Political CSR in an SME Perspective: African Perspectives in a European Framework

We engage a discussion of political CSR in SMEs in an African context. Based on critical observations on Western MNC action in emerging economies, political economists have argued that business profit far more than society from CSR. In this paper we argue that the imperative for growth in developing economies provide an option to consider the scope and potential of SME engagement for local social development. Interestingly, while African business is not usually compared to nor found to share much similarity with European business practices, our empirical studies of CSR in African SMEs reveal a number of shared characteristics with their European counterparts. Supported by prior studies on European SMEs and our empirical findings from Africa, we conceptualize how CSR in SMEs in both regions first and foremost tends to be strongly focused on the ”proximity factors” of employees and local society. We discuss how the SME propensity to prioritize proximity factors (feelings of importance of nearness) in CSR decision-making in SMEs has different implications in an African than a European context. Future research paths are proposed to explore political CSR in SMEs in a developing economy context