The impact of social responsibility on the competitive advantage of small and medium-sized enterprises in Hanoi, Vietnam

Small and medium-sized enterprises account for more than 98.2% of total enterprises in Hanoi and contribute significantly to the city’s employment, innovation, and GDP. This study aims to analyze and evaluate the influence of corporate social responsibility and green marketing on the competitive advantage of small and medium-sized enterprises in Hanoi, Vietnam. With 292 valid survey responses, data analysis was conducted through PLS-SEM. The study results show that corporate social responsibility and green marketing are critical to the competitiveness of small and medium-sized firms in Hanoi. Corporate social responsibility positively influences green marketing (β = 0.812, p < 0.01) and corporate reputation (β = 0.458, p < 0.01). Similarly, green marketing strongly impacts corporate reputation (β = 0.440, p < 0.01), while corporate reputation contributes substantially to competitive advantage (β = 0.794, p < 0.01). Indirect effects were also observed. Accordingly, corporate social responsibility and green marketing enhance competitive advantage through corporate reputation, with indirect path coefficients of 0.364 and 0.350, respectively. Additionally, corporate social responsibility indirectly affects corporate reputation via green marketing (β = 0.358, p < 0.01). The findings show that integrating corporate social responsibility and green marketing strategies improves enterprises’ reputation, which in turn improves competitive advantages.