Issues for small businesses with waste management.
Participation by small and medium enterprise (SME) in corporate social responsibility issues has been found to be lacking. This is a critical issue, as individually SMEs may have little impact on the environment but their collective footprint is significant. The management style and ethical stance of the owner-manager affects business decision making and therefore has a direct impact on the environmental actions of the business. Although adoption of environmental practices to create competitive advantage has been advocated, many businesses see implementation as a cost which cannot be transferred to their customers. After a brief review of pertinent literature this paper reports on an exploratory investigation into the issue. Results show that whereas owner-managers of small enterprises express concern regarding the environment, this does not then translate into better waste management practices.
Redmond
Janice
J
School of Management, Edith Cowan University, 100 Joondalup Drive Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia. j.redmond@ecu.edu.au
Walker
Elizabeth
E
Wang
Calvin
C
D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods; D040861:Ethics, Business; D007221:Industry / Q000191:economics* / Q000941:ethics* / Q000592:standards; D018505:Waste Management / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*