The transfer of employee-oriented CSR in multinational SME’s: an explorative study on the values of owner-managers within international business

By assessing four cases, this paper develops propositions about the transfer of employee oriented corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices within multinational SMEs. Specifically we explore whether an individual owner-manager can add value within a foreign subsidiary by means of normatively-based, employee-oriented CSR. Based on four case-studies we suggest that not only motives but also the skills of the owner/manager as an institutional entrepreneur are critical in dealing with institutional variance.