Drivers and barriers to engage enterprises in environmental management initiatives in Suzhou Industrial Park, China

Abstract

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in sustainable development not only for their significant contribution to China’s economy, but also for their big share of total discharged pollutants. Therefore, this research takes the enterprises in Suzhou Industrial Park, China as the case study to investigate the environmental management practices of SMEs, and identify drivers and barriers to engaging businesses in environmental management initiatives. It is shown that, as in other countries, SMEs are less active in adopting environmental management initiatives than larger companies. Legislation remains the key driver to engage SMEs in environmental management initiatives. Based on the analysis, policy recommendations are also presented.

Keywords

small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) / environmental management initiative / Suzhou industrial park

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Key Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 06&ZD026), the Scientific Research Foundation of Graduate School of Nanjing University (Grant No. 2006CW04), and the National Environmental R&D Project on Public Interest (200809074).

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg