The Nature of Sustainability Challenge in Small and Medium Enterprises and its Management

The term sustainability in the context of the business world refers to the ability of a company to survive and succeed in a dynamic, competitive, and challenging business environment. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) must adapt to the changing environment and take appropriate measures to mitigate the change. To strike a balance between the triple bottom line – people, planet, and profit - by SMEs, reducing pollution and resource degradation, in the long run, is necessary. It is, therefore, required to understand the nature of challenges posed by the changing environment to the sustainability of SMEs. According to the existing literature, the challenges to sustainability include the ability to deal with economic and social change, engage in responsible and ethical business practices, efficient use of natural resources and protecting the environment, provide high-quality products and services, and develop metrics to determine if the company is meeting stakeholder needs. With this background, a systematic literature review was carried out to explore the insights of the existing knowledge on the nature of environmental sustainability challenges to small and medium enterprises and its management, particularly in the Asian context. Relevant papers were selected, followed by rigorous and extensive web searching based on the standard filtering approaches, and the sustainability challenges and their dynamic interactions in the context of SMEs are broadly discussed

Global Challenges and Survival Strategies of the SMEs in the Era of Economic Globalization: A Systematic Review

Globalization has presented new challenges for SMEs due to the increased competition, and as a result, the mortality rate of SMEs after a shorter period of commencement is relatively high. Accordingly, SMEs necessity to adopt survival strategies and strategic decisions to succeed in the business environment facing global challenges. This study attempted to critically review the existing literature on the global challenge for SMEs to identify the survival and succeeding strategies of SMEs in the current competitive business environment. Published reports in the field by the recognized multilateral organizations and seventy-five excellent research papers published by four recognized journal publishing companies: Emerald, Elsevier, Tayler & Francis, and MDPI were selected for inclusion in this review. Based on this review, it has been found that leading global challenges for SMEs in economic globalization include: global market competition, global financial and economic crisis, information communication technology, rise of Multinational Corporations, Transnational Corporations, changing profile of consumers and their preferences, trade dumping, international terrorism and religious conflicts, and trade wars. Further research could take on survival Strategies of SMEs in the industrial level to identify the sustainability-oriented specific policies. As well as a need for a stronger theoretical examination on survival strategies of SMEs in the global challenges

Social Capital and SME: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Directions

This study aims to review past literature on social capital and SME. The paper systematically discusses the literature on social capital and SME between the years 1999 to 2020. The Scopus database was selected to make the literature search process transparent, and the literature survey used social capital and SME as keywords. The PRISMA 2009 helped the selection and exclusion process. During the literature classification, the final 33 articles were used to find the gap and future directions of social capital and SMEs. The results revealed literature on the methodology of the studies, Social capital and SME performance, innovation, and marketing capabilities and CSR-SME relationship. The systematic review recommends that future research may focus more on mixed methodology, the direct relationship between social capital and SME performance in less available research areas, the link between dynamic capabilities (innovation, marketing) of SMEs, social capital CSR-SME relationship, social capital, and family SMEs to remove the existing gaps in the available literature

Social Capital, Performance of SMEs, and COVID-19 Pandemic

The aim of this working paper is to explore the relationship between social capital and the performance of SMEs and articulate the ways of using the social capital as an instrument to address the performance of the SMEs in context of Covid-19 pandemic. Further, this review identifies the unexplored areas related to concepts ‒ social capital, SME performance, and Covid‒19 pandemic which will pave the way for further research in area focused. . The review and discussion on existing state of knowledge disclosed the key areas which create link between social capital and SME performance. First, the investigation of the impact of externalities on SMEs performance, especially the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, and how the social capital could assists to minimize the effect were divulged. Then, the way of allocating social capital to intensify the success of SMEs in the internationalization process was revealed. Accordingly, with the growing significance of the banking institutions during the pandemic period, investigating the banking relationship as an external social capital with the SMEs performance was recognized as one of the critical areas in the pandemic situation. Lastly, during the era of treating customers like the kings of the market, interaction among innovation, marketing capabilities, and social capital to facilitate the competitive performance of SMEs have been substantially addressed. Findings suggested that investigating the dynamic environmental changes of SMEs and social capital influence are vital to stimulate the sustainable competitive advantage of SME sector in the intensified economic competition

