A conceptual framework for assessing sustainable development in regional SMEs
- Authors: Salimzadeh, Parisa , Courvisanos, Jerry
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management Vol. 17, no. 4 (2015), p. 1-17
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are significant regional development agents. Therefore, if SMEs adopt sustainability and regional economic strategies at the same time, it enables local communities to benefit from sustainable development, innovation and economic development in their regions. In the SME literature, there is a lack of appreciation of the sustainability issue and its connection with its local community. Bringing together the relevant literature, this paper develops a sustainability assessment framework for SMEs by providing the internal and external drivers and inhibitors affecting the adoption of social and environmental friendly practices in SMEs within the regional context. This framework can be used as a basis for application in regional development. It will also be a valuable tool for evaluation and monitoring of strategies for sustainability adoption. © 2015 Imperial College Press.
Corporate social responsibility in regional small and medium-sized enterprises in Australia
- Authors: Moyeen, Abdul , Courvisanos, Jerry
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Journal of Regional Studies Vol. 18, no. 3 (2012), p. 364-391
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- Reviewed:
- Description: The recognition that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is important for business sustainability has focused the bulk of research on explicit normative arguments for its adoption by large corporations. This ignores the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the investigation of how such firms actually perform CSR activities. This study begins with the premise that SMEs may design appropriate CSR strategies to address issues in local communities. SMEs operate within these communities and subsequently are more aware of community and environmental issues than their larger counterparts. From this emerges the aim of examining the reality of this proposition from the particular perspective of a regional city in Australia. The results show a gap between normative CSR proposals and the actual operation of CSR processes in this cohort of SMEs in a regional community. What is exposed is the complexity of CSR ‘on the ground at the business frontline’.
- Description: C1