Sustainability-Oriented Innovation of SMEs: A Systematic Review

Manuscript Type: Empirical Research Questions/Issue: This paper seeks to explore the interrelationships between corporate governance (CG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR): first, theoretically, by reviewing the literature and surveying various postulations on offer; second, empirically, by investigating the conception and interpretation of this relationship in the context of a sample of firms operating in Lebanon. Accordingly, the paper seeks to highlight the increasing cross-connects or interfaces between CG and CSR, capitalizing on fresh insights from a developing country perspective. Research Findings/Results: A qualitative interpretive research methodology was adopted, drawing on in-depth interviews with the top managers of eight corporations operating in Lebanon, with the findings suggesting that the majority of managers conceive of CG as a necessary pillar for sustainable CSR. These findings are significant and interesting, implying that recent preoccupation with CG in developing countries is starting to be counterbalanced by some interest/attention to CSR, with growing appreciation of their interdependencies and the need to move beyond CG conformance toward voluntary CSR performance. Theoretical Implications: This study makes two important contributions. First, it suggests that there is a salient two-way relationship and increasing overlap between CG and CSR. While much previous literature has researched CG and CSR independently, this paper makes the case for considering them jointly and systematically. Second, the paper outlines a number of theoretical propositions that can serve as the basis for future research on the topic, particularly in developing countries, given that the data and theoretical propositions are both derived from and tailored to developing country contexts. Practical Implications: This study can potentially alert managers to the increasing overlap between the CG and CSR agendas and the need to exert diligent systematic efforts on both fronts. CG and CSR share more in common than previously assumed, and this needs to be accounted for by practitioners. The research can also alert policy makers in developing countries to the need to increase the vigilance and capacity of the regulatory and judicial systems in the context of CG reform and to increase institutional pressures, particularly of the coercive and normative variety to enhance CSR adoption.

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Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility Synergies and Interrelationships

This focused review of the nonprofitbusiness collaboration and related corporate social responsibility literature identifies problematic aspects of the treatment of value creation and, therefore, develops a conceptual and analytical framework to address them and the following research question: How can collaboration between nonprofits and businesses most effectively co-create significant economic, social, and environmental value for society, organizations, and individuals? The first two components of the Collaborative Value Creation framework are presented in this first of two articles The Value Creation Spectrum provides new reference terms for defining and analyzing value creation, and Collaboration Stages reveals how value creation varies across different types of collaborative relationships. The framework's next two components, which are elaborated in the sequential article, are Partnering Processes, which reveals the value creation dynamics in the formation and implementation stages, and Collaboration Outcomes, which examines impact at the micro, meso, and macro levels.

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Collaborative Value Creation: A Review of Partnering Between Nonprofits and Businesses: Part I. Value Creation Spectrum and Collaboration Stages

Given the rising interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) globally, its local expressions are as varied as they are increasingly visible in both developed and developing countries. This paper presents a multilevel review of the literature on CSR in developing countries and highlights the key differentiators and nuanced CSR-related considerations that qualify it as a distinctive field of study. This review entails a content analysis of 452 articles spanning two-and-a-half decades (1990–2015). Based on this comprehensive review, the authors identify the key differentiating attributes of the literature on CSR in developing countries in relation to depictions of how CSR is conceived or ‘CSR Thinking’ and depictions of how CSR is practiced and implemented or ‘CSR Doing’. The authors synthesize from there five key themes that capture the main aspects of variation in this literature, namely: (1) complex institutional antecedents within the national business system (NBS); (2) complex macro-level antecedents outside the NBS; (3) the salience of multiple actors involved in formal and informal governance; (4) hybridized and other nuanced forms of CSR expressions; and (5) varied scope of developmental and detrimental CSR consequences. The paper concludes by accentuating how the nuanced forms of CSR in the developing world are invariably contextualized and locally shaped by multi-level factors and actors embedded within wider formal and informal governance systems.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries as an Emerging Field of Study

This paper capitalizes on an institutional perspective to analyze corporate social responsibility (CSR) orientations in the Lebanese context. Specifically, the paper compiles a new theoretical framework drawing on a multi-level model of institutional flows by Scott (Institutions and organizations: ideas and interests, 2008) and the explicit/implicit CSR model by Matten and Moon (Acad Manag Rev 33(2):404–424, 2008). This new theoretical framework is then used to explore the CSR convergence versus divergence question in a developing country context. The findings highlight the usefulness of the compiled multi-layered institutional framework and the varied nuances and profound insights it offers in analyzing CSR in context. They also suggest that a cosmetic level of global convergence in explicit CSR may materialize in light of mimetic isomorphic pressures, but that the path dependence hypothesis is indeed salient in light of national history trajectories and socio-politico configurations. The findings correspond most closely to patterns of CSR crossvergence, combining elements of both convergence and divergence, and reflecting in complex hybridized CSR expressions. The findings and their implications are presented and assessed.

Convergence Versus Divergence of CSR in Developing Countries: An Embedded Multi-Layered Institutional Lens.

The spotlight in the CSR discourse has traditionally been focused on multinational corporations (MNCs) This paper builds on a burgeoning stream of literature that has accorded recent attention to the relevance and importance of integrating small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the CSR debate The paper begins by an overview of the CSR literature and a synthesis of relevant evidence pertaining to the peculiarities and special relational attributes of SMEs in the context of CSR Noting the thin theoretical grounding in the literature on offer, the paper then presents relevant CSR theoretical perspectives that could be useful in conducting further research on SMEs In light of this framework, the paper outlines the findings of an empirical study highlighting the peculiar CSR orientations of SMEs in a developing country context in comparison to some of their MNC counterparts The study is qualitative in nature, capitalizing on a comparative research design to highlight differences in CSR orientations between SMEs and MNCs The findings are presented and implications are drawn regarding the peculiar relational attributes of SMEs in the context of CSR generally, and developing countries more specifically, and how this inclination can be further nurtured and leveraged

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/40294930

Peculiar Strengths and Relational Attributes of SMEs in the Context of CSR

Partnerships between businesses and NGOs in the context of CSR

Interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has proliferated in academic and business circles alike. In the context of CSR, the spotlight has traditionally focused on the role of the private sector particularly in view of its wealth and global reach. Other actors have recently begun to assume more visible roles in the context of CSR, including Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which have acquired increasing prominence on the socio-economic landscape. This article examines five partnerships between businesses and NGOs in a developing country context that fall in the realm of CSR. The article starts with a literature review, delineating foundational underpinnings that have to be carefully designed and crafted to promote the success of collaborative ventures. An empirical study of five selected partnerships between businesses and NGOs in Lebanon is then presented, allowing to derive interesting insights into types of existing alliances, their relational characteristics as well as salient factors considered most determinant of success or failure in this regard.

Uneasy Alliances: Lessons Learned from Partnerships Between Businesses and NGOs in the context of CSR

The greatest challenge facing companies today is the ability to survive in an extremely uncertain and dynamic environment This paper prescribes agility as the new paradigm that is currently shaping business discourse and practice It also posits knowledge management and organisational learning as the key enablers necessary for helping companies in transitioning into a mode of increased agility and responsiveness The knowledge management and organisational learning streams are then reviewed, their interrelationships explored and their links to agility highlighted

Tamar Keshishian

Papers

Peculiar Strengths and Relational Attributes of SMEs in the Context of CSR

Partnerships between businesses and NGOs in the context of CSR

Uneasy Alliances: Lessons Learned from Partnerships Between Businesses and NGOs in the context of CSR

Agility, knowledge management and organisational learning: synergies and inter-relationships

Corporate social reporting: trends of Lebanese companies vs MNCs