Institutionalizing an environmental agenda in business

This paper studies the extent and manner in which an environmental agenda is being institutionalised in two companies in the UK water industry through discursive practices. The paper draws mostly on Fairclough's understanding of critical discourse analysis, taking into account the three dimensions of text, discourse practice, and socio-cultural practice. Analyzing managerial discourse - mostly in the form of interviews - over a period of five years, the paper looks at the discursive means by which a pro-environmental agenda is being established, legitimized and supported. The analysis also pays special attention to the degree of homogeneity or contestedness of environmental discourse within and between the two companies. It concludes that a pro-environmental agenda has been established to some extent in both companies, legitmized mostly through reference to competitive advantage and the law. However, there are differences in the way in which this agenda is legitimized and supported and in the degree to which the company's emvironmental strategy is contested internally. Some conclusions are drawn regarding the likely way in which companies will establish and support environmental concerns and the implications this may have for a wider environmental agenda and public policy

Sector-specific corporate responsibility in the United Kingdom

The economy of the United Kingdom (UK) is dominated by services and particularly financial services industries, and it was thus hard hit by the financial crisis. The UK has a long tradition of free trade, and its politics over at least the last 30 years have been characterised by a market orientation. UK governments have, on the whole, favoured light-touch regulation and voluntary rather than mandatory approaches to encouraging businesses to work in the public interest. The idea of corporate responsibility (CR) has a longer tradition in the UK than in other European countries. Likewise, government encouragement of CR has been on the agenda for several decades now. There are a number of initiatives aimed at specific industry sectors. These initiatives take a variety of forms and administrative arrangements. A voluntary CR approach to achieving public goods is generally favoured by industry, and such initiatives can have good industry responses. However, in the light of the financial crisis and stringent cutbacks in the public sector spending, the future of such initiatives is unclear. The chapter gives an overview of public policy CR initiatives in the United Kingdom and discusses three sector specific initiatives in detail: The Courtauld Commitment, aimed at reducing waste in the food and drinks manufacturing and retail industries; the Strategy for Sustainable Construction, a high-level strategy aiming to bring together a range of separate sustainability initiatives for the construction sector; and Treating Customers Fairly, a regulatory initiative aimed at improving customer care in financial services

Human Capital and Environmental Engagement of SMEs in Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis of the Leather Industry

As part of a broader effort to reduce environmental degradation, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) around the world are increasingly being required by different stakeholders to adopt more environmentally responsible business practices. The existing literature suggests that the main factors prompting SMEs to adopt environmental practices are: compliance with regulations, economic advantage and the realisation of personal ethical values. However, knowledge and understanding about the resources and capabilities that might enable SMEs to adopt environmental practices remains very limited. At the same time, much of the prior literature is about developed economies. The aim of this case study is to address these gaps in the literature by exploring the influence of human capital on environmental engagement of SMEs in Pakistan’s leatherworking industry. Findings reveal that human capital does influence environmental practices in SMEs of leather industry. Compared to some earlier studies from developed economies, which emphasis more on informal environmental learning, this study finds that both formal education and informal environmental learning are important for better environmental engagement of SMEs. Importance of networking for seeking environmental knowledge also came up quite clearly. The implications are that well-designed and executed interventions could promote large-scale improvements in environmental performance of this industry sector. Furthermore, awareness programmes should aim, not simply to educate entrepreneurs and employees, but also to inspire them to pursue environmental opportunities

Introducing social and sustainable enterprise: changing the nature of business

This chapter introduces the volume, Social and Sustainable Enterprise: Changing the Nature of Business, which is edited by Sarah Underwood, Richard Blundel, Fergus Lyon and Anja Schaefer. The book draws together contemporary research contributions that seek to critically explore a range of issues in the specific context of social enterprise, sustainable entrepreneurship and social responsibility. Collectively, the chapters in this volume consider the challenges facing social enterprises globally, their environmental impact and the difficulties for policy makers in their efforts to tackle complex international environmental problems. The volume contributors draw on a range of research themes, methodological approaches and international contexts to enhance our understanding of the meaning, critical nature and value of social and sustainable enterprise development. Thus, this volume speaks directly to the core objectives of this book series by providing an opportunity for the ISBE [Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship] community of interest to challenge current thinking and create a research agenda for future inquiry

SME managers' motivations to engage with climate change: the role of values and emotions

In this paper we look at the motivations of managers of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage with climate change. The paper reports on an exploratory, qualitative study with managers of nine environmentally proactive SMEs in the East of England. The aim of the research was to study what motivated managers of SMEs to engage with environmental issues in general and with climate change in particular and how they constructed the importance of climate change with respect to their own business practice. We found that managers of environmental pro-active SMEs were actively interested in the climate change debate, constructed climate change holistically within a range of wider environmental and social concerns. We found that their motivations to engage with environmental and climate change issues were based on values as much, if not more so, than on business strategic and externally legitimacy considerations and. Values and emotional responses interacted with knowledge and information, in as much as they encouraged respondents to act upon the climate change information gathered through a variety of sources

Understanding the Drivers of Sustainable Entrepreneurial Practices in Pakistan’s Leather Industry: A Multi-Level Approach

