The affordability of sustainable entrepreneurship certification for SMEs

Sustainable entrepreneurship is a spin-off concept from sustainable development that can be defined as the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce, their families, local communities, society and the world at large, as well as future generations. This is an approach that is applied mostly by large, often industrial companies. In their wake, a whole range of sustainability certificates have come about. Because of the proliferation of complex and costly procedures to obtain them, SMEs have almost unanimously ignored and repudiated the idea of sustainable entrepreneurship. Although the gains can be substantial in terms of risk control, business relationships with large companies and positive reputation, the question is raised whether SMEs can actually afford to do business in a sustainable manner.

The case study provides the preconditions for implementation of sustainable business practices by SMEs. First, the smaller financial resources of SMEs are not a prohibitive determinant. Lack of time, however, is. When preconditions are solved, SMEs should select a simple, pragmatic and effective format that is tailored to their needs. The case study offers some convincing examples. Finally, SMEs should look at the return and the opportunity costs of a sustainability strategy rather than simply examining the financial costs.