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Article

12 Sep 2012

Author:
Wayne Visser, Kaleidoscope Futures, in Guardian [UK]

Practising social responsibility without the CSR label [Mexico]

SMEs [small & medium sized enterprises] face many barriers in adopting sustainable business practices but with a little creativity, collaboration and help from government, things could change...The government's business accelerator programme supports these SMEs by funding institutions that can help the sector grow by improving competitiveness...One such business accelerator is the IDEARSE Center at Anahuac University in Mexico City. The centre's business model for SME acceleration is built around CSR, incorporating environmental impacts, human rights, self-regulation, social impacts and community involvement and stakeholder engagement...by working with the supply chains of big brands such as Sony, Coca-Cola and Cemex and having trained more than 150 SMEs since 2007, the SMEs achieved sales growth...These numbers debunk several popular myths, most notably that CSR is not relevant, too expensive or not incentivised for SMEs. [also refers to Nike, Walmart]