Title: Sustainable and socially responsible business: doable reality or just a luxury? An exploratory study of the Bangladeshi manufacturing SMEs

Authors: Md Nazmul Hasan

Addresses: Centre for Research into Sustainability, School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK

Abstract: Drawing on the ISO 26000: 2010 - Guidance on Social Responsibility, this study investigates the extent to which Bangladeshi manufacturing SMEs are incorporating sustainability into their day-to-day business activities. The findings reconfirm the existence of the so called 'attitude-behaviour' gap. The barriers that hinder the sustainable engagement of SMEs include corruption, a weak regulatory environment, inefficient or ill-suited government and external support, and a lack of awareness of the environmental aspects of SR. In addition, this research reveals that Bangladeshi manufacturing SMEs do, to a certain degree, implement sustainability; only those few issues that suit the owner-managers' personal motives are addressed, while some others are neglected. Finally, it has been found that the business type and size, and the owner-managers' educational attainments have no significant influence on the degree of adoption of sustainable and socially responsible business practices by Bangladeshi manufacturing SMEs.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; social responsibility; ISO 26000; ethics; sustainability; developing countries; Bangladesh.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2018.093570

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2018 Vol.14 No.4, pp.473 - 506

Received: 18 Jun 2016
Accepted: 18 Jun 2016
Published online: 30 Jul 2018 *

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