Abstract
The sustainable development challenge is increasingly being included in entrepreneurs’ agendas. Firms are considered responsible for social and environmental effects but are also considered as social actors that can effectively incorporate sustainability solutions into market transactions. The literature on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in small business has depicted these firms as less involved in sustainability management implementation owing to resource constraints and limited perception of the business case for sustainability. Further, studies on both small business and sustainable entrepreneurship have highlighted the pivotal role of entrepreneurs’ values in motivating a more sustainable way of conducting business while, large companies, driven by external pressures, are more focused on a strategic CSR approach than small firms. Starting from these premises, the paper aims to identify the main drivers or barriers of sustainability implementation and to verify any significant differences between small and large-sized companies in their approach to sustainability practices implementation. The study adopts a qualitative research method based on semi-structured interviews addressing 22 participants from Italian firms of different sizes selected for their social and environmental commitment. The findings of the study highlight the existence of some common features among small and large firms, in particular, regarding motivations, entrepreneur values, and business vision, contributing new perspectives to the sustainable entrepreneurship debate.
Highlights
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are defined as independent, non-subsidiary institutions that employ a limited number of employees
Starting from the literature about sustainability in SMEs and about sustainable entrepreneurship, we identified the following different forces acting as determining or hindering factors: (1) pressures from external environment; (2) expected benefits of sustainability implementation; (3) entrepreneur’s characteristics in guiding strategy practices implementation
Starting from the literature about sustainability in SMEs and sustainable entrepreneurship, we verify the role of three main groups of factors in influencing sustainability practices implementation (1) pressures from external environment, (2) expected benefits of sustainability implementation and (3) entrepreneur’s inner features in guiding strategy practices implementation
Summary
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are defined as independent, non-subsidiary institutions that employ a limited number of employees. The European Union defines SMEs as those that have less than 250 employees and an annual turnover lower than 50 million euros or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euros [1]. These enterprises play a major role in the economic growth of all countries; they account for approximately 90% of the number of firms worldwide and employ about 50–60% of the global workforce [2,3]. Sustainability practices of large companies were mostly discussed because these companies have high visibility in the community and because their effects are identified [6,7]
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