Drivers,adoption, and evaluation of sustainability practices in Italian wine SMEs

Based on a survey with 64 small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in two Italian wine regions, this study aims to (a) identify key drivers and barriers of the adoption of sustainability and (b) compare the adoption and evaluation (use, financial/labor investments, and satisfaction) of sustainability practices in four management domains (marketing, chain, operational, and innovation). Results show that internal drivers were considered to be more important than external drivers. Economic sustainability‐oriented drivers scored significantly lower than drivers related to other dimensions, such as environmental sustainability and heritage. Key barriers refer to labor and investments costs, as well as concerns about greenwashing. Although there are substantial differences in adoption and evaluation of sustainability practices within and between management domains, this study confirms their widespread adoption in wineries. Among users, satisfaction levels outweigh the perceived investments. Except for innovation management practices, financial investments are considered to be lower than labor investments. Positive correlations between use‐satisfaction (within each management domain) and between investments or satisfaction levels (between management domains) further lend support for producers' adoption of multiple practices. At sustainability dimension level, heritage is negatively correlated with the evaluation indicators, indicating that it may act as a potential barrier to some sustainability practices. Segmentation analysis identified a low (30%) and high sustainability clusters (70%), which differ significantly in terms of sustainability perceptions and drivers, adoption, and evaluation of practices, as well as company characteristics. Future research needs to validate the findings on SMEs, compare our measures with more objective evaluation indicators, future adoption rates, and multidimensional sustainability practices.     

Circular economy to enhance sustainability of small and medium‐sized enterprises

The circular economy (CE) represents a major paradigm shift of moving from the concepts of linear to circular supply chains across multiple industries. Although some aspects of CE adoption within industrial supply chains have been researched extensively (particularly addressing challenges of design, implementation, and operations), the research that relates CE practices with sustainability performance to reveal the current state of CE practices within small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) is scant. The aim of this research was to facilitate SMEs to achieve greater sustainability through CE implementation. This research addresses three research questions—How are CE fields of action related to sustainability performance? What are the issues, challenges, and opportunities of adopting CE in SMEs? And what key strategies, resources, and competences facilitate effective implementation of CE in SMEs? This study adopts a mixed method approach (qualitative and quantitative) using survey research, focus group, and case studies; 130 randomly selected SMEs within the Midlands of the United Kingdom have been surveyed, and the responses are analysed using statistical tools along with findings from focus groups and case studies. The study reveals that all CE fields of action (take, make, distribute, use, and recover) of SMEs are correlated to economic performance, but only make and use are related to environmental and social performance. The study further derives strategies, resources, and competences for achieving sustainability across all the CE field of actions. Additionally, this research reveals the issues and challenges, strategies, resources, and competences required for implementing CE in SMEs.     

Crowdfunding as a tool to support sustainability‐oriented initiatives: Preliminary insights into the role of product/service attributes

A common goal of current research seems to uncover whether crowdfunding (CF) could be considered an effective way to support sustainability‐oriented initiatives in securing funding, due to diverging results emerging from literature. We claim that the objective of proving whether CF may benefit sustainability‐oriented initiatives could be misplaced; rather, we deem more fruitful to understand how critical are some attributes of products/services pursued within CF campaigns to benefiting sustainability‐oriented initiatives and increasing their odds of success in CF. We focus on food‐related projects as in this sector, sustainability issues apply more than to any other human activities and construct a unique sample of food CF campaigns launched and ended in the European Economic Area countries on the world's most popular reward‐based CF platform, that is, Kickstarter. We identify campaigns with a sustainability orientation and perform an in‐depth qualitative analysis, which allows us to classify them into meaningful clusters and subclusters. Our research suggests that the emphasis on egoistic/self‐centered product attributes, rather than on altruistic/society‐centered attributes, is generally more crucial to facilitate CF support to sustainability‐oriented projects. However, the emphasis on altruistic/society‐centered attributes emerges to be more beneficial for initiatives specifically supporting local products. Our results also suggest that reward‐based CF is not suitable for sustainability‐oriented projects targeting disadvantaged individuals/groups. These results offer both theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature as well as practical implications.     

