Environmental Management

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are considered the backbone of economic development. Various evident supports this statement and while it is not the purpose of this note to list the relevant references it should be mentioned, as an example, that in China (to mention one of the higher developing economies) 75% of all jobs are provided by SMEs. National governments increasingly promote the SMEs development in recognition of the critical roles played by them in the socio-economy. Although policies and supporting measures for the purpose of economic growth of SMEs have been set, small attention is paid in the environmental impacts of SMEs.

As threats to the environment by SMEs increase, immediate measures to improve the conditions are necessary. Nevertheless, as many scientific, empirical and political texts are supporting, SMEs are incapable and/or indifferent to conform to environmentally friendly practices due to financial constraints, lack of proper information and a lack of motivation.

A number of studies indicate the following barriers to implementation of environmental management in SMEs:

• Lack of training and awareness
  
• Lack of legislative support
  
• Lack of sector-/industry-specific support and solutions
  
• Expenses involved
  
• Lack of relevant information
  
• Environmental management standards are ill-suited for SMEs
  
• Other barriers

The same studies suggest that under the current situation, international organisations, along with local and national governments and development agencies, must play important roles in stimulating SMEs to improve their environmental performance.

Even the studies supporting "that a number of SMEs are moving towards better environmental performance" admit that SMEs are lacking from taking action. The major obstacles are their weak capacity and limited resources in terms of:

• Human resources. Generally, human resource allocation in the SMEs is limited to essential business functions, such as technical, accountancy, sales and marketing. In most cases, there are no environmental personnel in the SMEs to undertake related tasks effectively.
  
  
• Technologies. Utilisation of outdated technology makes SMEs less competitive. The majority of SMEs is relying on dated technologies that cause pollution and their inefficient production. In addition, inappropriate pollution abatement technologies result in inefficiencies in pollution treatment.
  
  
• R&D activities. R&D activities are limited in the SMEs sector. This prevents innovative improvement within the companies. One of the major reasons for the poor performance is technological obsolescence coupled with information deficiency and poor management practices. Thus, SMEs lack technical capacity to identify, access, adapt and adopt better technologies and operating practices to improve their environmental performance.
  
  
• Business-as-usual operation and management. Normally, SMEs function in a business-as-usual mode that prevents them of adopting sustainable production and consumption patterns. They are not fully aware of the emergence of a new business environment, new trade and technology and new consumers' preferences.