Criteria for Responsible Business Practice in SMEs: An Exploratory Case of U.K. Fair Trade Organisations

This paper develops a set of 16 criteria, divided into four groupings, for responsible business practice (RBP) in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) drawn from the existing SME/RBP literature. The current lack of a general set of criteria against which such activity can be judged is noted and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business ethics 2009-10, Vol.89 (2), p.173-188
Main Authors: Moore, Geoff, Slack, Richard, Gibbon, Jane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business and Management
Business Ethics
Business practices
Corporate social responsibility
Disclosure
Education
Entrepreneurs
Environmental accounting
Ethics
Export-import trade
Fair Trade
Fairtrade
Feasibility studies
Management
Parliaments
Philosophy
Quality of Life Research
responsible business practice
Small & medium sized enterprises-SME
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Small business
Social accounting
Social responsibility
Social responsibility of business
Studies
United Kingdom
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Summary:This paper develops a set of 16 criteria, divided into four groupings, for responsible business practice (RBP) in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) drawn from the existing SME/RBP literature. The current lack of a general set of criteria against which such activity can be judged is noted and this deficit is redressed. In order to make an initial assessment in support of the criteria so derived, an exploratory feasibility study of RBP in U.K. Fair Trade organisations was conducted. The findings from this study show that most but not all of the RBP criteria seem to be applicable to U.K. Fair Trade organisations but it is recommended that the complete set of criteria continues to be used in further research until such time as there is a general consensus as to which criteria are appropriate. Implications for RBP in small businesses in general, and for Fair Trade organisations in particular, are drawn out and suggestions for further research are identified.
ISSN:0167-4544
1573-0697
DOI:10.1007/s10551-008-9992-9