How can Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Innovation Enhance Enterprise Performance?: Possible Pathways for the Romanian SMEs in the Context of the Global Economic Crisis

Organization Background

The present collection of case studies was prepared as part of several research project developed by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, that consisted in literature review, surveys, case studies, dissemination activities. In addition to highlighting the positive benefits for the business, the purpose is to support SMEs incorporating sustainability objectives, i.e. CSR concepts and tools, into the business strategy, which contains among others R&D objectives that consider the sustainability targets. The SMEs case studies, documented in this publication, reveal an organizational culture characterized by a positive and supportive attitude with respect to environmental and social issues.

Table 1 illustrates the organizational background of five selected company with their sector identity, their CSR categories, contents of the analyzed CSR activities and the impact of the analyzed CSR activities. However, before going to the next section, to set the background detail on the theme of this study, a thorough literature review (with specific focus on the research theme) on innovation, corporate social responsibility, and the relationship of innovation with CSR are being described next.