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CCIJ 14,2

CSR communication in small and medium-sized enterprises

A study of the attitudes and beliefs of middle managers
Anne Ellerup Nielsen and Christa Thomsen
ABS Centre for Corporate Communication, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how corporate social responsibility (CSR) appears and is communicated in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on theory and research on CSR communication in general and in SMEs and a qualitative case study of the attitudes and beliefs of Danish SME managers regarding CSR and CSR communication. Findings The case study demonstrates that CSR is primarily considered to be an ethical and moral issue which is isolated from strategic communication including public relations and reputation management. Rather than being a strategic instrument, CSR seems to be rooted in practice and regulated by the personal values and beliefs of managers. It is argued that in principle, SMEs like the ones in the case study which are based on employee commitment and the use of indirect word-of-mouth communication with internal and local stakeholders have a fruitful platform for adopting strategic CSR communication. The problem is how they should communicate CSR to their external stakeholders. Practical implications This paper provides insights into the social and societal commitment of SMEs and ways in which SMEs can respond to the challenges of communicating CSR more explicitly to external stakeholders. Originality/value Attention is paid to the rather complicated balance between CSR communication as window-dressing and CSR communication as a strategic instrument. Keywords Corporate social responsibility, Small to medium-sized enterprises, Denmark, Corporate communications Paper type Research paper

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Received January 2009 Revised January 2009 Accepted January 2009

Corporate Communications: An International Journal Vol. 14 No. 2, 2009 pp. 176-189 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1356-3289 DOI 10.1108/13563280910953852

1. Introduction Governments and other public authorities in Europe are putting increasing pressure on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to make them realise that respect for ethical codes of conduct and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not only a concern of multinational corporations (Luetkenhorst, 2004). The People & Prot Project funded by the European Social Fund and the National Danish Labour Market Authoritys Fund for Development of the Inclusive Labour Market is a good example of this pressure (Kramer et al., 2005). Business development in general also calls for an understanding and acknowledgement of the relevance of implementing CSR to achieve legitimacy among central stakeholders, and to increase business and market performance (Williamson et al., 2006; Cornelissen, 2008). Concepts such as stakeholder management, reputation management and supply chain management are now

relatively widespread, so SMEs need to ask themselves whether they should increase their activity level and their communication or documentation of CSR (Perrini and Tencati, 2006; Sarbutts, 2003; Vaaland and Heide, 2007). Surveys and research in the eld demonstrate that many SMEs tend to handle CSR activities unsystematically and on a personal ad hoc basis (Murillo and Lozano, 2006). On the one hand, it is argued that SMEs should learn from larger organisations when it comes to managing CSR and informing both internal and external stakeholders of their best practices (Murillo and Lozano, 2006). On the other hand, however, researchers tend to agree that CSR communication is a delicate issue, the problem being that although corporations are encouraged to engage in CSR to build strong reputations, stakeholders are often reluctant to receive too much information about their CSR engagements (Morsing, 2003, p. 150). In this paper, we address CSR communication in SMEs, focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of SME middle managers regarding CSR and CSR communication in order to answer the question of how CSR appears in SMEs and how it is communicated. We do so by means of CSR communication research and a case study conducted in two Danish SMEs. Our analysis paves the way for a discussion of the challenges and opportunities for adopting CSR as a central strategic tool in SMEs. The paper is divided into six sections including this introduction. Section 2 presents methodology. Section 3 presents the most important theories or models proposed by researchers to understand CSR communication and the context of CSR communication in SMEs. The presentation focuses on the basic challenges highlighted in the literature, i.e. the organisation or approach to CSR; the distinctions between implicit and explicit, inside-out and outside-in, direct and indirect; and CSR channels and issues with regard to strategic stakeholders. Section 4 presents our analysis of the attitudes and beliefs of middle managers regarding CSR communication in order to answer the question of how CSR appears in SMEs and how it is communicated. Section 5 discusses the attitudes and beliefs of SME middle managers as a challenge to CSR communication. In the concluding section, we offer a discussion of the challenges and opportunities of adopting CSR as a central strategic tool in SMEs. 2. Methodology This paper is based on qualitative data derived from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with three middle managers in two Danish SMEs: the manager of logistics and the environmental and security manager in the Danish packaging enterprise Styropack A/S, and the factory manager in the Danish wood-burning stove manufacturing enterprise RAIS A/S. These two enterprises were selected as typical Danish industrial SMEs facing the challenges of globalisation and with a proven track record in CSR-related activities such as inclusive labour market initiatives, environmental management and employee-related initiatives [1]. The idea has not been to compare the two case studies but rather to investigate similarities in two cases sharing the same contextual characteristics. The choice of middle managers for the interviews was motivated by a wish to study the attitudes and beliefs of a group of managers who play an important role in the transmission and integration of organisational culture (Schein, 1999; Valentino, 2004), and thus for the integration of CSR. For instance, Schein (1999) highlights the role of middle managers in creating a compelling positive vision and being a positive role model. The study used

