Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Volume 19, Issue 3, Pages 247-+Publisher
EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1108/18347641111169250
Keywords
Sustainability; Small to medium-sized enterprises; Strategic decision making; Facility location; Start up companies; Green business; Sustainability assessment; Indicator development
Categories
Funding
- American Association of UniversityWomen through the Selected Professions Fellowship
- National Science Foundation through the Sustainable Futures IGERT [DGE 0333401]
- Chinese Academy of Sciences through the Visiting Young Scientist Program
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Purpose - A growing number of companies are measuring the sustainability performance of their businesses. Some companies are using pre-existing sustainability indicator systems to assess their performance. Other companies are looking beyond measurement of impacts to create their own system of indicators to measure sustainability. Formulating relevant indicators of sustainability performance is a difficult task for any organization, but especially for small/medium enterprises (SMEs) that often lack financial, knowledge, and labor resources. The purpose of this paper is to consider two different sustainability assessment approaches undertaken by a single case study company, a start-up SME. Design/methodology/approach - The authors developed a method for an SME, Ecologic Designs, Inc., a self-identified green business that reclaims materials to make bags and accessories, to create its own sustainability indicators without outside expert help. This research chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the SME in measuring its sustainability performance using a pre-existing system and then using the developed method. Findings - The SME's managers applied the developed method to create, select, and weight sustainability indicators to help answer a strategic planning decision - where to locate operations and facilities in an expanding supply chain. Originality/value - The paper describes the struggles and triumphs of a start-up SME in measuring its sustainability performance using a pre-existing system and then using the developed method.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available