CR4SME - Corporate sustainability in SMEs
The “Competence team for sustainable, strategic and opportunity-oriented management of SMEs”, funded by the City of Vienna, (sub)searched for competitive solutions for the management of social responsibility in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The challenges arising from the integration of social and ecological aspects into business processes are addressed.
Together with international partners from research and business, the competence team primarily conducts application-oriented research into the development and implementation of instruments for managing the social responsibility of SMEs.
Duration: 01.02.2016 to 31.01.2019
Funding: Vienna University of Applied Sciences funding from the Department of Economics, Labor and Statistics (MA 23)
Project partners: BIOGENA, Boutiquehotel Stadthalle, Buchbinderei Fuchs, CUITEC Großküchentechnik, CulumNATURA, Hotel & Villa Auersperg, Mach & Partner ZT-GmbH, Ölmühle Fandler
Projekt Goal
The CR4SME project encompassed the three core areas of research, education and practice: the results were disseminated in the scientific community through publications and lectures and taught to all Master’s students of business administration at FHWien der WKW. Through cooperation with SMEs, the results also lead directly to the implementation of sustainably successful changes.
Project results
The project funded by the City of Vienna was successfully completed in January 2019. The key elements of the closing event were the workshop with the project partner companies in the afternoon and the presentation of the results followed by a discussion, exchange of experience and knowledge on the promotion of sustainability strategies in SMEs in the evening. Team leader Daniela Ortiz presented the results of the three-year project in the areas of practice, education and research.
- In the area of practice, 20 articles were published in specialist journals and blogs, an anthology and eleven interviews by the team (including in derStandard, die Presse and profil). In addition, guest lectures were held and numerous events coordinated.
- In the area of education, the organization and implementation of the CGBE Lectures, the development of case studies for education with the partner companies, the increased involvement in the PRME network and the further development of the new curricula of FHWien der WKW with a focus on strategic sustainability management were key elements.
- In the area of research, two specialist articles were published in peer-reviewed journals and seven conference papers were accepted. Furthermore, three conferences were co-organized, eight qualitative case studies with a total of 30 interviews and a quantitative survey of 120 companies were conducted.
The term “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)” entered the academic literature more than 20 years ago in connection with corporate strategy. Since then, a multitude of different definitions of CSR have been developed. In order to sort through the jungle of formulations and illuminate them for corporate practice, the “Stadt Wien Kompetenzteam CR4SME” (City of Vienna Competence Team CR4SME) has recorded the most diverse definitions used in the literature with regard to their practical significance for SMEs and summarized them into four motifs based on thematic aspects. The results were published in the renowned Journal of Cleaner Production. A well-founded analysis for all those who want to take a closer look at the topic of “corporate sustainability”.