Embeddedness and social cohesion: to the roots of CSR and sustainability. Evidence from Italian family SMEs

The main objective of this paper is to identify the relationship between entrepreneurial and territorial values embedded in small and medium-sized family businesses that facilitate the orientation towards corporate social responsibility and sustainability. After a brief analysis of the literary framework on family SMEs and CSR, the work describes the principle findings that have emerged from a qualitative investigation focused on a sample of Italian family SME in which the orientation towards CSR is the result of entrepreneur and family values diffused and shared in the local socio-economic environment to which the entrepreneur, the family and the company are strongly rooted.