Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility Towards Sustainable Development A Case Study of SMEs in Thanh Hoa Province

Abstract

Since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in 2006, domestic enterprises have to operate in a more fiercely competitive market, which put significant pressures on them to find ways to do business in a more sustainable and social responsible manner. In such a context, implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be an important step on the way towards fostering sustainable business for Vietnamese enterprises. However, literature review has not shown much evidence of how Vietnamese enterprises, particularly SMEs are implementing CSR, and which CSR issues are mostly concerned. This paper explores the current CSR practices and future focus on CSR issues of SMEs in Thanh Hoa province through a survey questionnaire designed on the basis of ISO26000 standard. Research results show that most companies are doing better in labor practices and community involvement and development rather than other CSR topics including environment, governance and human rights, fair operating practices, and consumer issues. In addition, two thirds of the surveyed companies claim that they will focus on several specific environmental issues and community involvement activities in the next five years as these issues play the key role in productivity and performance improvement. Therefore, it is concluded on the basis of the research results that CSR is being considered as a positive trend encouraging Vietnamese SMEs to do business sustainably, and there are clear signs that the SMEs are more committed to improving CSR implementation in the near future.