­A new occassional paper “Small is sustainable (and beautiful!) – encouraging European smaller enterprises to be sustainable” from the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility at the Cranfield School of Management by David Grayson, Director & co-author Tom Dodd, DG Enterprise and Industry, European Commission was launched yesterday during the World Entrepreneurship Summit at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre, Westminster, UK.

Policy-makers and business development agencies are encouraged to re-think their approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for smaller firms, in this new Occasional Paper. Doughty Centre director David Grayson and co-author Tom Dodd argue that many of the factors making CSR more important for big business, are affecting smaller firms just as much. They particularly emphasise the competition for skilled workers; the importance of trust, reputation and relationships in the networked economy; and the rise of ethical and green consumers and employees.

Grayson and Dodd also highlight the growing number of initiatives across Europe from chambers of commerce, local authorities and trade associations, to help small firms to make sense of CSR. They review what is now known from academic studies and pilot projects across the EU about small firms and corporate responsibility; and suggest a number of critical issues for further efforts to promote CSR amongst small firms. They suggest a change of language from “CSR” to “sustainability” or “sustainable enterprise.”

As well as changing the message, Grayson and Dodd argue for care in selecting the messengers. “It matters who delivers the message,” they argue. “Credibility in the eyes of the SME owner-manager is crucial. Governments and politicians are generally not the most credible messengers for SMEs.” They go on to suggest that the most credible messengers are other SMEs – “businesses like us” – and call for some innovative thinking about how to facilitate peer-to-peer learning and influence between small businesses.

They also suggest that better targeting of messages is needed, and a more sophisticated understanding of the “journey” and the behaviours that owner-managers and small firms might typically take in embedding ideas of responsible business practice and sustainability in the way that they run their businesses.

Finally, they predict that supply-chain pressures for more sustainable business practice will intensify but that this needs more sharing of “know-how” and “know-who” and more facilitated learning within supply-chains. The paper is now publicly available to download as a pdf file here.

The oikos foundation for economy and ecology at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, is inviting qualified applications for two PhD Fellowship positions. Oikos PhD Fellows receive a grant for three years to conduct research in the field of Sustainability Management at the University of St. Gallen and contribute to international oikos projects.

The annual stipend will be CHF 36,000 (USD 32,000). Additional travel funds are available. Fellows will have the opportunity to build upon an excellent research platform at the University of St. Gallen, and make use of the global oikos network.

Application deadline is March 15, 2008. Please follow the link here for more information on oikos, the fellowship programme and the application process.

Presentations and other information material from the December 7th European Commission Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility ‘CSR at the global level: what role for the EU?’, organised by the Directorate General Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission are now available online here.

Among others, the material features presentations from Commissioner Vladimir Spidla and Mr John Ruggie. ­

The European Academy of Management (EURAM) has invited contributions to the 2008 EURAM Conference on ‘Managing Diversity: European Destiny and Hope. The conference in Ljubljana and Bled will be the first EURAM Conference organized in the CEE region. EABIS Affiliate Member, CEEMAN in cooperation with the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, and the IEDC-Bled School of Management, aims to bring a perspective from the CEE region.

Contributions from management researchers, scholars and practitioners from all over the world are invited. Research Papers will be presented in 46 most interesting parallel tracks. The deadline for paper submission is 18 January 2008. The Conference program is structured in such a way as to have also special tracks which address the key management research issues in transition and emerging economies.

More details on EURAM 2008 are available at www.euram2008.org.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Readings and Cases in a Global Context By Andrew Crane, Dirk Matten and Laura J. Spence (eds). Modern business is obliged to meet increasingly demanding ethical, environmental, legal, commercial and public standards as defined by wider society. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has therefore become an important consideration for managers at all levels, as well as one of the most vibrant areas of study and research in the field of business and management.

This book provides a comprehensive and student-centred introduction to the key themes and issues currently being addressed in CSR around the world. The book brings together material by teachers and scholars working in CSR today, as well as many cited and important articles, and is clearly structured in three parts:

• Understanding CSR
  
• Applying CSR
  
• Managing CSR 

Each section includes an extensive and accessible editorial commentary that introduces the key debates and themes contained in the articles, as well as clearly defined learning objectives to guide the reader and challenging and thought-provoking study questions to consolidate learning.

The book also includes three major case studies to enable the reader to relate theory to the real world, focusing on Nike in Asia, Vodafone in South Africa and ABN AMRO in Brazil. 

The publication is available from: Routledge UK/Europe: http://www.routledge.com/books/Corporate-Social-Responsibility-isbn9780415424295   ­