Purpose: The main objective is to analyse the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial practices in SMEs operating in a developing economy. The secondary objectives are to explore the relationship between these drivers and to draw out the implications for policy and practice. Design/methodology/approach: The research is informed by the literature on sustainable entrepreneurship, and on the drivers of pro-environmental practices in SMEs. It reports on the results of an intensive multi-level empirical study, which investigates the environmental practices of SMEs in Pakistan’s leatherworking industry using a multiple case study design and grounded analysis, which draws on relevant institutional theory. Findings: The study identifies that coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphic pressures simultaneously drive sustainable entrepreneurial activity in the majority of sample SMEs. These pressures are exerted by specific micro, meso and macro level factors, ranging from international customers’ requirements to individual-level values of owners and managers. It also reveals the catalytic effect of the educational and awareness-raising activities of intermediary organisations, in tandem with the attraction of competitiveness gains, (international) environmental regulations, industrial dynamism and reputational factors. Practical implications: The evidence suggests that, in countries where formal institutional mechanisms have less of an impact, intermediary organisations can perform a proto-institutional role that helps to overcome pre-existing barriers to environmental improvement by sparking sustainable entrepreneurial activity in SME populations. Originality/value: The findings imply that the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial activity do not operate in a ‘piecemeal’ fashion, but that particular factors mediate the emergence and development of other sustainability drivers. This paper provides new insights into sustainable entrepreneurship and motivations for environmental practices in an under-researched developing economy context

Human Capital and Environmental Engagement of SMEs in Pakistan: A Comparative Analysis of the Leather Industry

Objectives: To examine how human capital influences the environmental engagement of SMEs in Pakistan’s leather industry. Another objective is to explore the different motivations of SME owners and managers for adopting the pro-environmental behaviour in this industry sector. Prior Work: The research is informed by literature on SMEs and environmental responsibility. Previous research has identified a number of internal and external drivers of, and barriers to, the environmental engagement of SMEs, but much of this research has focused on developed economies. Moreover, research looking specifically at the resources, capabilities and internal processes remains limited. Developing economy-focused research can complement and counterpoint the developed economy orientation of existing work. A focus on environmental practices of SMEs in less familiar cultural settings can also provide new insights. Approach: The research study adopts a qualitative approach and uses multiple case study research design. Guided by the evidence collected in a preliminary literature review, purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to select a suitable sample of SMEs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, transcript evidence was combined with observational and documentary sources, and the cases were refined using thematic analysis technique. Results: Contrary to prior research, which regards regulatory compliance as the leading motivation for environmental engagement among SMEs in developed economies such as the EU, this study suggests that, in Pakistan, a primary factor is the presence of, and commercial pressure from, environmentally-conscious customers. The variation in findings can be attributed in part to context-specific factors. Drawing on the human capital literature, this study found that owner managers with higher educational attainment, tended to be more aware of both the challenges and the opportunities in adopting new environmental practices. However, some of the educated owner-managers had a lower level of environmental awareness, which hindered the environmental engagement of their businesses. It also appears that the owner-managers in this study would be more likely to invest in such initiatives through economic incentives, rather than as a consequence of adopting a sustainability agenda or acknowledging a wider responsibility for the natural environment. Value: The findings of the study are important in policy terms, given their focus on the enabling features of human capital in promoting environmental practices in developing economies. There is considerable scope for national governments and international donor agencies to launch environmental awareness programmes for SMEs, which should not simply educate entrepreneurs and employees, but also inspire them to pursue environmental opportunities

SMEs’ construction of climate change risks: the role of networks and values

In this paper we explore how SME managers’ network relations and values may be related to their construction of climate change (CC) as a business risk and responsibility. The paper takes a social-constructionist approach the topic of small business managers’ understanding and response to climate change risks. From this perspective, the paper investigates how the personal values held by managers, as well as the social structure, and particularly the networks in which they are embedded and participating enable and constrain the way in which they understand and enact climate change risks for their business. Keywords Business networks, personal values, climate change, small and medium sized enterprise

Policy framework to overcome barriers to environmental improvement in Pakistan’s leatherworking SMEs

Environmental degradation is one of the major challenges of this ear. Alongside other actors, SMEs are taking various measures to address this issue. However, their environmental engagement varies across countries and industry sectors. Nevertheless, the majority of SMEs find it hard to take environmental protection measures proactively. Often it is attributed to their internal capacity constraints and lack of support from actors operating in their business environment. This research is about the leatherworking industry of Pakistan, an under-research economy context, where SMEs face a number of internal and external environmental barriers which limit their effective environmental engagement. Internal environmental barriers relate to limited financial resources, labour related issues and shortage of physical area. External environmental barriers range from policy related challenges to poor infrastructural facilities, societal barriers and inconsistent support from cleaner production centres. To deal with such environmental barriers some pragmatic policy measures are offered which if operationalised effectively are hoped to provide the much needed support to leatherworking SMEs for proactive engagement with environmentally responsible business practices. These policy measures relate to addressing the institutional voids in the country, improving infrastructural facilities, raising environmental awareness amongst masses, institutionalising cleaner production practices, providing platform to SMEs for getting environment-specific loaning facilities and improving the governance of tannery clusters. The paper makes an empirical contribution by uncovering the environmental barriers in an under-researched developing economy context, Pakistan. Its practical contributions are twofold. First, it offers insights to SME owner-managers for developing better strategies to address the identified barriers. Second, its findings can be useful for those formal and informal actors (local as well as international) engaged in formulating interventions focused at supporting SMEs to become environmentally responsible

Individual Values and SME Environmental Engagement

We study the values on which managers of small and medium-sized enterprises draw when constructing their personal and organizational-level engagement with environmental issues, particularly climate change. Values play an important mediating role in business environmental engagement but relatively little research has been conducted on individual values in smaller organizations. Using the Schwartz Value System (SVS) as a framework for a qualitative analysis, we identify four ‘ideal-types’ of SME managers and provide rich descriptions of the ways in which values shape their constructions of environmental engagement. In contrast to previous research, which is framed around a binary divide between self-enhancing and self-transcending values, our typology distinguishes between individuals drawing primarily on Power or on Achievement values, and indicates how a combination of Achievement and Benevolence values is particularly significant in shaping environmental engagement. This demonstrates the theoretical usefulness of focusing on a complete range of values. Implications for policy and practice are discussed