Sustainability in SMEs: A Systematic Literature Review (PRISMA Compliant)

Abstract

Background: In today's complicated, competitive, and chaotic business world, adopting sustainability principles is essential for stable and sustainable growth for small and medium-sized businesses, and their survival depends on it to a considerable extent. However, despite SMEs being a significant aspect of the national and global economies, their participation in Sustainability is far from satisfactory. Only a tiny percentage of them have adopted and incorporated sustainability principles into their company plans and everyday operations. According to GRI's (Global Reporting Initiative) Sustainability Disclosure Database, SMEs accounted for just 10.22% of total sustainability reports captured in 2017 and 15% of accurate sustainability reports captured in 2018 (with not many reports submitted yet), and this figure has remained nearly constant for the last seven years.
Objective: The purpose of this paper is to (1) identify and examine the literature on Sustainability in SMEs and (2) identify gaps in the literature that propose future research directions.
Methods: Papers from the broad domains of SMEs and Sustainability are identified and examined using a precise set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. In October 2021, we conducted systematic literature reviews using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria, and we selected 10 papers after three rounds of selection.
Conclusions: According to the report, small and medium businesses are undergoing a shift that requires entrepreneurs to be aware of and take the necessary actions to ensure their long-term viability. As a result, SMEs achieve good performance and generate long-term growth, and this study investigates the impact of internal, external, and risk management on SMEs' performance.