A Bibliometric Study on Socially Responsible Entrepreneurs

Introduction

We conceive entrepreneurship as a necessary vehicle in the countries to grow, giving rise to the emergence of business ideas and the creation of companies that come to constitute an engine for the economy. The sum of the factors that contribute and collaborate in the beginning of all activity is known as “venture capital or risk capital”, being the reflection of several factors of legal, institutional and social type. According to several authors, the unit of measurement of risk capital is the region or city (Audretsch, 2009; Audretsch & Stephan, 1996). This venture capital will have a positive impact on regional economic growth, so the promotion of entrepreneurship would be a cornerstone of regional, national and European policy, as well as the key to achieving economic growth and increases in productivity, thereby improving the business capacity of an economy (Audretsch, 2009).

The European Commission (EC) (2010), in the Europe 2020 Strategy, recognizes the importance of entrepreneurship and self-employment, in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth. To support these initiatives, the EC focuses its efforts in numerous directions, seeking not only the promotion of entrepreneurship and self-employment, but also fostering mutual learning and capacity-building in the countries and regions of the European Union (EU), encourage the adoption of voluntary standards and protection measures for entrepreneurship and support it financially.

Today there are many options to enjoy well-adapted spaces, both individual and shared, with a low cost and even at zero cost, allowing you to develop a job easily and without having to face the property of a local or the payment of high rents; also, the ability to have the initial Business Plan is important, since it is not easy and staff with adequate knowledge are not always available to do this task; moreover, entrepreneurship is associated with the ability to innovate in business, action that must be carried out not only at the beginning but continuously, and must be alert to the market and competitors and design actions to overcome competitors; finally, the existence of groups, associations or clusters of companies in the same industry helps to advance, supporting each other to progress, which is a source of progress and competitiveness.

On the other hand, since the year 2001, when the European Commission issued the so-called Green Paper, Fostering a European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility, the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) began to be dealt with extensively. This strategy refers to the integration, voluntarily, by companies, of social and environmental concerns, beyond the classic concerns of an economic nature. It is also important to highlight the need to meet the needs of the so-called stakeholders (EC, 2001, 2011), given that stakeholders play a fundamental role, motivating companies to carry out socially responsible practices. By carrying out the integration of social, economic, ethical, environmental and human rights issues, the maximization of the creation of shared value for owners/shareholders, as well as for other stakeholders and society as a whole is pursued.

Under these initial premises, abundant literature has come to support the exercise of CSR in organizations as a whole. Although the strategy was initially worked on in large companies, subsequently, SMEs have also begun to carry out practices of this nature (Gallardo-Vázquez, Sánchez-Hernández & Corchuelo, 2013; Sánchez & Gallardo, 2012).