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a collective case study approach, which investigated, through detailed discussions with the three middle managers concerned, how CSR appears in SMEs and how it is communicated. The case study approach allows an investigation to retain the holistic and meaningful characteristics of real-life events (Yin, 1984), such as the organisational and managerial communication practices studied here. Interviews were analysed by drawing out a number of key CSR communication themes and comparing the interviewee responses. Quotes are used to illustrate key research ndings. Key areas of investigation were CSR terminology or concepts and strategic CSR communication, including identity and reputation. 3. CSR communication CSR communication is an important element of the strategic approach to communication, based on the idea that companies can create a strong identity by implementing a systematic and proactive strategic communication practice within their organisations, paving the way for the building and maintaining of favourable reputations and relationships with key stakeholders (Cornelissen, 2004, p. 17). Below, we focus on the basic challenges highlighted in the literature. 3.1 Approach to and organisation of CSR As Carroll (1994, p. 6), one of the most prestigious scholars in this eld, has noted, the map of the overall CSR eld is quite poor. CSR is a fuzzy and contested concept which varies in terms of its underlying meanings and the issues addressed (Matten and Moon, 2008, p. 405). According to Matten and Moon (2008), the precise denition of CSR is at the discretion of the enterprise concerned, i.e. enterprises are rooted in a specic social and cultural context. However, some attempts have been made to elaborate classications based, for example, on the historical development of CSR from being primarily a concept associated with responsibility, obligation and philosophical considerations to being a concept associated with reaction capability, strategy and business-oriented considerations (Frederick, 1998). Recently, the association of CSR with strategy is expressed in headings such as: CSR as organisation development, CSR as stakeholder management, CSR as reputation management, etc. Other attempts have been made to elaborate classications based on matters related to CSR. For example, Garriga and Mele (2004) have proposed a classication by considering CSR theories and related approaches from the perspective of how the relationship between business and society is focused. They focus on four matters or main theoretical groupings, namely: (1) instrumental theories, which understand CSR as a mere means to gain prots; (2) political theories, which emphasise the social power of corporations, specically in their relationship with society; (3) integrative theories, which usually argue that business depends on society and must operate in accordance with social values; and (4) ethical theories, which consider that the relationship between business and society is embedded within ethical values, the focus being on the right way to achieve a good society. The way in which the relationship is focused depends on the context and the type of CSR concerned (implicit vs explicit, see below), and determines the organisation of CSR

