Search results

Today’s small enterprises are forced to rethink their business-as-usual management and shift toward corporate sustainability. The empirical paper responds to a crucial quest for many modern leaders and entrepreneurs, specifically small business owners in emerging economies. This paper aims to answer what they can do to increase long-term financial performance and enhance stakeholder satisfaction, thereby contributing to long-term business sustainability.

Using a convenience sampling, data were collected from a sample of 280 business leaders and entrepreneurs of small enterprises across industries in an emerging economy of Thailand. This study used a sustainable leadership research framework. Factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were used for data analysis.

Seven valid and reliable leadership factors were uncovered as new underlying leadership constructs to examine business sustainability in small entrepreneurial enterprises in Thailand. Results from multiple regressions revealed two significantly positive factors or drivers (i.e. trusting, innovative team orientation and strong, shared vision) for enhanced two sustainability performance outcomes (i.e. financial performance and stakeholder satisfaction). The findings thus contribute to advance our limited knowledge about the contextualised constructs and possible theoretical development of the developing research realm.

Successful small entrepreneurial organisations in Thailand and other emerging economies that wish to improve their business sustainability are suggested to adopt the essential leadership and management practices (i.e. trusting, innovative team and strong, shared vision). Future studies may examine data from a larger sample size and other countries to expand our limited understanding in different contexts.

The resulting practical insights can be used to guide business leaders, entrepreneurs, practitioners and policymakers towards making strategic priorities and investments for improved business competitiveness, resilience and sustainability in small entrepreneurial enterprises. Overall, this study may be a starting point for further investigation on developing entrepreneurial growth and business sustainability in small sustainable enterprises across emerging economies.

The paper responds to calls for more contextualised research studies in the evolving multidisciplinary field of entrepreneurial leadership and business sustainability, particularly in an emerging economy of Thailand. It also unveils the essential strategic leadership factors that positively drive business sustainability in small entrepreneurial firms. And, it empirically examines the effects of diverse strategic leadership factors and multiple sustainability performance outcomes in a single study. It further proposes an emergent leadership-performance model for entrepreneurial business sustainability in the context-specific study. Above all, it advances the currently limited empirical knowledge in the emerging research front towards more sustainable futures.

Given current global environmental concerns, traditional marketing and entrepreneurial practices of small businesses are considered ineffective. This is because sustainability requires the involvement of social, economic, and environmental dimensions. This study, therefore, aims at analyzing the moderating effect of technological absorptive capacity (TEOC) in the relationship between green marketing mix (GMX), enviropreneurial orientation (ENVO) and the sustainability of small businesses (SUST).

This study is cross-sectional. This study used data from 243 fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industries, such as food and beverages, cleaning products, office supplies, cosmetics, and toiletries. Structural equation mdeling (SEM) and the PROCESS macro test were employed during data analysis.

The findings suggest that GMX and ENVO are significant determinants of SUST. Also, TEOC is a significant moderator of GMX, ENVO, and SUST.

This study used owner-managers as the respondents; future studies can use employees and customers to find out how small businesses involve other stakeholders in designing GMX and ENVO and adopting technologies for business sustainability and adopting technologies for business sustainability.

The study has practical implications for policymakers and owner-managers, especially on the significant contributions of GMX, ENVO, and TEOC to business sustainability.

Depending only on traditional marketing and entrepreneurial practices is no longer a reliable technique for business sustainability. By bringing environmental aspects into business management through a green marketing mix and enviropreneurial orientation, the study provides a unique and new way of thinking about sustainability. Also, the study adds knowledge to the body of literature through a moderating effect of TEOC in the relationship between GMX, ENVO, and SUST.

Small traditional industry has been recognized as an important local economy that support cultural industry and is significant in many parts of the world, particularly in developing countries. The significance of this type industry as a poverty barrier, enables jobs for local rural villagers, and their role in continuing local community based cultural activities have become obvious. However, as the current modern days global pressures affecting many traditional people in developing countries, pathways of small traditional industry toward local sustainable development remain unclear. Further continuous investigations are still required on how this industry provide the platform for greater local, regional and global sustainability. Literatures and debates on the sustainability of the rural developing country concerning small traditional industries may even begin from the establishment of Brundtland sustainability commission in 1987. The conflict between brown and green agenda in Brundtland commission may also point to small-scale traditional industry growth in the developing world. Cultural traditional industries in developing countries could better lead to local sustainability pathway. On the other hand, conflict of the use of natural resources and competition may create different stories. How traditional industry in developing country survive and further innovate for development is a significant knowledge to understand. This chapter uses Jepara traditional furniture industry in Central Java – Indonesia which has been the subject of prolonged study on how small-scale industry implicated to global competition and pressures of raw material resources decline. This chapter further reviews previous research and recent study on Jepara industry upgrade and innovation, and how likely innovation may prosper for the future sustainability of this type of industry.

