Search results

This paper aims to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in transition and developed economies.

Building on social capital theory, the creating shared value approach and institutional theory, the authors study why and how six SMEs in the food sector implement CSR.

The authors show that CSR adoption by SMEs is motivated by company values and beliefs, relationships with the local community, a desire to abide by rules and regulations and business motives. They also show that SMEs are involved in various CSR-related activities such as respecting their employees, infusing CSR in the supply chain and philanthropy.

The findings suggest that although there are similarities between the CSR motives and activities of SMEs in developed and transition countries, there are also some differences, which can be explained by differences in institutions and related to the maturity of the CSR construct in each setting. The authors consequently call for a more holistic approach when investigating CSR across countries, in particular when such investigation concerns SMEs.

Risk orientated disclosure is a focal issue of corporate communication. Many provisions have been implemented in the USA and in Europe to promote transparency about risks faced by companies, especially by quoted ones. The increase of mandatory risk reporting applying to companies leads to the question of whether or how companies are compliant with these regulations. The answer itself implies further questions: what is required to be disclosed? And what is risk? The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.

The paper uses a qualitative methodology based on Huberman and Miles in order to explore the collected data (annual reports of companies, laws, accounting standards, professional sources).

The paper established an inventory of rules currently existing in order to identify the risk disclosure context faced by French companies and found that there is no consensus between the different pieces of legislation. It is demonstrated that the terminology referred to by companies tends to differ from one to another.

The study focused on risk disclosure within annual reports of listed companies and on risk reporting within mandatory provisions.

A consensus on the definition of risk needs to be reached in order to assess company management, as well as their compliance with provisions.

An attempt is made to set up a framework which could eliminate deficiencies in the lack of consensus in laws and company practice.