(part of corporate communication, human resources, marketing, etc.), and the choice of channel/recipient and issue. 3.2 Implicit vs explicit CSR These days researchers agree that CSR is a contextual and dynamic concept, and that differences in CSR between different countries are due to a variety of longstanding, historically entrenched institutions (Matten and Moon, 2008, p. 406). The differences emerge against a background of historical, political, scientic, cultural and of course, business developments (Habisch et al., 2004, p. 1). In their above-mentioned article, Matten and Moon (2008) argue rst that European countries, especially Scandinavian and Continental ones, have had a large amount of network ownership through networks of banks, insurance companies, or even governmental actors. Furthermore, European countries have historically had high levels of public ownership and public investment in private industry. Thus, European corporations have had a range of embedded relations with a relatively wide set of societal stakeholders. Second, in Europe, markets have tended to be organised by producer group alliances. The way these relations are organised touches on a signicant number of CSR issues, such as consumer protection, product stewardship and liability for production and products. Third, national business systems differ considerably in the way companies are governed, e.g. with regard to employer-employee relations, the degree to which delegation takes place and trust governs relationships, the level of discretion in the task environment of employees, and the degree of responsibility of managers towards employees. Coordination and control systems have a signicant impact on the role of employee stakeholders for the company. For example, according to Matten and Moon (2008), European employee representation and participation are covered by widespread employment regulations and protection covering a signicant number of issues which would be part of explicit CSR in the USA. The type of CSR concerned greatly inuences the choice of communication approach, including channel and issue. 3.3 Inside-out vs outside-in and direct vs indirect Morsing et al. (2008) contribute with two models that may help to explain how companies can best make decisions about channel and issue and communicate about their CSR initiatives. Based on a reputation survey and two case studies of Danish corporate CSR frontrunners, rst they develop an inside-out approach to suggest how managers can manage their CSR activities to achieve a favourable CSR reputation. Employees are a key component in building trustworthiness and CSR communication is shown to emerge when taking an inside-out approach. Second, they develop a CSR communication model with two CSR communication processes targeting different stakeholder groups: the expert CSR communication process and the endorsed CSR communication process, the former being direct and the latter being indirect, legitimised or endorsed by a third party. Integrating these models and processes, they argue, may help companies to strategically obtain a reputational advantage from their CSR initiatives. However, the authors also claim that the expectations regarding CSR are not the same worldwide. In Denmark, for instance, the public expects companies to engage in CSR activities. On the other hand, the public does not want companies to communicate too explicitly about their CSR engagement. The model demonstrates that the basis for trustworthy CSR communication is employee involvement in and

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commitment to corporate CSR policies in what is referred to as an inside-out approach. Without employee commitment, CSR communication is perceived as pure top managerial rhetoric. The model also demonstrates that the challenge of communicating CSR to stakeholders is managed by balancing expert and endorsed CSR communication processes aimed at highly involved stakeholders and the general public and customers, respectively. 3.4 CSR channels and issues While direct communication typically passes through formal channels and genres such as social or sustainability reports, web sites or brochures, etc., indirect communication typically nds its way to target groups through gatekeepers such as journalists of the local press, mouth-to-mouth communication from employees to local community actors or consumers, etc. From a reputation point of view, the public relations (PR) value of exploiting third-party endorsement when trying to legitimise business is far more extensive than if enterprises transmit the message by themselves (Morsing et al., 2008). Thus, instead of using formal channels for external communication, research posits that enterprises should consider how to strengthen their indirect CSR communication through relevant national and local stakeholders and networks. Communication through stakeholders has been investigated and discussed in the literature under the headings of stakeholder relations or stakeholder dialogue in particular (Payne and Carlton, 2002). The issues that make up the agenda of CSR have proliferated and changed over the years (Roome, 2005). Roome posits that the growing interest in CSR can be regarded as a response to an increasing demand for openness and transparency across the world. According to Roome (2005), for example, there was concern over the safety of products in the early 1970s. At the same time, there was concern among social activists about the involvement of companies in countries which were governed by repressive or oppressive regimes. From the 1980s onwards, this early CSR agenda was complemented by concerns about the wider environmental and social implications of company activities. Roome (2005) concludes that this led companies to adopt management systems to measure and monitor their environmental impacts and to develop and design new products or even new business models with a lower environmental impact. CSR concerns expanded again to include employment issues and conditions that go beyond legal requirements, especially the fair treatment of employees and other workers irrespective of gender, race, religious orientation, age and disability. More recently, corporate attention began to include the responsibility to ensure that suppliers conform to good labour standards and conditions, especially the use of child labour in developing economies. And even more recently, there has been a discussion about issues such as bribery, corruption and climate change. All this makes, it clear that the choice of channel and issue depends on the context or the type of CSR in question, and on the approach or perspective of the enterprise concerned. In the following, we shall take a closer look at CSR communication in SMEs. 4. Case analysis: the attitudes and beliefs of middle managers regarding CSR communication The CSR activities of Danish SMEs have been mapped in relation with the People & Prot Project conducted by the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency

