Journeault Marc, Perron Alexandre, Vallières Laurie
Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
J Environ Manage. 2021 Jun 1;287:112349. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112349. Epub 2021 Mar 16.
There is growing concern among governments around the world about the need to enhance the social and environmental performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), seen as key actors in efforts to achieve national sustainability goals. However, despite efforts made to promote their role in this area, SMEs still struggle to integrate social and environmental concerns into their business practices. Barriers that impede the integration of sustainable development in SMEs include a limited awareness of the impacts and benefits associated with sustainability, a lack of time and resources, and a lack of skills and expertise. The aims of this study are to examine the key collaborative roles that a range of stakeholders can play to support sustainability adoption in SMEs and to understand how these roles contribute to overcoming barriers to adoption. Building on thirteen case studies, this study found that stakeholders play five different and complementary collaborative roles in supporting sustainability practices within SMEs, namely that of trainer, analyst, coordinator, specialist, and financial provider. The study shows that these five roles can be performed by a wide range of local stakeholders and can contribute to overcoming different barriers to the integration of sustainability practices within SMEs. These findings demonstrate that one key way for governments to improve the sustainability performance of SMEs may be to facilitate and shape the development of stakeholder networks capable of performing these five critical roles as part of efforts to promote sustainability adoption within firms.
世界各国政府越来越关注提高中小企业（SMEs）的社会和环境绩效，中小企业被视为实现国家可持续发展目标的关键参与者。然而，尽管已努力促进中小企业在这一领域的作用，但它们仍难以将社会和环境问题纳入其商业实践。阻碍中小企业融入可持续发展的障碍包括对与可持续性相关的影响和益处认识有限、缺乏时间和资源，以及缺乏技能和专业知识。本研究的目的是探讨一系列利益相关者可以发挥的关键协作作用，以支持中小企业采用可持续发展方式，并了解这些作用如何有助于克服采用过程中的障碍。基于13个案例研究，本研究发现利益相关者在支持中小企业的可持续发展实践中发挥着五种不同且互补的协作作用，即培训师、分析师、协调员、专家和金融提供者的作用。研究表明，这五种角色可由广泛的地方利益相关者来履行，并有助于克服中小企业在整合可持续发展实践方面的不同障碍。这些发现表明，政府提高中小企业可持续发展绩效的一个关键途径可能是促进和塑造利益相关者网络的发展，使其能够履行这五种关键角色，作为推动企业采用可持续发展方式的一部分努力。
