knowledge of CSR be developed, and in particular the relationship between CSR and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). This paper suggests that research on large firms should be based on stakeholder theory, while research on CSR among SMEs should be based on the concept of social capital. This paper first provides a theoretical and practical perspective on CSR today; the focus then shifts to the specific literature on CSR and SMEs; some data and information follow on SMEs in Europe and Italy; finally, some conclusions and questions for future research are suggested. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006corporate social responsibility, Italy, multi-stakeholder approach, small and medium enterprises, social capital,

This paper investigates the link between the\ud consumer perception that a company is socially oriented\ud and the consumer intention to buy products marketed by\ud that company. We suggest that this link exists when at least\ud two conditions prevail: (1) the products sold by that company\ud comply with ethical and social requirements; (2) the\ud company has an acknowledged commitment to protect\ud consumer rights and interests. To test these hypotheses, we\ud conducted a survey among the clients of retail chains\ud offering Fair Trade products. The results show that socially\ud oriented companies can successfully leverage their reputation\ud to market products with high symbolic values

Corporate sustainability, that is the capacity of a firm to continue operating over a long period of time, depends on the sustainability of its stakeholder relationships. This new stakeholder view of the firm goes beyond previous work on the triple bottom line and balanced scorecard. Companies need appropriate systems to measure and control their own behaviour in order to assess whether they are responding to stakeholder concerns in an effective way and to communicate the results achieved. These sustainability accounting systems should have the purpose of broadening and integrating the traditional financial approaches to corporate performance measurement, taking stakeholder needs into due account. This article presents the sustainability evaluation and reporting system (SERS), an integrated methodology aimed at monitoring and tracking from a qualitative and quantitative viewpoint the overall corporate performance according to a stakeholder framework, in line with small and medium-sized enterprises' managerial requirements.