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(TNS Gallup, 2005). CSR is dened in this context as the voluntary efforts of enterprises to integrate social and environmental considerations into their activities and their interaction with the surrounding world, i.e. the denition proposed by European Commission (2001, p. 6). In total, 1,071 SMEs have participated in an internet-based questionnaire survey of a representative cross-section of SMEs in Denmark. The most interesting result of the survey in our perspective is that CSR is not communicated to external stakeholders, or at any rate not systematically. CSR in SMEs seems to be more a practice than a strategy (Nielsen and Thomsen, 2008). In this perspective, it is interesting to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of SME middle managers regarding CSR communication. As mentioned above, our case analysis below is based on semi-structured interviews conducted with three middle managers of two SMEs. They are both situated in the north-west of Denmark. 4.1 CSR as strategic communication The way in which the SME managers in our case study put CSR into discourse demonstrates that CSR is primarily perceived as a question of ethical and moral behaviour. Rather than being regarded as a competitive parameter, CSR is connected to human resources and thus both isolated from business strategy and from strategic communication planning:
When I look at our strategic plan for the next three years, it doesnt really include much of that sort of thing. It focuses more on nance, strengths and weaknesses, SWOT analysis, other analyses and market development is what it is about. The other stuff is sort of something which belongs in another organisation. Of course, we also have our visions, strategies and policies like other companies, but it is mostly something which is left on the shelf (Company A [2]).

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Staging CSR as the other stuff and as something which belongs to another organisation clearly indicates that CSR is not integrated into the overall strategy, and nor is it subject to systematic and strategic planning procedures within the company. By claiming that visions, strategies and policies are documents which can be left on the shelf, the company misses the possibility of using strategic CSR communication as a management instrument that can serve to lead the company in a specic direction over time. At the same time, the SME managers interviewed also demonstrate a strong hesitation to use CSR as a marketing instrument:
The funny thing is that we have always been extremely bad at telling the public how good we are [. . .] (Company A). We have discussed it, but we have not really agreed that it is something we want to do. I guess we somehow feel that we are a provincial company, and he who lives quietly, lives well. You could easily go out and promote yourself on this, but I and several other people in management have faith in or nd that it is just too much to promote your company on proper treatment, as we have always treated people well. But if it turns out that our competitors start making a big thing out of it, then we may also do it. I do not think we would be the rst to beat the drums for it. We would rather spread the good news through people like you and TV programmes and stuff like that (Company B [3]).

What the discourse of the above quotation seems to reveal is that CSR is seen as the management of relationships with people. As pointed out in Morsing et al. (2008),

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engaging in advertising campaigns to spread information about CSR activities is less common in European and particularly Danish companies than in American companies, for instance. In addition, the two case study companies are based in the Danish provinces, far from a metropolitan culture of self-promotion in which sophisticated communication tools seem to be more the rule. This cultural context also partly explains the modest approach to using corporate self-promotion as a strategic tool. However, both the companies interviewed admit that their external communication could be far more streamlined and advantageous. They also seem to be aware of the value of using endorsed rather than direct communication channels. Even so, the examples above seem to prove that the approach of the two SMEs to communication is spontaneous and hesitant. Their strategy in relation to external communication can be characterised as a reactive strategy, which again emphasises the fact that communication internally and externally is primarily based on ad hoc activities and subject to day-to-day decisions. When it comes to the strategic level, communication is restricted to specic niche issues such as environmental care, which due to pressure from important clients has represented a signicant communication issue for both companies for several years. They are both labelled with the green ag and engaged in environmental reporting, etcetera. But in spite of their rather prominent position in environmental CSR, it seems obvious that strategic marketing communication is not part of a strategic coordinated effort, something which is made clear in the following quotation:
We also have it [web video] on DVD, but I dont actually know if it is the dealers or who actually gets those DVDs. We have talked about putting a CD in each package together with the user manual, but its the marketing department that takes the decision. I dont know anything about it, I only know that we have a lot of these CDs, but I dont know anything about the distribution, whether the dealers just distribute them to people who ask for them or if they are sent out with each [unit], I actually dont know (Company B).

This quotation is a classic example of the separation of internal and external communication. One unit in the company is not aware of how the other units operate and which messages they transmit to the stakeholders. This type of practice demonstrates one of the major communication challenges in both large and small companies, which is the act of coordinating internal and external communication in order to assure the alignment of a companys vision and image to its organisational culture (Schultz and Hatch, 2001). Finally, the non-strategic approach to CSR communication and reputation management is reected in the companies approach to measuring their activities:
I dont know have never measured it. I think it is extremely difcult to measure the activities you initiate whether they pay on the bottom line or not [. . .] I believe it is the right thing we do, and I would nd it hard to work in another company that doesnt (Company A). We havent measured oh, these terrible measurements [. . .] (Company B).

