IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v16y2007i3p190-201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why SMEs invest in environmental measures: sustainability evidence from small and medium‐sized printing firms

Author

Listed:
  • Enno Masurel

Abstract

Why do SMEs invest in environmental measures? From the literature we know that most SMEs are rather slow in adopting these sustainable measures, but then the following question arises: why are other SMEs fast in this respect? From our research, it becomes clear that improving the working conditions is the most important reason why these fast‐going SMEs invest in environmental measures, as this probably improves their employees' motivation and performance. This explanation connects ‘planet’ and ‘people’ with each other, and does not exclude ‘profit’, which completes the traditional sustainability circle. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Enno Masurel, 2007. "Why SMEs invest in environmental measures: sustainability evidence from small and medium‐sized printing firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 190-201, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:16:y:2007:i:3:p:190-201
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.478
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.478
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.478?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bianchi, Raffaella & Noci, Giuliano, 1998. ""Greening" SMEs' Competitiveness," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 269-281, November.
    2. de Groot, Henri L. F. & Verhoef, Erik T. & Nijkamp, Peter, 2001. "Energy saving by firms: decision-making, barriers and policies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 717-740, November.
    3. Judith Petts & Andrew Herd & Simon Gerrard & Chris Horne, 1999. "The climate and culture of environmental compliance within SMEs," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 14-30, January.
    4. Mike Simpson & Nick Taylor & Karen Barker, 2004. "Environmental responsibility in SMEs: does it deliver competitive advantage?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 156-171, May.
    5. Ballantine, John W & Cleveland, Frederick W & Koeller, C Timothy, 1993. "Profitability, Uncertainty, and Firm Size," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 87-100, June.
    6. Peter Nijkamp, 2003. "Entrepreneurship in a Modern Network Economy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 395-405.
    7. Stephen J. Decanio & William E. Watkins, 1998. "Investment In Energy Efficiency: Do The Characteristics Of Firms Matter?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(1), pages 95-107, February.
    8. Bucar, Branko & Glas, Miroslav & Hisrich, Robert D., 2003. "Ethics and entrepreneurs: An international comparative study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 261-281, March.
    9. Pablo del Río González, 2005. "Analysing the factors influencing clean technology adoption: a study of the Spanish pulp and paper industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(1), pages 20-37, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrea Revell & David Stokes & Hsin Chen, 2010. "Small businesses and the environment: turning over a new leaf?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 273-288, July.
    2. Nuttaneeya Torugsa & Wayne O’Donohue & Rob Hecker, 2013. "Proactive CSR: An Empirical Analysis of the Role of its Economic, Social and Environmental Dimensions on the Association between Capabilities and Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 383-402, June.
    3. Nuttaneeya Torugsa & Wayne O’Donohue & Rob Hecker, 2012. "Capabilities, Proactive CSR and Financial Performance in SMEs: Empirical Evidence from an Australian Manufacturing Industry Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(4), pages 483-500, September.
    4. Gallear, David & Ghobadian, Abby & Chen, Weifeng, 2012. "Corporate responsibility, supply chain partnership and performance: An empirical examination," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 83-91.
    5. Joana Costa, 2021. "Carrots or Sticks: Which Policies Matter the Most in Sustainable Resource Management?," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, February.
    6. Häckel, Björn & Pfosser, Stefan & Tränkler, Timm, 2017. "Explaining the energy efficiency gap - Expected Utility Theory versus Cumulative Prospect Theory," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 414-426.
    7. Zhu, Junming & Chertow, Marian R., 2017. "Business Strategy Under Institutional Constraints: Evidence From China's Energy Efficiency Regulations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 10-21.
    8. Brigitte Hoogendoorn & Daniela Guerra & Peter Zwan, 2015. "What drives environmental practices of SMEs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 759-781, April.
    9. Fleiter, Tobias & Schleich, Joachim & Ravivanpong, Ployplearn, 2012. "Adoption of energy-efficiency measures in SMEs—An empirical analysis based on energy audit data from Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 863-875.
    10. Jose García-Quevedo & Xavier Massa-Camps, 2019. "Why firms invest (or not) in energy efficiency? A review of the econometric evidence," Working Papers 2019/07, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    11. Uz, Dilek, 2018. "Energy efficiency investments in small and medium sized manufacturing firms: The case of California energy crisis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 421-428.
    12. Cagno, Enrico & Trianni, Andrea, 2013. "Exploring drivers for energy efficiency within small- and medium-sized enterprises: First evidences from Italian manufacturing enterprises," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 276-285.
    13. Stephen Brammer & Stefan Hoejmose & Kerry Marchant, 2012. "Environmental Management in SMEs in the UK: Practices, Pressures and Perceived Benefits," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 423-434, November.
    14. Sonja Studer & Richard Welford & Peter Hills, 2006. "Engaging Hong Kong businesses in environmental change: drivers and barriers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 416-431, November.
    15. Runst, Petrik, 2016. "A comment on the adoption of energy-efficiency-measures within firms - Energy costs and firm heterogeneity," ifh Working Papers 4 (2016), Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen (ifh).
    16. Trianni, Andrea & Cagno, Enrico & De Donatis, Alessio, 2014. "A framework to characterize energy efficiency measures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 207-220.
    17. Dobroschke, Stephan, 2012. "Energieeffizienzpotenziale und staatlicher Lenkungsbedarf," FiFo Discussion Papers - Finanzwissenschaftliche Diskussionsbeiträge 12-1, University of Cologne, FiFo Institute for Public Economics.
    18. Kounetas, Kostas & Tsekouras, Kostas, 2010. "Are the Energy Efficiency Technologies efficient?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 274-283, January.
    19. Costa-Campi, María Teresa & García-Quevedo, José & Segarra, Agustí, 2015. "Energy efficiency determinants: An empirical analysis of Spanish innovative firms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 229-239.
    20. Costa-Campi, María Teresa & García-Quevedo, José & Segarra, Agustí, 2015. "Energy efficiency determinants: An empirical analysis of Spanish innovative firms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 229-239.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:16:y:2007:i:3:p:190-201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.