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The purpose of this article is to study how real world learning was used to engender and enhance sustainability principles and practices with 11 micro-, small- and medium-tourism business enterprises and 101 university tourism students enrolled across three university courses.

Action research processes were used to focus curricula on “education about and for sustainability”. A participatory paradigm informed the action research processes. The key methodology was qualitative. Empirical materials were generated through lived experiences, reflexive team conversations, team journals, reflexive journals and student learning materials. Reflexive conversations and reflective dialogue framed interpretations.

The action research process found that pedagogies, andragogies and ethnogogies that emphasize social processes of meaning making and sensemaking enhance and engender “education about sustainability” and “education for sustainability”, especially when coupled with real world learning as a platform for social and profession-building processes between university students, course teaching staff and industry, in this case, micro-, small- and medium-tourism entrepreneurs.

The qualitative findings of this action research study are specific to the participants involved. Generalizability to other university and business settings and goodness of fit require further study.

Insights are provided with regard to implementing real world learning in university undergraduate and postgraduate courses by partnering with industry and focusing on education for sustainability (EfS). A demonstration of the effectiveness of action research as a tool for changing curricula is provided.

Learning is a social process of meaning making. Time for real world social interaction is critical for learning. Partnering with industry complements student learning and facilitates the translation of theory into practice.

EfS is engendered and enhanced when learning-teaching engagements are predicated on real world settings, circumstances and experiences.

Quality management systems are well established in multinationals and SMEs. For establishing and improving such systems, there is a variety of guidelines. Furthermore, there are software tools allowing a self-assessment of the current state of the implemented systems. However, these approaches do not fit for micro-enterprises and start-ups. Their processes are rather informal or not yet specified. Moreover, these companies are often in a phase of strong growth and have only one person in charge. Hence, they face the difficulty to decide if and how a (quality) management system should be implemented. This paper aims to show a first guideline for implementation.

The first step comprises a definition of microenterprises and start-ups and an analysis of their specific characteristics. Following, an overview of the DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and its requirements is given. Next, it is analysed which requirements are relevant for or can be implemented in microenterprises and start-ups. Based on this, a guideline for decision-making is developed to examine if an application of the analysed standard is useful or necessary for the regarded companies. Also, the guideline illustrates how the requirements can be implemented.

A literature review, an analysis of the DIN EN ISO 9001:2015, the standards for project management, microenterprises and start-ups have been carried out. Thereby, the need to decide whether to implement implement a quality management system and assistance for the implementation process has been revealed as essential for the companies considered. Literature mostly deals with implementing a quality and/or project management system in multinationals and SMEs but not in very small companies. Furthermore, first practical examples have shown that microenterprises face difficulties when choosing and implementing a quality management system. A practical implementation guideline for these companies is lacking.

Although there is a lot of research dealing with quality management in SME, research about quality management in microenterprises and start-ups is scarce. This paper offers a first approach for a guideline of implementing an appropriate quality and possibly an additional or alternative project management in microenterprises and start-ups. This should facilitate the process of deciding if and how to implement an adequate management system for the regarded companies.

Quality management systems (QMSs) are well established in multinationals and small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs). For establishing and improving these systems, a variety of guidelines have been established. Furthermore, there are software tools allowing a self-assessment of the current state of the implemented systems. However, these approaches are not appropriate for microenterprises and start-ups as their processes are rather informal or not yet specified. Moreover, these companies are often in a phase of strong growth and have only one person in charge; hence, they face the difficulty to decide if and how a QMS should be implemented. The purpose of this study is to report a first guideline for implementation of a QMS for microenterprises and start-ups.

The first step comprises a definition of microenterprises and start-ups and an analysis of their specific characteristics. An overview of the DIN EN ISO 9001:2015 and its requirements is given below. Next, the relevant requirements that can be implemented in microenterprises and start-ups are analyzed. Accordingly, a guideline for decision-making is developed to examine if an application of the analyzed standard is useful or necessary for these companies. Moreover, the guideline illustrates how the requirements can be implemented.

A literature review, an analysis of the DIN EN ISO 9001:2015, and of microenterprises and start-ups have been carried out. Thus, the need to decide whether to implement a QMS and assistance for the implementation process has been revealed to be essential for the companies that were considered. The literature mostly deals with implementing a quality and/or project management system in multinationals and SMEs but not for very small companies. Furthermore, the practical examples have shown that microenterprises face difficulties when choosing and implementing a QMS; thus, a practical implementation guideline for these companies is lacking.

Although there is a lot of research dealing with quality management (QM) in SMEs, research about QM in microenterprises and start-ups is scarce. This paper offers a first approach for a guideline of implementing an appropriate QMS and possibly an additional or alternative project management system in microenterprises and start-ups. This should facilitate the process of deciding if and how to implement an adequate management system for such companies.