This quotation clearly demonstrates that the measurement of the effect of CSR is not an instrument that is integrated into the overall strategy of the company. Thus, the SMEs involved in this paper miss the opportunity of using gap analysis (for example) as part of a branding project in order to create a stronger consistency between the communicated identity of the company and its image amongst internal and external stakeholders.

4.2 CSR as the companys core identity As shown above, CSR is most often staged as an ethical and moral issue. CSR is interpreted as a question of human values and attitudes rather than as a driver of environmental or other issues or as a question of prot maximisation:
You can make all sorts of agreements on labour market retention and collaboration collaborate with social authorities about hiring people for work test assessments and those sorts of things. But fundamentally, you also need to have a position towards will you treat your staff properly or wont you [. . .] I mean, when I think about social responsibility, then I think about human relations and not so much in terms of the environment and not as broad as they were thinking at that CSR course, where it was the environment and all sorts of other things [. . .] (Company A).

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To judge from the way the managers speak, the organisational identity of companies is typically anchored in their personalities and primarily expressed in their interaction with employees. Organisational identity is also mapped in their general identication of the company as a good workplace:
I also think social responsibility is a bit like when you talk about sustainability. It has also got to do with the inclusive labour market, that you have the resources to take people in who dont have an easy life. To me social responsibility is very much about other people, but also about you being there as a socially responsible workplace (Company A).

The focus on a good workplace should be connected to cooperation between companies and the local community, with concepts such as integration of people outside the labour market and reduction of sickness leave playing an important role. Many Danish companies thus form partnerships with local government in order to contribute to collective projects in the local community such as job integration, job retention, etcetera. However, CSR is also perceived as a contextual and dynamic concept:
We have called it social responsibility for many years. I have been here for 4 1 2 years and it has actually also been practised before that, but it hasnt been promoted externally. It has more been about us treating each other properly internally, and in that period when [many companies] closed, and where we slowly grew bigger, at that time we actually also considered that it retained jobs and created new jobs to be part of the social responsibility around here [. . .] (Company B).

When CSR is identied as a question of human integration, there is a natural link between this approach and the nancial situation of companies. CSR is regarded not only as an expense but as an investment, and more precisely a long-term investment:
Many companies think about how to receive subsidies. We receive subsidies, but they are not part of a strategic game. It might be fairly easy to get manpower at the moment, but there are times when companies with good workplaces nd it easier to recruit people than other companies. It also makes it easier to retain employees. Generally, it is expensive to recruit, and easier to retain your employees (Company A). What we do should pay. We are not a philanthropic association. We are here to make a prot, and we make no secret of that. What we do to act socially responsibly, it is also because we believe it pays. That we can attract the right employees, that we can retain the right employees and get the right young people to work for us as apprentices (Company B).

The fact that the SMEs in our study seem to approach CSR as a moral obligation rather than a strategic issue should not be taken as a reason to believe that CSR is practised as

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a duty following the deontological approach to doing good (Langer, 2006, p. 120). As shown in the example above, SME managers also demonstrate a utilitarian approach to CSR, having realised the potential competitive advantage of being ahead in terms of environmental innovation. The implementation of CSR in the SMEs involved in this paper is primarily realised together with the stakeholders of the company, amongst whom the employees constitute the most important group:
It is what Im saying, e-mails and computers are ne, but most communication is body language, and you lose that both in questionnaires and when communicating. It is ne for short information, but if you are to discuss stuff like how you are doing, then you have to be face-to-face to know exactly what youre talking about. It will always be a one-sided answer you will get (Company A).

As shown in this example, the dialogue or symmetrical communication approach to stakeholder communication is of great concern (Grunig and Hunt, 1984). The overall purpose of dialogue is to reach mutual understanding among the companies stakeholders and come to an agreement. The conditions required for this model to succeed are negotiation and compromise. According to Grunig and Hunt (1984), the two-way symmetrical communication model is not only more ethical but also more efcient as far as fullling a companys mission is concerned. It opens up for sense-making rather than sense-giving, leaving room for mutual understanding of CSR as a win-win project (Morsing and Schultz, 2006). The dialogical competences of the SMEs in this paper are revealed, among other things, in the way they take the initiative for dialogue:
It also means that if you nd out that someone has a drinking problem or something like that, then youve got to have a plan for how to handle it, also in a way where you dont say you are not of any use here [. . .] We have a driver, I still think of it as some of the worst, that people can feel like that, but he ended up having tinnitus and was on sick leave for 14 days, he had been here for many years and we heard [. . .] and we called him and asked how he was, and he answered, phew, that it isnt good. And then we had him come out here for a talk, and the thing is that his biggest problem was that he was afraid he was going to lose his job [. . .] and we answered forget about work, if it takes one, two or ten months, when you are ready there will be a job for you. Then a week passed and he was at work. That is actually what I see as social responsibility, that you dare say to people you should know that your job will also be there afterwards (Company A).

