Road-CSR

Competitiveness of SMEs is high in the agenda of the European Commission (EC). Due to economic crisis, there is a widespread expectation that businesses should be more accountable to the society. The EC issued the Directive 2014/95/EU, where companies concerned are required to disclose in their management report, information on policies, risks and outcomes regarding environmental, social and employee aspects, respect for human rights, anticorruption and bribery issues, and diversity in their board of directors. In other words, to integrate in their business models Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) principles. Although, the new directive applies only to a limited number of large EU companies it leaves out the Small and Medium sized enterprises (SMEs) that are the predominant form of enterprise in EU and a key to achieving the goals of growth and jobs strategy. Studies have shown that CSR is viewed as a vital concept that businesses of all types and size need to understand and address. Also, there is a positive relationship between SMEs and CSR and their competitiveness.Our common challenge is to help member states to apply the new directive and new measures in their Operational Programmes in order SMEs to increase their competitiveness and sustainability.   Road-CSR brings together 7 partners from 7 countries, involving the managing authorities & regional bodies influencing regional and national policy instruments, to help EU member states to apply CSR principles into the core business of SMEs helping them with this way to become more competitive, sustainable, innovative and accomplish long term profitability with social justice and environmental protection. To incorporate CSR principles into SMEs’ business core the project includes a wide range of activities, focusing on promoting the interregional learning process and the exchange of experience among regional authorities.   Project activities include: 

• Investigation of the integration of CSR principles into SMEs and to national/regional legislation and programmes. 
• Identification of successful best practices
• Evaluation and analysis of the level of impacts of CSR principles on the performance of SME’s.
• Analysis of the factors (barriers and enablers) that influence the adoption of CSR into SMEs. 
• Promoting public dialogue and consultation process to build consensus and ensure the successful implementation of regional action plans, through the support and participation of key regional stakeholders. 
• Fostering interregional learning and capacity building through workshops, study visits, and policy learning events.
• Joint development of action plans to promote the improvement of the policy instruments addressed by the project. 
• Policy recommendations for Directive 2014/95/EU and dissemination of them beyond the geographical scope of the project.
• Increasing awareness, promoting and disseminating the project results and knowledge beyond the partnership. 

Continuing Road-CSR (Additional Call) Covid-19 pandemic is one of the most significant changes in the modern economic history with profound impact on CSR. It is clear that SMEs behaviours has been exemplar due to adapting CSR actions to the current health, economic, and social needs. Crisis has caused a change in the way SMEs pursue their economic, social, and environmental objectives, giving greater importance to the role they play in society than making huge profits. In this new scenario, SMEs need to adopt CSR strategies to establish a business commitment to society. The equilibrium of profit and common good is the more adequate strategy to survive in the long term but also to thrive after the epidemic has passed.
Governments all over the world have established economic aid packages to ease the imminent pressure for SMEs. However, the long-term impacts on SMEs and societies have not yet come. Governmental measures should encourage SMEs to maintain ethical business practices and fulfil their CSR commitment so that impacts are widespread and sustainable. Continuing the project, 2 regional stakeholder meetings are organized in each region, one in each semester to discuss the impacts of the pandemic in the field of CSR and how SMEs have been affected. A study will be done at semester 1 highlighting the impacts on SMEs and CSR and the new CSR initiatives that emerge during the pandemic. The results of the study and the exchange of experience from the regional stakeholders’ meetings are capitalized during the organization of the two joint stakeholder meetings that are organized with the participation of the stakeholder’s groups and staff members of the partners. The results from the exchange of experience are taken into account to make the national policies to think CSR as “COVID-19 Social Responsibility” and make current and future operational programmes more adaptive to the new situation where CSR plays a crucial role in alleviating the negative consequences of the pandemic for companies and society.