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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an important subject in business administration, and has been for many years. Over the past few years it has been become an increasingly debated topic. The CSR subject mainly focuses on multinational enterprises (MNEs), resulting in a research gap concerning CSR in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). SMEs outline the majority of all companies on the European market; therefore, it is empirically interesting to further investigate how SMEs perceive CSR commitment. The purpose of this dissertation is to explain how CSR commitment of internal and external stakeholders influences CSR commitment in SMEs. The research was conducted with a quantitative survey. The data collected with the survey was tested and analyzed with both an explanatory and exploratory research strategy. Explanatory research was performed in order to test the derived hypotheses and explain the research question. Exploratory research was then performed in order to provide a further understanding of how SMEs view stakeholders and their CSR commitment. These two research strategies revealed that internal and external stakeholders influence CSR commitment in SMEs. However, SMEs perceive some stakeholders similarly because of their relationship with the company. There are three main concepts of CSR commitment: environmental, social and financial responsibility. Results showed that financial CSR is considered distinctly different from the two other measured CSR concepts. The theoretical contributions may be of importance to owners of SMEs and MNEs in order to gain a deeper understanding of CSR as a subject. Also, findings can help scholars interested in further researching CSR commitment in SMEs. The methodological contributions of this dissertation are of relevance for future research on the subject, since the developed instrument for measuring CSR commitment was successful. Without an established measure for this area, this instrument enables further development and thereby more valid research regarding CSR commitment and SMEs.

Corporate Social Responsibility is attracting more public attention in business world nowadays. It has evolved well in developed countries while there still remains some CSR issues in emerging economies such as China and Turkey. Thus, when some multi- national enterprises select suppliers in China and Turkey they come with CSR requirements and pressure. In this supplier-buyer context, less study has been carried out from suppliers’ perspective on how they implement the CSR pressure and whether it has positive or negative impact on their relationship with the buyer and impact on themselves. In addressing this problem in this particular supplier-buyer environment, the purpose of this study is to explore the perspectives and practices of suppliers regarding CSR in emerging economies like China and Turkey with strong export relationships to companies in developed countries. In order to achieve this purpose, this thesis presents a qualitative study supported by primary data gathered by interviews and secondary data gathered by examining company documents. One Chinese supplier and one Turkish supplier were chosen as two cases in this study. Both have supplier-buyer relationships with the same buyer which has a large role in the textile industry. Interviews were conducted with two suppliers respectively to gain research data. The result of the study shows that: (1) CSR is perceived differently by Turkish and Chinese supplier. The Chinese supplier emphasizes their CSR perspectives on only economic and philanthropic levels while the Turkish supplier includes also ethical and legal levels. (2) In supply chains, both suppliers comply with codes of conduct from the buyer and additionally conduct CSR activities voluntarily. Both suppliers focus on philanthropy and community contribution but the Turkish supplier work on environmental friendly products. (3) There is no direct positive impact linked with CSR compliance in terms of supplier-buyer relationship for both suppliers. In other words, requirements on CSR from the buyer do not contribute much to their supply chain relationships. (4) CSR practices bring competitive advantages for both suppliers. Those competitive advantages include innovation capability and positive corporate reputation.