Drawing on the “ISO 26000: 2010 – Guidance on social responsibility” handbook, this paper aims to investigate the extent to which Bangladeshi small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) are incorporating social responsibility (SR)/sustainability into their regular business activities. It is also aimed at providing insights into how Bangladeshi SME owner-managers perceive the concept of SR, and exploring the key drivers of and barriers to socially responsible and sustainable business practices.

A mixed-method research was carried out in two sequential phases. During the first phase, 110 printed questionnaires (59 of which were eventually used) were distributed among the owner-managers of the selected SMEs. The second phase involved seven in-depth semi-structured interviews.

The findings reconfirm the existence of the so called “attitude-behaviour” gap. The barriers that hinder the sustainable engagement of SMEs include corruption, a weak regulatory environment, inefficient or ill-suited government and external support and a lack of awareness of the environmental aspects of SR. In addition, this research reveals that Bangladeshi manufacturing SMEs do, to a certain degree, implement SR; only those few issues that suit the owner-managers’ personal motives are addressed, while many others (e.g. environmental issues) are neglected. Finally, it has been found that the business type and size, and the owner-managers’ educational attainments have no significant influence on the degree of adoption of socially responsible business practices by Bangladeshi manufacturing SMEs.

This paper develops a tool suited to meaningfully assess the socially responsible and sustainable business activities of SMEs. By using the four key elements identified in ISO 26000, namely, labour practices, the environment, consumer issues and community involvement and development, and by using an innovative and effective technique, a sustainability score and implementation level were calculated quantitatively for the selected SMEs. The tool developed here can be used to study the sustainability related issues faced by SMEs based in other low-income developing countries.

This paper aims to analyze sustainability level of crispy palm tankos mushroom business; institutions involved in the development of crispy palm tankos mushroom business in Riau Region; nutritional composition, sensory assessment both descriptively and hedonically, and also designing the suitable and hygienic packaging for crispy palm tankos mushroom in Riau; institutional structuring model involved in the development of crispy palm tankos mushroom business in Riau; and strategies to improve the quality of crispy palm tankos mushroom in Riau.

This study is quantitative research conducted by survey. The research was conducted in Indragiri Hulu, Pelalawan, Kampar and Siak, Riau Province, Indonesia from April to August 2017. The study population is all producers producing crispy oil palm mushroom in the research area. The sample was determined purposively with the criterion of the producers who have been running their business for at least 5 years. Based on the criterion, there were 225 producers included as the sample.

This study found that business sustainability is the main concern of micro business of crispy palm tankos mushroom in Riau Province. Although local government lack of support, the average value of business sustainability is in the very high category. In addition due to the excellent business support quality, business sustainability is supported by the family environment, independence and business progress. There are two institutions involved in the development of makers business to date, they are informal financial institutions that help makers to increase business capital, and retailers who help makers deliver products to consumers. The results of nutritional composition analysis of crispy palm tankos mushroom showed that the crispy tankos mushroom is a product with good nutrition value for consumption by the community. The implication of this study is to improve the quality of the tankos mushroom crispy palm in terms of color according to the choice of the panelists.

Originality of this study aims to provide strategic formulation to use local resources and improve the economic actors of the home industry of crispy palm tankos mushroom processing in Riau. This research is conducting a structure to the institutions involved in the development of crispy palm tankos mushroom and improving the product quality. This research contributes to the development of science, especially economic development, particularly the development of small industries.

This paper aims to explore the impact of lean, Six Sigma and environmental sustainability on the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan. The firm performance has been measured in terms of operational, business and environmental performance.

A survey-based methodology is adopted for collecting data from the main cities of Punjab, Pakistan. SMEs related to different industries such as service, manufacturing, automotive and retail were targeted. The data gathered were ordinal, and Spearman's correlation test was used as the data analysis technique.

The findings indicated that the three management styles positively impacted the environmental performance of SMEs. Moreover, no significant relationship was found between the three management styles and the SMEs' business and operational performance.

To counter the inefficient and wasteful practices of SMEs and their detrimental impact on overall firm performance, SMEs have to refocus and reconfigure their management strategies. It is implied to use lean, Six Sigma and environmental sustainability practices to achieve this goal.

The study empirically investigates the impact of lean, Six Sigma and environmental sustainability on the performance of SMEs in Pakistan, which is the first study to be conducted in the Pakistani context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the facilitators and impediments of business sustainability of the microenterprises. The study also proposes a framework of social sustainability through women microentrepreneurs in India.

In order to fulfill the objectives, primary data have been collected and analyzed by employing binary logit model. Additionally, in-depth interviews and focus group interviews were conducted to get more precise insight on the issue.

The study finds out the factors determining sustainability of microenterprises. The economic, political, demographic factors along with family contribution are found to be important factors in determining sustainability and success of microenterprises. The study also show that microenterprises emerging from self-help groups (SHGs) are adding value to the society by overall women empowerment.

The study will pave the way for further research about the sustainability factors of microenterprises in emerging economies.

The finding of this paper will give directions to policy makers as well as to stakeholders as small businesses are becoming way of life in all developing countries.