Besides, taking the initiative for dialogue, the SMEs also seem to demonstrate a proactive action pattern in responding to initiatives from and cooperating with the local authorities:
But it was to make the collaboration with the municipality easier. Instead of calling a lot of different people in different units and be put through, then we are in contact with one person and this person handles it from there [. . .] yes, plus of course, we also saw a nancial advantage in getting assistance as fast as possible out here. It will cost the company money, if we just let time pass and it costs us, and of course, we like to get people back to work again. Otherwise we need to nd new people to ll in the gaps, and it takes time to train them and that also costs money (Company B).

The CSR goals and activities of the SMEs in this paper are communicated through many different channels depending on the focus of the relationships involved, e.g. personnel policies, networks, informal groups, employee representatives, job pilots,

employee appraisal interviews, weekly newsletters, work and security committees, logo cakes, employee satisfaction surveys, courses, storytelling, etc. Our case study demonstrates that SME managers believe that their companies have a signicant identity as socially responsible organisations, an identity they have built up and acquired over a number of years thanks to fruitful relationships with their employees and efcient internal communication. However, they also feel that their companies are not particularly good external communicators. Basically, the SMEs in this paper have a good platform for adopting strategic communication understood as the task of aligning and coordinating their communication activities. The question is how to make this alignment evident. Our paper concludes by tracing the challenges and opportunities of CSR communication in SMEs. 5. Discussion: attitudes and beliefs of SME middle managers as a challenge to CSR communication The more general question now is which particular challenges SMEs face in communicating about their CSR commitments, and whether they have special opportunities that are different from those of larger companies. Building a strong identity by implementing strategic communication seems to indicate that SME managers should copy the example of larger companies which have the will and capacity to build and maintain strong relationships with central stakeholders based on an inside-out perspective. In terms of implicit vs explicit CSR, the SMEs of our study tend to adopt an overall implicit strategy of silence, which leaves them in a strong and weak position at the same time. On the one hand, they seem to avoid the dilemma of exposing themselves so extensively that they risk being accused of bragging and using CSR as window dressing (Morsing and Schultz, 2006); or worse, getting caught in controversial scandals in which what is said is not what is actually practised. On the other hand, their silence prevents them from spreading the news about innovative CSR projects such as CO2-reductive or other environmentally friendly measures thereby preventing them from improving their reputation based on their actual CSR performance. As far as the inside-out approach to CSR is concerned, the SMEs studied here already adopt this approach to a large degree, giving them a clear advantage over larger corporations. To the extent that CSR seems to be a natural extension of their organisational identity and culture, and due to their size and stage of development, SMEs are much better off than bigger companies when it comes to managing relationships and dialogue with central stakeholders. As demonstrated in the analysis above, the SME managers in this paper have a close relationship with their employees. Direct communication as opposed to indirect communication is probably the most important challenge for SMEs. First, SMEs like the ones involved in our case study are not bound to present annual accounts regarding their business or to report on their CSR operations. And since most of their printed and electronic material consists of marketing documentation based on product rather than corporate issues, they rarely inform expert stakeholders such as Nongovernmental Organisations (NGOs), investors or the media about what they do in the eld of CSR. SMEs are rarely the rst ones to use gate keepers such as journalists, the local press, or other ambassadors to increase

