Title
Maintaining sustainable practices in SMEs: Insights from Sweden
Date Issued
01 December 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Tsvetkova D.
Bengtsson E.
Tallinn University of Technology
Publisher(s)
MDPI
Abstract
By addressing the scarce knowledge of sustainability practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the purpose of the paper is to identify drivers for the maintenance of such practices and their extent. Based on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with small Swedish firms, our findings reveal certain external (i.e., suppliers and customers) and internal (i.e., employees, organizational culture, and competitive advantage) factors that are strongly linked to the maintenance of sustainability practices. Apart from these, the longevity of the business was identified as an additional sustainability maintenance factor. This factor has not been discussed previously in the literature, so given its strength, we suggest to have it stand separately. The findings further indicate that Swedish SMEs are not limited by size concerning their sustainability practices but they are consciously working on progressing in their efforts. Furthermore, drawing on our findings we provide practical implications that will help business owners’, managers, and policymakers to better enable sustainability practices.
Start page
1
End page
26
Volume
12
Issue
24
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Negocios, Administración Economía
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85097419933
Source
Sustainability (Switzerland)
ISSN of the container
20711050
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus