Impact of CSR Tools on SMEs: The Case of Global Performance in France

The literature on CSR has traditionally focused attention on larger firms. While articles have been calling for research on CSR in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the work to date has been limited and there is a considerable amount of research needed. In this article, we aim at studying the impact of a CSR tool on the adopting SMEs. The tool is called Global Performance, which was created in 2002 by CJD (Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants or Center of Young Entrepreneurs), which is a French organization of employers. Our findings show that impacts are mainly at the strategic level, addressing social and economic aspects, but the implementation remains difficult for them.