Integrating Sustainability into SME Strategy

Abstract

Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) increasingly are expected to develop strategies to accommodate accelerating global sustainability reporting requirements and proactively address sustainability considerations.Many lack a structured approach to facilitate getting started with strategy formulation in response to this significant change in their external environment.This paper presents a readily applicable and practical method SMEs can apply to integrate sustainability considerations as a beginning toward developing a sustainability strategy.Current sustainability issues are identified and discussed with respect to determining company capabilities and assessing the external business environment.This classification of critical sustainability issues offers a flexible planning innovation well-suited to smaller enterprises seeking to begin developing a sustainability strategy.