Enterprises around the world, and particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies, are facing an increasing number of threats and challenges due to globalisation and rapid environmental changes. This research intends to frame a specific role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm performance and then examine mediating effects of customer retention and business continuity. This research has employed a smart partial least square (PLS) structural equation model (SEM) over 548 responses. Samples were collected using a random selection method. Results from this study show that CSR practices towards society, environment, employees and other stakeholders are the important contributors to enhancing customer retention and business continuity leading to a better firm performance. The originality of this study is the provision of insight into how CSR enhances firm performance by examining the integrated model whereby customer retention and business continuity moderate this relationship. Furthermore, its application to the context of SMEs in the new economic and environmental settings in emerging economies reinforces the uniqueness of this research. The outcomes of this research are useful for entrepreneurs and management levels of firms in an effort to promote the performance of SMEs in emerging economies in a sustainable manner. Besides, the findings of this study are meaningful for policymakers regarding the consideration for the most practical policy to motivate and facilitate firms to practice CSR properly on a voluntary basis towards balancing the benefits to society, the environment and the economy. In accordance with that, theoretical and managerial implications were also provided.

由于全球化和环境的快速变化，世界各地的企业，特别是新兴经济体的中小企业（SMEs）正面临越来越多的威胁和挑战。本研究旨在构建企业社会责任 (CSR) 对公司绩效的特定作用，然后检查客户保留和业务连续性的中介效应。本研究在 548 个响应中采用了智能偏最小二乘 (PLS) 结构方程模型 (SEM)。使用随机选择方法收集样品。这项研究的结果表明，对社会、环境、员工和其他利益相关者的 CSR 实践是提高客户保留率和业务连续性从而提高公司绩效的重要贡献者。本研究的独创性是通过检查客户保留和业务连续性调节这种关系的综合模型，深入了解企业社会责任如何提高公司绩效。此外，将其应用于新兴经济体新经济和环境背景下的中小企业背景加强了这项研究的独特性。这项研究的结果对企业家和公司管理层有助于以可持续的方式促进新兴经济体中小型企业的绩效。此外，本研究的结果对于决策者考虑采取最实用的政策来激励和促进企业在自愿的基础上正确实践企业社会责任以平衡社会、环境和经济的利益具有重要意义。