On the optimal combination of corporate social responsibility practices of unlisted small and medium enterprises

Abstract

: There is vast empirical literature concerning the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance. This literature, however, applies mainly to large corporations and/or listed firms. To the best of our knowledge, the question of whether meeting CSR requirements impacts the financial performance of small and medium-sized unlisted SMEs has not so far been analyzed. This paper aims to explore, for the first time, the effect of CSR on the financial performance of SMEs. Using an original database including 5,257 French SMEs, we show that adopting CSR practices positively but weak affects SMEs’ financial performance. To develop this further, we analyzed CSR practices interactions assessing the best combination of CSR components that positively influence SME financial performance. Our results show that French SMEs benefit more from their pro-social behavior when choosing a combination of CSR components best adapted to their characteristics.