CSR AND PERFORMANCE IN SPANISH SMES: EXPLORING THE CAUSAL EFFECTS

Motivation and background: The present paper explores the relationship between CSR uptake and performance in SMEs. It builds on and extends the goals and activities carried out in the Responsible Med project, a European project involving 9 institutions of 6 different countries in the Mediterranean Area. The goals and components of the project have led us to carry out a parallel research based on the analysis of the visualization of CSR activities made by a statistically-defined sample of SMEs. Learning more about the particular corporate culture and the framework of the relationships that condition the economic and social functioning of SMEs is an important issue, especially if we bear in mind the relevance of SMEs in the Mediterranean economies.