Building CSR. Theoretical perspectives and innovative practices

Abstract

Only a quarter of very small, small and medium-sized enterprises (VSEs/MSEs) have formalised their responsible practices in a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. This is the starting point for the book coordinated by Virginie CARTIER.Two key questions emerge: What are these responsible practices?
How can they be disseminated? The book draws its answers from an ambitious research programme, the PrIORRA project (2021-2023), during which twenty-five researchers and experts studied the responsible practices of twenty-one VSEs/SMEs in the Rhône-Alpes region. The sample is eclectic. It includes companies in industry, catering, agro-ecology and events, with between two and two hundred and fifty employees.
The PrIORRA project, which informs every chapter of the book, is based on collaborative action research. Following a pragmatist logic, it brought together researchers and stakeholders with a view to identifying problems, outlining solutions and transforming practices. This cooperative action research considered the members of organisations not simply as objects of knowledge, but as reflexive subjects developing knowledge from and about their practices. In an introductory chapter, Virginie CARTIER and Marie-France VERNIER break down the six main methodological stages of this approach: (1) Elaboration of an action plan; (2) Definition of a plan; (3) Definition of a plan; (4) Definition of a plan; and (5) Definition of a plan.