Environmental Management in SMEs in the UK: Practices,Pressures and Perceived Benefits

Environmental management represents a significant challenge for small businesses, and prior research has shown that they are typically less engaged with environmental issues than their larger counterparts. At the same time, prior research has seldom explored engagement among small and medium‐sized companies (SMEs) with the wide variety of practices that are encompassed by environmental management, nor has it sought to explore heterogeneity among SMEs. In this study, we analyse the extent of SME involvement in a wide range of environmental management practices and the differences between small and medium‐sized businesses. We also explore SME perceptions of pressures for, and benefits of, engagement with environmental issues. Our findings show that most small businesses are engaged in some environmental initiatives but that there is significant heterogeneity in the engagement of small and medium‐sized businesses. Consistent with this, we show that the smallest companies perceive significantly fewer benefits of engagement with environmental issues. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Sustainability‐oriented capabilities for eco‐innovation: Meeting the regulatory,technology, and market demands

Despite consensus in the literature that regulation, technology push, and market pull drive eco‐innovation (EI), evidence remains limited on the diverse firm capabilities needed to boost EI. Building on the natural‐resource‐based view of the firm and the EI literature, this paper posits that firms need to renew and realign their capabilities, and ultimately develop distinctive sustainability‐oriented capabilities, in order to meet the rapidly changing regulatory, technology, and market demands. Results of the analysis, based on a survey of U.K. firms, reveal that EIs are more likely to arise when firms (a) build capabilities on voluntary self‐regulation (i.e., executive driven environmental management system and corporate social responsibility) because such organizational capabilities allow them to address increasing regulatory pressures; (b) invest in environmental research and development (i.e., eco‐R&D)—instead of generic research and development—because it provides them with the relevant and specific technological capabilities to tackle technology shifts towards sustainability; and (c) develop capabilities in green market sensing as such capabilities allow them to address green consumption needs.     

A Transdisciplinary Exploratory Model of Corporate Responses to the Challenges of Environmental Sustainability

Global surveys of business leaders identify the environment as a major issue of concern, but uncertainties about how to address the challenges of environmental sustainability are cited as a significant inhibitor to business responses. Persistent levels of corporate uncertainty in this domain may be due to the complexity of issues and difficulties in meaningfully capturing this complexity. Calls have been made for new ways to produce knowledge about complex societal challenges, including environmental sustainability. This paper aims to reduce business uncertainties and to stimulate business and research initiatives. The paper describes a field study of a global corporation's pioneering responses to environmental sustainability. The study highlights academic and practitioner collaboration to generate, transfer and implement new knowledge through an innovative research approach. The outcome is a transdisciplinary, exploratory model, presenting a progression of integrated activities and processes within eight categories of corporate responses. Implications for research and practice are considered. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

User needs in sustainability reporting: Perspectives of stakeholders in Ireland

Abstract

By means of a questionnaire survey, this paper ascertains and analyses the views of a number of Irish stakeholders regarding the adequacy and potential of corporate sustainability reporting to meet their information needs and help them hold corporations to account. The study focuses on ascertaining the views of a sample of Irish social and environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), who we argue constitute an important group of non-financial stakeholders. This emphasis on examining NGO perceptions represents an attempt to fill a gap in the academic sustainability reporting research literature whereby the views of non-managerial stakeholders are largely absent. The paper represents the second phase of a determined effort to examine the adequacy of sustainability reporting from the perspective of less economically powerful stakeholders in Ireland and responds specifically to O'Dwyer's (2002) call for research to examine the nature of stakeholder demand for sustainability reporting in Ireland in order to inform the future development of Irish sustainability reporting practices. The results present evidence of a widespread demand for mandated, externally verified sustainability reporting in either the annual report or a separate stand-alone report. This demand is primarily driven by a desire to gain knowledge of companies' commitment to responsible business practices but is also, albeit to a lesser extent, influenced by the perceived ability of sustainability reporting to facilitate increased NGO pressure on companies. Current sustainability reporting practice is viewed negatively with regard to its credibility and sufficiency, as well as the opportunities it provides for engagement with companies, particularly among environmental NGO respondents. While respondents tended to be suspicious of corporate motives for sustainability reporting, many were optimistic about the potential for NGO engagement with companies aimed at tackling social and environmental issues and improving current sustainability reporting practice. Drawing on the survey results, the paper makes some recommendations for future research aimed at improving sustainability reporting practices in Ireland and more broadly.     