This study contributes to the literature by identifying how microentrepreneurs emerging from SHGs are achieving societal goals of poverty eradication. It determines the indicators of business sustainability for small businesses run by women. Empirical and in-depth study explores the issues those have policy implications.

The purpose of this study is to report the apparent linkage between knowledge management (KM) practices in a semi-structured sector and business sustainability. Micro, small and medium scale enterprises in developing economies are constrained by accessibility to resources and have not been able to reap the benefits of structured KM practices to fine-tune their business processes. Insights derived from business operations of such enterprises can be formalized into relevant knowledge creation. An effective KM can help in revival strategies for many traditional organizations like handloom that operate as a co-operative. Such business has come under immense challenges from new-age organizations in that particular sector. This study reports the brand revival and business sustainability journey of a handloom co-operative through effective knowledge assimilation and dissemination.

In this paper, the authors have assessed the governance of small co-operative units in handloom and their supervision, which pose serious challenges for business sustainability. Their business data pertaining to productivity, sales and income for the period from 1997-1998 to 2015-2016 have been analyzed for business sustainability. A time-series analysis has been done on the above data set to track business sustainability of the handloom co-operative. The findings have been analyzed through a case-based study approach.

Over a period of one and half-decade, the handloom co-operative has been able to improve its product offering, which, in turn, led to the revival of the brand. Such transformation has resulted in revival of decades old brand through effective knowledge sharing, which is mainly tacit in nature. This case study based paper showcases that despite their inherent constraints, micro, small and medium enterprise organizations (many of which are semi-structured or unstructured in nature) can reap huge benefits by making efforts to put in place an effective KM mechanism.

There are very few reported studies, which have explored the linkage between tacit KM practices and business sustainability. Studies in context to a semi-structured small- and medium-scale enterprises are not available in published literature.

London’s Candidature bid projected an irresistible legacy of lasting benefits for host communities and small businesses. Yet, local post-Games perspectives paint a contrasted picture – one of becoming displaced. This paper aims to draw on event legacy, specifically in relation to rising rents, threats to small business sustainability and impact on place development by empirically examining London’s local embryonic legacies forming across one ex-hosting Olympic community: Central Greenwich.

In total, 43 interviews with local businesses (specifically, small retailers and hospitality businesses), local authorities, London-centric and national project actors and policymakers underpin analysis, supported by official London 2012 archival, documentary and media reports, were conducted to add texture and triangulate primary and secondary data sources.

Juxtaposing ex ante projections vs emerging ex post realities, this paper reveals a local legacy of small business failure fuelled by rising commercial rents and a wider indifference for protecting diverse urban high streets. Embroiled in a struggle to survive, and barely recognised as a key stakeholder and contributor to legacy, small businesses have and continue to become succeeded by a new business demographic in town: monochromatic global and national chains. Typifying the pervasive shift toward clone town spaces, this article argues that corporate colonisation displaces independent businesses, serves to homogenise town centres, dilute place-based cultural offer and simultaneously stunts access to a positive local development legacy. This paper argues that such processes lead to the production of urban blandscapes that may hamper destination competitiveness.

Examining event legacy, specifically local legacies forming across ex-host Olympic communities, is a latent, under-researched but vital and critical aspect of scholarship. Most event legacy analysis focuses on longer-term issues for residents, yet little research focuses on both local placed-based development challenges and small business sustainability and survival post-Games. More specifically, little research examines the potential relationship between event-led gentrification, associated rising rents and aforementioned clone town problematic. Revealing and amplifying the idiosyncratic local challenges generated through an in-depth empirically driven triangulation of key local business, policy, governmental and non-governmental perspectives, is a central contribution of this article missing from extant literatures. This paper considers different ways those responsible for event legacy, place managers and developers can combat such aforementioned post-Games challenges.

This paper aims to examine the role of grassroots (food) festivals for supporting the sustainability of micro and small producers, whilst exploring potential productive linkages between both stakeholders (festivals and producers) for enhancing a more authentic cultural offering and destination image in the visitor economy.

This paper is exploratory, qualitative and inductive. Evidence is underpinned by a purposive sample, drawing on ten in-depth interviews and 17 open-ended survey responses collected across 2014 and 2015 – drawing perspectives from traders participating in the EAT Cambridge festival.

This paper unpacks a series of serendipitous [as opposed to “strategic”] forms of festival and producer leveraging; strengthening B2C relationships and stimulating business to business networking and creative entrepreneurial collaborations. Positive emergent “embryonic” forms of event legacy are identified that support the longer-term sustainability of local producers and contribute towards an alternative idea of place and destination, more vibrant and authentic connectivity with localities and slower visitor experiences.

This study emphasises the importance of local bottom-up forms of “serendipitous leverage” for enhancing positive emergent “embryonic” legacies that advance “slow” tourism and local food agendas. In turn, this enhances the cultural offering and delivers longer-term sustainability for small local producers – particularly vital in the era of “Clone Town” threats and effects. The paper applies Chalip’s (2004) event leverage model to the empirical setting of EAT Cambridge and conceptually advances the framework by integrating “digital” forms of leverage.