The Role Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) In Building Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Brand Image in Ghana

Abstract

This study investigates the need for SMEs to practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) in building their brand image in Ghana. The study aims at exploring the role impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in building small and medium enterprises (SMEs) brand image in Ghana. Evaluating the role of CSR in building the brand image of SMEs adopted research designs/methods and approached to solicit both secondary and primary data. To identify the perceptions held by SMEs, motives for CSR practices, benefits associated with CSR practices, and the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on SMEs’ Brand Image, questionnaires and interviews were conducted with SMEs operators and Environmental Protection Agency officials in the Kumasi metropolis. The findings show that SMEs perceived CSR as a means of paying back to society what has been received as profit and also as a means of protecting and improving the quality of the natural environment as well as spending revenue to the state. It was noted that organizations practice Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to project the right corporate image, used as a marketing strategy, and to make employees happy and satisfied Benefits from CSR regarding customer loyalty, gaining goodwill from the community, enhanced government relations, and building client relations was also ascertained. Despite the numerous benefits associated with CSR activities, other challenges were also identified as free giveaway products and the high cost of CSR programs. Some suggestions such as the honest provision of accurate information about the SMEs products, organizing programs to suit students, a regular donation to the societies, and total collaboration between SMEs and their communities were made to promote firms’ image through CSR practices.