*4.7. Advice to SMEs*

When discussing with interviewees the advice they might have for SMEs, the main ideas put forward emphasized the need for all aspects of the supply chain to understand the big sustainability issues as well as how each business, large or small, had a part to play in delivering responsibility. The importance of senior leadership support, preferably from a 'charismatic leader who can bring people with them' (R5), was highlighted.

The most common theme was the need for SMEs to understand what their businesses are about and then to focus on one or two things that build responsibility in that activity (e.g., R2, R3, R4, R5, R8, R9). R9 offered this illustration:

*'* ... *for example, a butchers shop needs to show the cow was happy before it was slaughtered, that their supplier was responsible and that all cows were tagged and farmed locally so that customers feel they are helping local people and can trust in the butcher'.*

In other words, this meant that CSR should be a 'core value' (R9) and linked at a strategic level to the heart of the business and what it does. It was meaningless, for example, for a local solicitor to sponsor a golf day for charity when its core value is in legal knowledge; instead, the practice should look to share its skills with a local legal aid charity with pro bono work for the community (R2). There was an idea that SMEs should 'be generous' (R10) to enable other firms and groups to take value from what they did not need now. This meant 'strategic alignment' (R8) to something that was important to the community and adding value to both the community and the business. In this, CSR needed to be 'more than just philanthropy' (R5): SMEs needed to choose an approach that was strategically relevant. Another way that SMEs could identify the key activities to focus on could be to look at what the business was already engaged with, using a CSR lens, and to get on 'the front foot, to share what you do and how you are part of the remedy' (R9).

Like their own large businesses, the interviewees suggested that CSR for SMEs was about citizenship, stakeholders, and the environment, the three pillars of sustainability, being ethical and responsible, and looking at what will really 'make a difference' (R4) rather than what is current in the press. CSR effort needed to be about what was important for the business itself and, in this, the supply chain, climate change, and continuity were key. It was suggested that SMEs should ensure that they have a supply chain strategy that identifies different risk assessment scenarios and several options that offer the greatest mitigation. R2 encouraged SMEs to understand the future of their industry sector, how it was changing, and how CSR would play a part in that. Fundamentally, SMEs should look to act responsibly in their own context.
