Abstract
In the Sustainable Development Goals Summit in September 2019, world leaders addressed current and future sustainability challenges faced by the world, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has shocked and dampened global sustainable development efforts. Malaysian manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are not exempt from this tragedy, as they have suffered economically, socially, and environmentally. The goal of this paper is to establish sustainable manufacturing practices (SMPs) as a dynamic internal strategic action for manufacturing firms that transforms firm capabilities into sustainability performance. The authors conducted an extensive literature search to explore global sustainability issues and narrowed the scope to issues encountered by Malaysian manufacturing firms. The most commonly used terminologies of sustainability, sustainable practices, and sustainability performance were subsequently analyzed to conceptually develop a holistic framework for future studies. Specifically, the authors proposed an explanatory quantitative study to comprehend the link between firm capabilities and multidimensional sustainability performance with the integration of SMPs as a mediator. The results of the analysis would provide useful recommendations for the manufacturing sector and directions for future studies. Additionally, this paper enriches the theory of the Dynamic Capability View by bringing in the sustainability model to explain the development process of sustainability performance among Malaysian manufacturing SMEs. This article does not just inform firms and authorities on the importance of SMPs for superior performance but also guides firms towards understanding and improving their current SMPs. Managers in the manufacturing sector would benefit from this paper by learning and implementing effective sustainable strategies in their operations management to improve sustainability-related outcomes.
Highlights
In the Sustainable Development Goals Summit in September 2019, world leaders addressed current and future sustainability challenges faced by the world, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice (The United Nations, 2020)
We proposed an explanatory quantitative study to comprehend the link between firm capabilities and multidimensional sustainability performance with the integration of sustainable manufacturing practices (SMPs)
Environmental and health issues have arisen in Malaysia as a result of the poor implementation of its sustainable management systems and the inability of its current waste management system to handle substantial municipal solid waste disposals (Chua & Bashir, 2019)
Summary
In the Sustainable Development Goals Summit in September 2019, world leaders addressed current and future sustainability challenges faced by the world, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice (The United Nations, 2020). The objective of this paper is to establish SMPs as a dynamic internal strategic action for manufacturing SMEs that transforms firm capabilities into multidimensional sustainability performance, namely environmental, economic, and social performance. This study is both timely and important in enriching the Dynamic Capability View (DCV) by bringing in the sustainability model to explain the development of sustainability performance in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. It is time for Malaysian firms to revamp, transform, and adapt to a more sustainable business model that utilizes natural resources wisely so as to accomplish social, economic, and environmental sustainability while ensuring manufactured products are safe for societies and end users
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