Social responsibility makes commercial sense for every

CSR is more than a philanthropic gesture, says Murray Allan

THE rationale for business involvement in corporate social responsibility (CSR) has changed very little over time. The term CSR is only a few decades old, and yet businesses have been committed to helping shape sustainable communities they serve for much longer. For many of the world’s modern corporations, making a positive contribution to society is core to their CSR aims, not just as a marginal afterthought, but running through everything they do.

However it is important to move CSR away from being solely the domain of the big players. As the head of membership at Scottish Business in the Community, I talk with businesses of all shapes and sizes and I’m particularly struck and enthused by the number of SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) increasingly becoming involved in the responsible business agenda. CSR is often considered the domain of the largest companies with corporate-sized budgets and dedicated staff resources to match. However the real impact will only be made when every small business is given the opportunity to contribute positively to the social and environmental landscape of Scotland.

Government figures show that SMEs account for more than 99 per cent of all private sector enterprises, more than half of the total number of jobs created by the sector and for almost 40 per cent of the turnover. Whilst much of the work of Scottish Business in the Community is with our corporate members, who themselves play a significant role in this agenda, we believe there is a great opportunity to engage with many more SMEs in shaping more sustainable communities and embedding responsible business behaviours. And on this scale we want to see them get involved, not just for philanthropic reasons, but for exactly the same reasons as their larger counterparts – because it makes sound commercial sense.

Many of the small businesses we work with see benefits in becoming more closely aligned to their communities and to local markets. Whether helping their local community group with resources or expertise, or helping school pupils to better understand the world of work, the experience is positive and rewarding on both sides. As an added benefit, participating SMEs are often well placed to secure new contracts from larger organisations that, as part of their own CSR policies, seek to have like-minded businesses in their supply chain. This has heightened since the release of The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill last year.

There is a role here for big business to make a larger impact. Few small businesses have the dedicated resources to develop their own responsibility programmes but it is easy for them participate in programmes which are already in place. Rather than corporates simply requiring their contractors to deliver