Achieving Effective Sustainable Management: A Small-Medium Enterprise Case Study

In order to have a greater understanding of corporate social responsibility (CSR) within small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this paper investigates continual learning that has occurred in an exemplary SME. This qualitative case study used interviews, observations, and memorandums to investigate an SME that has achieved national recognition in sustainable management practices. Reflective and cyclical learning within a participative environment allowed for the internalisation of values, behaviours, beliefs, and actions required for the positive uptake of CSR and sustainable management practice. Measurable results were identified in terms of business performance that can be directly attributed to the SME's greater social and environmental engagement. This initial investigation highlights the relationship between learning, the development of organisational values that underpin CSR and improved business performance within an SME setting. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

[1]  Donald A. Schön.  Knowing-In-Action: The New Scholarship Requires a New Epistemology , 1995 .

[2]  M. Perry,et al.  Walking the talk? Environmental responsibility from the perspective of small-business owners , 2011 .

[3]  Robert E. Stake,et al.  Multiple Case Study Analysis , 2005 .

[4]  Ian A. Harwood,et al.  The effects of procurement policies on ‘downstream’ corporate social responsibility activity , 2011 .

[5]  M. V. Marrewijk.  Concepts and definitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: Between agency and communion , 2013 .

[6]  N. Denzin,et al.  Handbook of Qualitative Research , 1994 .

[7]  D. Melé,et al.  Can an SME Become a Global Corporate Citizen? Evidence from a Case Study , 2009 .

[8]  A. Carroll,et al.  The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Concepts, Research and Practice , 2010 .

[9]  D. Jamali,et al.  Peculiar Strengths and Relational Attributes of SMEs in the Context of CSR , 2009 .

[10]  P. Senge.  The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World , 2008 .

[11]  Rajesh K. Pillania.  Leveraging knowledge for sustainable competitiveness in SMEs , 2006 .

[12]  Paul Coughlan,et al.  Collaborative Strategic Improvement Through Network Action Learning: The Path to Sustainability , 2011 .

[13]  A. Lindgreen,et al.  Implementing market orientation in industrial firms: A multiple case study , 2007 .

[14]  Cheryl Rodgers,et al.  Sustainable entrepreneurship in SMEs: a case study analysis , 2010 .

[15]  J. Bartunek.  You're an organization development practitioner-scholar: Can you contribute to organizational theory? , 2008 .

[16]  Fabio Iraldo,et al.  An Innovative Model to Promote CSR among SMEs Operating in Industrial Clusters: Evidence from an EU Project , 2010 .

[17]  W. Neuman,et al.  Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches , 2002 .

[18]  W. Edwards Deming,et al.  The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education , 2018 .

[19]  D. Siegel,et al.  Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Sustainability , 2011 .

[20]  R. Fisher,et al.  How the Good Guys are sustainable: A corporate social responsibility case study of an SME , 2010 .

[21]  Chris Argyris,et al.  Learning and Teaching: A Theory of Action Perspective , 1997 .

[22]  L. Greene.  EHPnet: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , 2000, Environmental Health Perspectives.

[23]  L. Spence.  CSR and Small Business in a European Policy Context: The Five “C”s of CSR and Small Business Research Agenda 2007 , 2007 .

[24]  Abagail McWilliams,et al.  Corporate Social Responsibility: a Theory of the Firm Perspective , 2001 .

[25]  R. Lozano.  Are Companies Planning their Organisational Changes for Corporate Sustainability? An Analysis of Three Case Studies on Resistance to Change and their Strategies to Overcome it , 2013 .

[26]  John Dewey,et al.  Democracy in Education , 1903, The Elementary School Teacher.

[27]  Donald A. Schön,et al.  Theory in Practice: Increasing Professional Effectiveness , 1974 .

[28]  J. Moon,et al.  CSR in China Research: Salience, Focus and Nature , 2010 .

[29]  David Murillo,et al.  SMEs and CSR: An Approach to CSR in their Own Words , 2006 .

