Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a company’s commitment to enhance the social, environmental and economic effects of its operations responsibly to meet society expectations. Currently, SMEs incorporate CSR in their operations. Still, the integration’s progress is not much visible with the same intensity as that of the larger corporations, partly because of informal communication networks and the shareholders’ vicinity. Strategic Dimension of Corporate Social Responsibility in SME’s is based on Corporate and Social Identities.

 Pressures of CSR in SMEs

(Kapstien 2000, p.105) Society are embracing corporate social responsiblity because of NGOs and government pressure. Requirements to set Corporate social responsibility as a primary objective affect both Large and small institutions within the society,. However, the inability to administer CSR in SMEs  are overlooked due to financial ,political ,social and environmental  constraints. Ethics are set upon various organization without an understanding of the difficulties these organizations are facing within their region. The government is unwilling to fund these objectives which make it impossible to fund Corporate social responsibility goal. Therefore pressures to have sustainable practice should include advantages and disadvantages in regions and identification of differences of large and small firm in order to justify aid of NGOs (Kapstien 2000, p.106). Although it is acceptable to edify consumers of improper practices, it can affect SMEs prestige because they are defenseless . SMEs are in continually in a feud of ethics and business

Challenges and realization within SMEs

Based on Lee et al. (2016) arguments, CSR’s notion within the SMEs has been
reduced to the social dimension scope. However, Lee et al. (2016) assert that most researchers have conducted systematic reviews of the literature to identify other aspects supporting SMEs’ concepts. Juarez (2017) notes that although the strategic dimensions and definition varies, sustainability, discretionary, economic, ethical, stakeholders, and social are the perspectives that are regarded in the current work. Juarez (2017) further asserts that it’s imperative to explore SME’s traits to understand Corporate social responsibility’s comprehensive dimension. In this case, SME’s traits can have three category perspectives of the task scope:

• the firm configuration
• the managerial characteristics
• administrational traits

Furthermore, SME’s tend to have a particular type of administrational traits related to the owner-manager feature with informal management framework and individual management (Martinez- Martinez et al. 2017). As a result, Martinez- Martinez et al. (2017) notes that SMEs have a superior comprehension of the regional culture instead of the preeminent entities, making them possess formidable links with the regional communities. Doshmanli et al. (2018) note that the above attributes in one way or the other may impact how SMEs approach Corporate social responsibility sustainability.

The importance  of corporate social responsibility

One of the essential characteristics is the vicinity to the local communities and consumers. A study by Sarkar and Searcy (2016) proposes proximity as criteria for assessing the stakeholders. Yet, Larran Jorge et al. (2016) also argue that proximity helps establish network links and suitable venues. Particularly the interpersonal engagements through which the Corporate social responsibility capabilities and expertise can share. The other specific traits within the context are the passion for individual motivation, strong regard for the workforce as essential stakeholders, and collaboration through the social capital and informal links. Reasons for the implementation of CSR in SME’s are based on corporate and social identity. In the corporate social responsibility implementation literature, numerous ideologies have been used to explain the implementation reasons. The three theories are social capital theory, institutional theory, and stakeholder theory (Hoi et al., 2018). The theories offer Small and Medium Enterprises to adopt and implement corporate social responsibility guidelines and processes.

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