Sustainable procurement practice

Procurement has a key role in sustainability as policies and practices need to extend beyond organisations' boundaries incorporating their whole supply chains. Guidelines on sustainability encourage procurement to make decisions that encompass the environmental, economic and social elements of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). Taking a supply chain perspective, procurement also need to analyse how decisions impact on the TBL in respect of suppliers. The results of a survey of sustainable procurement practices in 44 English‐based UK Housing Associations (HAs), who are responsible for the provision of social housing, confirms prior research of other sectors that suggests 1) a failure to overcome inertia in relation to sustainable procurement; and 2) in the few examples where practices have been established, only the environmental element of the TBL is considered. The organisations surveyed have sustainability‐related issues in their missions and external and internal pressures to embed sustainability, yet this has not translated into widespread establishment of sustainable procurement. Recommendations to neutralise inertia are: firstly, take the experiences from other areas, e.g. innovation management, which stress the importance of inter‐organisational relationships; secondly, develop a small number of sustainable development indicators for procurement and, to take advantage of the relatively more‐advanced environmental practices to show how these elements have socio‐economic impacts; and finally, rather than focus on just the pressures and drivers of sustainability (as suggested in strategic models of sustainability), emphasise the triggers that overcome inertia and lead to changes in behaviour amongst procurement staff i.e. the establishment of ethical pricing models. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Commitment to Sustainability in Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: The Influence of Strategic Orientations and Management Values

Ecosystem degradation and social sustainability have become important issues in the corporate sphere during the last few decades. However, research discussing corporate social responsibility and related concepts has often focused on larger companies, sometimes neglecting the specifics of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between two common strategic orientations, market orientation (MO) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO), in relation to sustainability commitment, sustainability practices and management values in SMEs. Questionnaire responses from 450 Swedish SMEs were analyzed, confirming the influence of MO, EO and sustainability practices on commitment to sustainability, implying that firms committed to sustainability see both market and entrepreneurial advantages of sustainability. The results also show that different parts of MO and EO differ in importance for commitment to sustainability among SMEs. Implications concern the importance for firms and policymakers to work with sustainability issues using both internal and external perspectives. © 2015 The Authors. Business Strategy and the Environment published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises and Sustainability: Managers' Values and Engagement with Environmental and Climate Change Issues

This article reports on an in‐depth, qualitative study into the pro‐environmental engagement of small businesses in the east of England, with respect to climate change in particular. Managers of environmentally pro‐active small businesses were asked about the pro‐environmental measures they had implemented in their firms, their motivations for doing so, and their understanding of climate change. The managers in this study had a relatively good understanding of environmental issues in general and climate change in particular, and had implemented a range of pro‐environmental measures in their firms. Their understanding of climate change was a holistic one, which sat within their overall understanding of environmental and social issues. While economic arguments and external pressure played a role in their pro‐environmental engagement, perhaps the most notable motivation for managers in this study to engage with environmental and climate change issues was personal values and beliefs. Environmentally engaged managers exhibited an internal locus of control. Some of these findings contrast with the views of key informants in local government and business advice organisations, who tend to emphasise the business case and cost arguments when trying to encourage small businesses towards greater environmental engagement. These findings suggest that public policy and business advice in this area should perhaps focus more strongly on personal values and a sense of being able to contribute to environmental protection in their engagement with small businesses. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The ‘greening’ of tourism micro‐businesses: outcomes of focus group investigations in South East Cornwall

The response of micro‐businesses to sustainability issues, and their use of environmental management tools and systems, are often presented as simply scaled‐down versions of those of larger businesses in the small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) sector as a whole. This paper presents the findings of a series of focus groups with the owners of tourism micro‐businesses in South East Cornwall about their awareness, understanding and adoption of sustainable tourism practices. The results reveal a complex and diverse response to the concept that resists such generalizations. A genuine need for measures to increase awareness and integrate sustainability issues within business practice is highlighted. Initiatives that do not account for the heterogeneity of the sector are likely to have only limited success. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.     

