Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Environment: Business Imperatives

This work tackles the issue of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their environmental impact. Individually, the environmental impact of these enterprises might be small but, collectively, they pose a huge and largely unregulated threat to national and indeed the global environment. Dr Ruth Hillary brings together an international collection of experts from government, international and national support agencies, academics and the business community to present arguments about the key environmental business imperatives facing the small-firm sector. The book is divided into four sections covering: attitudes and perceptions of small firms to the environment and sustainability; environmental management in the smaller firm; practical strategies for reaching SMEs; and case studies from around the world. In these sections, the book examines the threats - such as trade, supply chain issues and legislative compliance - but is also solution-oriented, with discussion of the management tools smaller firms can use to improve their environmental performance. It aims to provide practical strategies for smaller firms and to that end includes a range of informative case studies from around the world.