The Corporate Social Responsibility Model in Romania: A Theoretical and Practical Approach for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

In the context of Romania’s accession to the European Union, the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) into day-to-day business decisions has become one of the main pillars of the economic and social development. Although CSR was initially considered an attribute of large companies, especially international and multinational ones, in the last years the importance of the concept application was also demonstrated for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This particular importance is based on the strategic advantages and positive stakeholders’ implication that CSR usually brings on for the responsible companies. Considering the above mentioned premises, the purpose of the present research paper is to emphasize the main characteristics of CSR in Romania for all types of companies, but especially for SMEs. First part of the paper aims to synthesize the CSR models considering the specialized literature and the European requirements in the field. Second part of the paper is devoted to CSR model identification for the Romanian business environment based on theoretical and practical evidence. Finally, third part of the research aims to highlight the main advances in the domain of SMEs’ CSR in Romania – what was done, as well as other necessary measures – what should be done, in order to transform this type of implication into strategic business actions developed according to the European and national requirements. Examples of best practices and relevant case studies would be analyzed for strongly confirming the theoretical framework and also an optimal model could be emphasized for SMEs in Romania.