My research is focus on the Chinese SMEs. However, I got stuck at how to motivate Chinese SMEs to adopt CSR. Also, whether large companies might learn from SMEs or not.
SMEs, by nature, are closer with local stakeholders compared with larger corporations. While large corporations can be competitive by taking advantage of running large scales economies, the SMEs usually try to be "pleasant" and closer to local stakeholders, because in this way they can differentiate their products and survive.
In the marketplace, any organization learn from other competetors. In a volatile environments, learning from your competitors is also a good way to find new opportunities in the marketplace.
Through organizational learning any organization improves the ability to respond to various business situations and therefore enhance competitive performance by means of generating of new knowledge.
Dear Lian
You can also review it from Resource-Based Theory, how the smaller firm can mobilize their resources for CSR purposes. Apart from that, you can also analyse those points suggested by Panagiotis Karavitis and Mahfuz Judeh
Good luck in your studies.
Cheers
CSR is most often utilized by large organizations that are much more efficient at integrating the concept in their existing organizational framework and governance mechanisms. Difficulties in adapting and developing CSR in micro, small and medium enterprises stem primarily from lack of understanding of what role it should play in their activities, how it can be adjusted to the specific nature of their operations, and what advantages could be derived from its application.
In my experience, large companies take the lead and SMEs join hands, through industry associations. SME rarely have the time and money to focus on CSR by themselves. There could be exceptions, but that is what they are, exceptions rather than norm. Unless an SME comes up with really ground braking model which can be scaled up, large firms may not be able to learn much from them.