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the awareness of stakeholders about their existence or promote their image and reputation through third-party endorsement communication. As pinpointed in the section above, the use of communication channels and issues by the the SMEs of our study reects the above-mentioned modesty and local behaviour pattern with regard to using PR as a self-promotional instrument. Therefore, their use of formal communication channels is typically restricted to one-way channels such as web sites, marketing leaets, brochures and technical product documentation including environmental aspects in other words, channels which are primarily targeted at their b2b clients. More general corporate CSR issues which are normally communicated in sustainability or environmental reports in larger companies are typically left out of the formal communication of SMEs. SMEs like the ones involved in our case study are more likely to use informal two-way channels such as personal communication with members of the local community and employees. As pointed out earlier, two agendas determine to some extent the CSR issues which occupy Danish SMEs. The rst of these is environmental concern and sustainability, including climate change. The second agenda involves developing the issue of assuring CSR in the supply chain, which is a new challenge for many SMEs. This issue has generated good media coverage during the last couple of years, causing many critical consumers to boycott companies which collaborate with suppliers that bypass international standards such as the UN Global Compact. 6. Conclusion In a strategic communication perspective, SMEs like the ones involved in our case study need to reect on how to strengthen and develop their identity and their image or reputation as good corporate citizens. The SMEs in our study primarily associate the idea of reputation with being a good workplace, which is considered a strong point in itself. However, in order to benet more from being a good workplace, SMEs need to strengthen both their direct and their indirect communication, for example by drawing on the national and the local press. For instance, by incorporating relevant press networks SMEs will be able to benet more from the PR potential inherent in their regular exposure in newspapers and journals (business portraits, debate columns, chronicles, letters from readers, etc.). Only in this way can they improve their indirect communication to the public and to the community and attract attention to the many good things they do. Other (perhaps less expensive) initiatives could involve identifying the potential for exposure in business networks, cross-sector partnerships, awards, etcetera. Various forms of cooperation with students and other forums also constitute a platform for exploiting their communication potential more explicitly. Many business-to-business SMEs are known only to their own employees, customers and suppliers. By using the intranet together with external web pages, and by focusing on the possibilities offered by interactive technology such as debate forums and weblogs, SMEs can strengthen their formal communication in a manner which will not necessarily be perceived as self-promotional by critical stakeholders. In addition, the very organisation of CSR can in itself strengthen the CSR prole of SMEs. One possibility is to consider marketing and perhaps also PR as a function that is closely related to the general management and the personnel management function. Doing this makes it possible to integrate communication with employees and external market communication, while increasing the synergy effect between the employees as ambassadors in the local community and the direct market and PR communication.

Measures like those mentioned above will undoubtedly help to clarify the CSR prole of the SMEs involved in this study, as well as helping them to cope with the demands which they face in a globalised world, where concepts such as reputation management and supply chain management are crucial. Our case study of the attitudes and beliefs of selected SME middle managers regarding CSR communication demonstrates that strategic CSR communication is not yet part of the mindset of middle managers like those interviewed here. So the rst challenge is to inuence the mindset of SME middle managers.
Notes 1. The enterprises in our study were selected among 1,071 SMEs who participated in the quantitative part of the project, which involved an internet-based questionnaire survey of a representative cross-section of SMEs in Denmark (TNS Gallup, 2005). 2. Styropack A/S. 3. RAIS A/S.

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Further reading Moore, S.B. and Manring, S.L. (2009), Strategy development for small and medium sized enterprises for sustainability and increased value creation, Journal of Cleaner Production., Vol. 17, pp. 276-82. Morsing, M. and Beckmann, S. (2006), Strategic CSR Communication, Djf, Copenhagen.

Schultz, M., Antorini, Y.M. and Csaba, F.F. (2005), Corporate Branding. Towards the Second Wave of Corporate Branding, CBS Press, Copenhagen. Spence, L.J. (2007), CSR and small business in a European policy context: the ve Cs of CSR and small business research agenda 2007, Business and Society Review, Vol. 112 No. 4, pp. 533-52. Van Riel, C.B.M. (1995), Principles of Corporate Communication, Prentice-Hall, Harlow. Van Riel, C.B.M. and Fombrun, C.J. (2004), Fame and Fortune How Successful Companies Build Winning Reputation, Prentice-Hall, New York, NY. About the authors Anne Ellerup Nielsen is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Corporate Communication, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University. Her research interests cover areas, strategic CSR communication, corporate branding and reputation management, marketing communication and public relations. Christa Thomsen is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Corporate Communication, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University. Her research is within strategic corporate Communication, CSR communication, public-private partnerships and organizational learning and change. Christa Thomsen is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: ct@asb.dk

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