[30]  C. MacDonald,et al.  Getting to the Bottom of “Triple Bottom Line” , 2004, Business Ethics Quarterly.

[31]  Simon Kemp,et al.  An Evaluation of the Impact and Effectiveness of Environmental Legislation in Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: Experiences from the UK , 2012 .

[32]  I. Nonaka.  A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[33]  R. Fisher,et al.  Achieving organisational transformation: An action learning approach , 2008 .

[34]  Peter G. Swanborn,et al.  Case Study Research: What, Why and How? , 2010 .

[35]  M. Blowfield.  Corporate Responsibility: A Critical Introduction , 2008 .

[36]  Andrew E. Smith,et al.  Evaluation of unsupervised semantic mapping of natural language with Leximancer concept mapping , 2006, Behavior research methods.

[37]  Stephen Brammer,et al.  Environmental Management in SMEs in the UK: Practices, Pressures and Perceived Benefits , 2012 .

[38]  R. Yin,et al.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods (4th ed. , 2009 .

[39]  C. Argyris.  A Life Full of Learning , 2003 .

[40]  H. Jenkins.  Small Business Champions for Corporate Social Responsibility , 2006 .

[41]  S. Russell.  Reflections on the role of management in achieving a sustainable future: An interview with Tim Flannery and Dexter Dunphy , 2010 .

[42]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[43]  C. Argyris.  Double Loop Learning in Organizations , 1996 .

[44]  C. Argyris.  Reasons and rationalizations : the limits to organizational knowledge , 2004 .

[45]  M. Milne,et al.  Creating Adventures in Wonderland: The Journey Metaphor and Environmental Sustainability , 2006 .

[46]  Alexander Dahlsrud.  How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions , 2008 .

[47]  Donald A. Schön.  The New Scholarship Requires a New Epistemology. , 1995 .

[48]  Donald A. Schön,et al.  Organizational Learning: A Theory Of Action Perspective , 1978 .

[49]  Colin Sharp.  Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (3rd ed.) , 2003 .

[50]  R. Guest.  The economics of sustainability in the context of climate change: An overview , 2010 .

[51]  B. Moyes.  The new economics. , 2006, The Health service journal.

[52]  Dennis M. Patten,et al.  Market reactions to the first‐time issuance of corporate sustainability reports: Evidence that quality matters , 2010 .

[53]  Clive F. Seale.  31 Computer-Assisted Analysis of Qualitative Interview Data , 2001 .

[54]  John W. Creswell,et al.  Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches , 2010 .

[55]  H. Jenkins.  A Critique of Conventional CSR Theory: An SME Perspective , 2004 .

[56]  M. Asif,et al.  An integrated management systems approach to corporate sustainability , 2011 .

[57]  Kate Lewis,et al.  SMEs and environmental responsibility: do actions reflect attitudes? , 2011 .

[58]  Embedding CSR as a learning and knowledge creating process: the case for SMEs in Norway , 2011 .

[59]  Marc Orlitzky,et al.  Does Firm Size Comfound the Relationship Between Corporate Social Performance and Firm Financial Performance? , 2001 .

[60]  Robert K. Yin,et al.  The Case Study Anthology , 2004 .

[61]  Robert K. Yin,et al.  Qualitative Research from Start to Finish , 2010 .

[62]  Peter Langford,et al.  Evaluating the impact of corporate social responsibility programs on consumers , 2009, Journal of Management & Organization.

[63]  Thomas J. Shuell,et al.  Phases of Meaningful Learning , 1990 .

[64]  N. Denzin,et al.  The Sage handbook of qualitative research, 3rd ed. , 2005 .

[65]  Xiaomin Yu.  From Passive Beneficiary to Active Stakeholder: Workers’ Participation in CSR Movement Against Labor Abuses , 2009 .

[66]  Maria Gjølberg,et al.  Measuring the immeasurable?: Constructing an index of CSR practices and CSR performance in 20 countries , 2009 .

[67]  Stephen Kemmis,et al.  Action research as a practice‐based practice , 2009 .