Sustainability practices of SMEs: the case of NZ

Abstract

While individually small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) may have small social, environmental and financial impacts, cumulatively their impact is significant. One of the fundamental questions is how a single economic entity, especially a small-scale enterprise, can be engaged in the uptake of sustainability practices. This question is particularly pertinent to New Zealand, where 98% of enterprises are SMEs. In this paper questions are raised about the conventional models of 'business ethics' and accountability and their relevance to SMEs. The paper reports on actual practices and discusses the possibility of small enterprises having accountability for their social and environmental impacts. Ways of linking individual firm activities to sustainability, such as a communitarian model of accountability, are discussed and illustrated. Copyright

Corporate social responsibility in tourism small and medium enterprises evidence from Europe and Latin America

“…The literature highlights the limitations in SMEs in implementing and communicating CSR (Lawrence, Collins, Pavlovich, & Arunachalam, 2006 ;Lepoutre & Heene, 2006) starting with the lack of knowledge about management systems and communication of CSR among the owners. Other authors (Spence, 2007) also note that many of them do not understand CSR as a source of competitive advantage and therefore it is not for them a business priority.…”

Fostering Responsible Communities: A Community Social Marketing Approach to Sustainable Living

“…For example, a decision by local retailers and market traders to stock produce from local suppliers can have a marked impact on the sustainability of local food chains, as well as community and economic regeneration (McEachern et al, 2010). The interdependence of entities in a functioning network has been recognized (Lawrence et al, 2006), and with that the need to think beyond the interest of a single firm is paramount, alongside a more holistic consideration of the activities that businesses engage in, and how they affect the environmental and social contexts in which they operate. notes that SMEs are often seen as a problem within the CSR debate because of what some perceive as their failure to engage with it; an alternative view is that the CSR debate has failed 8 to engage appropriately with SMEs.…”

“…notes that SMEs are often seen as a problem within the CSR debate because of what some perceive as their failure to engage with it; an alternative view is that the CSR debate has failed 8 to engage appropriately with SMEs. Furthermore, questions have been raised about conventional approaches to CSR and business ethics, and their relevance to SMEs (Lawrence et al, 2006), particularly what has been referred to as the language problem in the CSR debate that is serving to alienate SMEs (Jamali et al, 2009). For example, SMEs are already engaged with a number of social, economic and environmental impacts, but do not generally use the language of CSR to describe it (Roberts et al, 2004).…”

“…This stems from the belief that a social perspective on SMEs is significant (Reynolds, 1991), and that for small business owners, relationships are crucial (Fuller and Lewis, 2003). Fuller and Tian (2006) suggest that SME owners are often inseparable from the business in terms of values, policies and practices; the personal motives and ethics of owner-managers and the responsible behavior demonstrated by SMEs are interrelated (Lawrence et al, 2006;Carr, 2003). Tilley's (1999) study of SME owners concurs, and notes the importance that the owner's ethics and moral conscience play in shaping and motivating environmental behavior.…”

“…al, 2006), for example, by focusing on a small geographical area or specific sector. Lawrence et al, (2006) identify three key barriers to SME adoption of environmental practices: the perception that they have little individual impact on the environment, the lack of expertise and understanding of environmental issues, and cost (i.e. there are few financial benefits).…”