An analysis of environmental sustainability in small & medium‐sized enterprises: Patterns and trends

One of the greatest challenges facing the world today is climate change. The need to consistently advance with environmentally sustainable practices in today's businesses is crucial, and businesses are demanded to be more environmentally sustainable every day. This study conducts an analysis of the literature on small and medium‐sized enterprises' (SMEs) environmental sustainability by carefully examining 122 studies from 58 journals published from 2013 to 2019. We investigate the trends in drivers and barriers of sustainability adoption to inform both SMEs managers and policymakers. Our results also classify the reviewed studies on the basis of their methodologies and show the distribution of studies across industry sectors and locations in order to set directions for future research on sustainability practices of SMEs.     

Can academe achieve quality in small firms policy research

Small Business Centre, Durham University Business School, Mill Hill Lane, Durham DH1 3LB, UK

The overall objective of this paper is to review, in the light of substantial growth of research in the small firms area over the past decade, some of the key issues involved in ensuring that research is relevant to policy makers. The paper is both academic and pragmatic. It has the following specific objectives: (l) to provide an overview of some of the ‘myths’ as to what constitutes quality in research; (2) to define research and policy research in particular; (3) to consider critically issues of research methodology and explore how different methods used by academics can lead to very different results; (4) to review the role of academics and academic institutions in policy research and to consider some of the difficulties that may result from endeavouring to introduce research on small business into traditional academic departments; and (5) finally, to make recommendations as to how to improve the overall framework in such a way that small business research can be more effective in the 1990s than it was in the 1980s.

Overall the paper is written with a view to provoking discussion on key issues of making small business policy research more effective.     

Social desirability bias in PSM surveys and behavioral experiments: Considerations for design development and data collection

Social desirability issues are long known, but not long gone. Across major purchasing and supply management (PSM) research streams, surprisingly few empirical studies explicitly address social desirability bias (SDB), despite SDB constituting a potentially limiting factor. With regard to surveys and behavioral experiments as two of the most widely used empirical methods in PSM, SDB can represent a critical issue. A first step should therefore be to collect and fully report data on SDB in all such studies. The present note then continues by providing an overview of methodological considerations for PSM researchers to mitigate social desirability issues before they arise in their surveys and behavioral experiments. We describe eight potential mitigation approaches, namely disguising the study's research purpose, assuring anonymity and confidentiality, indirect questioning, adapting the wording of single items, broadening response modes, conducting preparatory cognitive interviews, using multiple sources, and applying multiple research methods. In describing this repertoire of preventive measures, we point authors and review teams to both the broader methodological literature and PSM studies that have used such approaches.     

The Adoption of Sustainable Manufacturing Practices in the Caribbean

The Caribbean region is awakening to the reality that environmental sustainability is fast becoming a major business performance dimension that is shaping the competitive landscape for manufacturers. This research attempts to gain a picture of the current level of emphasis on environmental sustainability among manufacturers in five Caribbean countries. This paper reports on the level of awareness of the concept of sustainable manufacturing, the sustainability practices Caribbean manufacturers are currently engaged in, and the barriers preventing the adoption of sustainability practices. The findings from our survey show that the majority of Caribbean manufacturers have little knowledge of the concept of sustainable manufacturing and the adoption of sustainability practices is low. In light of these findings, the paper discusses potential roles for Caribbean governments, manufacturing associations, and educational institutions in addressing the need for greater emphasis on sustainable manufacturing in the region. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Promoting corporate sustainability in small and medium‐sized enterprises: Key determinants of intermediary performance in Africa

