The ERT Position on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reflects the strong belief of ERT Members that recognition of and respect for CSR are key to any business interested in building a healthy future for its employees, shareholders and stakeholders in general, and that this requires reconciling all three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental. Equally, CSR has its limits and does not mean that companies have either the legitimacy or the organisational resources to involve themselves in trying to solve all the problems of the societies in which they operate. The main contribution from companies should be within their own remit and based on their own competences, if necessary in partnership with other parts of society.

For many companies, CSR is a global issue, which is why they are most concerned with guidelines and codes that have global reach. Many companies develop their own voluntary codes of conduct, business principles, or similar as internal management guides. There is ample evidence of the effectiveness of such voluntary approaches that reflect each company’s own activities and culture, focus on the issues and areas of most relevance to their operations, and determine an appropriate approach according to the circumstances (including culture, stakeholder relations, etc.) Such voluntary, company-developed approaches are more likely to engender management support and motivation, and to become an intrinsic part of corporate behaviour throughout the organisation, than any standardised and mandatory externally-imposed regulations. For this reason, the ERT Position rejects the suggestion in the Commission’s Green Paper that it would be beneficial for Europe to standardise reporting of social performance.

In this report, ERT studied the synergies between large companies and medium and small-size companies (SMEs), which can stimulate the creation of new jobs and the continual transformation of existing jobs.

The report describes five major ways in which industry can stimulate the process of job renewal and job creation through partnerships between large and small companies. It contains more than 40 case studies based on the experience of ERT member companies from all over Europe. It indicates lessons for business managers and for policy-makers, and demonstrates how the job-creation effects could be multiplied over and over again. On average 50% of the SMEs established in Europe survive after 5 years. The examples in the ERT report suggest that an 80% survival rate after 5 years is possible for the SMEs enjoying large company support.