Investigation of Institutional and Legislative Barriers and Drivers for Sustainable Transition Development of SMEs in Sri Lanka: A Literature Review

It is well documented that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are recognized as the key to economic growth, innovations and market competition in both developed and developing countries. In Sri Lankan context SMEs play a noteworthy role in environmental, social and economic sustainability. This paper attempted to investigate institutional and legislative barriers and to explore the drivers affecting towards the sustainable transition development of Sri Lankan SMEs, through a systemic literature review. In this study researchers developed model framework for sustainable transition development of SMEs and filled the gap of literature interms of institutional and legislative barriers and drivers on SMEs sustainability. Findings of this study will provide directions for further invetigations on barriers and drivers for sustainable transition development of SMEs in an empirical context which certainly helpful to find out the case specific and unique divers and barriers for sustainability of SMEs

Sustainability of SMEs in the Competition: A Systemic Review on Technological Challenges and SME Performance

In the era of economic globalization, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are recognized as an engine of sustainable economic development in both the developed and developing world. In literature, three competitive challenges—the sustainability challenge, the global challenge and the technological challenge—faced by industrial entities in the current globalized economy, are categorized. Of them, this paper undertakes a systemic review of the literature covering the theme of SMEs and technology in order to identify how technological progress in the SMEs, correlates with SMEs survival improvement in the global competition. The review identified six driving forces—social capital, link with Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and Transnational Corporations (TNCs), innovation, sharing and networking, information technology, and adoption of productivity-enhancing technology—influencing technological upgrade in the SMEs. The review also identified two conditions for successful technological adaptation in the SME sector—availability of technologically skillful workforce in the economy, and identification of opportunities of new technologies in the competition. These conditions could be viewed in the macro environment and emphasize the need for the economies’ readiness towards SMEs’ success

A review of global challenges and survival strategies of small and medium Eeterprises (SMEs)

Economic globalization has created many challenges for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) due to the rapid increase in competition. Therefore, the downfall rate of SMEs is relatively high, a short period after their commencement. Accordingly, SMEs need to adopt survival strategies and strategic methods to succeed in confronting the various global challenges faced by the SME sector. This study critically examined the existing literature on global challenges for SMEs to understand the SMEs' survival and successive mechanisms in the present competitive business background. Published information related to the field by the multilateral institutions and 110 research papers published by four recognized publishing companies, i.e., Emerald, Elsevier, Taylor and Francis, and MDPI, were chosen for this study. The review revealed the critical global challenges for SMEs within the context of economic globalization. They are the global market competition, global finance and economic crises, information communication technology, the emergence of multi-national corporations, transnational corporations, consumer changes and especially their preferences, trade dumping, international terrorism, and religious conflicts and trade wars. Furthermore, the study considered the survival strategies of SMEs in the industrial platform to recognize sustainability-related policies, specifically, the necessity for a robust theoretical examination on the survival strategies of SMEs in the field of global challenges

Factors Determining the Competitive Strategic Positions of the SMEs in Asian Developing Nations: Case Study of SMEs in the Agricultural Sector in Sri Lanka

Economic globalization has rapidly intensified the competition among businesses. Therefore, it is pivotal that SMEs follow competitive strategic positions and adopt strategic methods in order to confront the various challenges in this era. This study assessed the factors that determine the competitive strategic position of SMEs in the developing nations of Asia by considering the agro-based SMEs in Sri Lanka as a case study. By using primary data of 463 SMEs, the study estimated a binary logistic regression model to deal with the research subject. The findings revealed seven significant strategic variables: innovation in product and marketing, business exhibition in the local setting, gender, strategic market location, sustainable business practices, marketing efficiency, and business reputation and superior services. Moreover, the study identified and commented on seven insignificant variables: specialization in production, experience in the business field, experience in attending business exhibitions at overseas setting, credit market accessibility, provision of high-quality products, research and development, and strategic firm location, which are relevant in developed countries. Therefore, the government and policymakers must initiate measures to establish a more favorable business environment for SMEs to gain competitive advantage from these variables in the near future to permit an ameliorated and strong SME sector in Sri Lanka