This study explores the key determinants of intermediary performance in promoting corporate sustainability in small and medium‐sized enterprises in Africa. Despite being a critical link in the delivery of sustainability support services to small and medium‐sized enterprises, intermediaries have only received limited research attention. Research exploring intermediaries of corporate sustainability in small and medium‐sized enterprises have focused broadly on their roles but narrowly on performance. Those exploring intermediary performance have often focused on larger companies, sometimes, neglecting the specifics of small and medium‐sized enterprises, especially in African countries. Improving intermediary performance in promoting corporate sustainability requires an in‐depth understanding of the factors that determine their performance. As a qualitative study, interview responses from 32 experts working in National Cleaner Production Centres in four African countries were analysed using inductive thematic approach. The findings suggest that programme constraints, external profile, small and medium‐sized enterprises context, impact strategy, and service networks are the key determinants of intermediary performance in promoting corporate sustainability in small and medium‐sized enterprises. These determinants facilitate and inhibit intermediaries’ ability to promote corporate sustainability in small and medium‐sized enterprises. The implications concern the need for intermediaries and small and medium‐sized enterprises to manage these determinants in promoting corporate sustainability.     

Planned or Emergent Strategy Making? Exploring the Formation of Corporate Sustainability Strategies

In strategy research, there is a consensus that strategy making resides on a continuum from planned to emergent where most strategies are made in a mixed way. Different contingency factors have been suggested to explain the factors that influence strategy making. Sustainability research seems to overlook most of this development and assumes instead that sustainability strategies are made in a purely planned way. We contribute to a better understanding of the role of different strategy making modes for sustainability in three ways. First, we point to the bias towards planned strategy formation in sustainability research. Second, we propose a new contingency factor to help explain sustainability strategy making based on the nature of the problem addressed. Third, we discuss strategy making for different types of sustainability problems. We argue that planned strategy making is expected for salient and non‐wicked problems while emergent strategy making is likely for non‐salient and wicked problems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Environmental attitude in the board. Who are the “green directors”? Evidences from Italy

Board members' attitudes towards environmental protection are an important antecedent of how companies define and implement sustainability initiatives, but little is known about directors' attitudes and the factors associated with these. Using survey data on Italian board members, the research sought to explore the relationships between these individual's personal attributes, especially those related to their roles on boards, and their attitudes towards environmental protection. The findings suggest that female directors, directors with financial background, and independent directors are positively related to attitudes towards environmental protection. In the financial sector, younger board members and risk committee members show stronger environmental attitudes. The results could be of interest to policymakers because the board member attributes identified may require a stronger regulatory focus in order to achieve public policy's environmental protection objectives and to governance bodies in terms of defining board committees' composition and selecting “green directors” oriented towards environmental issues.     

Measuring the impact of sustainability policy and practices in tourism and hospitality industry

This paper aims to investigate the impact of environmental policy and training aspects on hotels' sustainability practices, as well as the impact of these practices on their environmental and financial performance. Based on survey data from 312 managers operating in tourism and hospitality industry, this study applies structural equation modelling. Empirical results reveal that hotels' environmental policy and training aspects are positively related to sustainability practices. Environmental communication has almost equal degree of impact on resource and energy conservation, whereas both resource conservation and energy conservation have a significant positive impact on both environmental and financial performance. The main findings of this research highlight that hotels are increasingly considering sustainability issues in their business models and strategies. These findings provide practical managerial implications for the development of tourism and hospitality industry in emerging countries.     

SMEs and the Potential for A Collaborative Path to Environmental Responsibility

Globally, the potential for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to collectively impact negatively on the environment is great. Therefore, the adoption, and maintenance, of environmentally responsible practices by this group of firms is especially critical. Studies of environmental practices successfully implemented by small firms have revealed that relationships with other firms, or other organizations, can contribute to greater awareness of the benefits of such activities and, therefore, enhance the possibility of environmental engagement. Collaborative relationships may provide opportunities for SMEs to overcome some of the barriers to implementing environmental initiatives associated with their size, and/or associated characteristics. This paper focuses on attitudes of SME owner‐managers to a variety of environmental issues (including regulation and voluntary standards), and to collaborating with other firms (in either a formal or informal sense). The data this paper draws upon are from two waves of an ongoing longitudinal survey of New Zealand SMEs. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment