The Approach of SMEs Towards Environmental Sustainability: A Case Study

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the development of the country. The study explores environmental Practices in the import- export sector in Moradabad and highlights the potential avenues for achieving environmental sustainability. Academic emphasis is needed in this field to help practitioners with guiding implementation. It is an effort to gather information about the level of responsiveness in the manufacturing sector in Moradabad based on the longitudinal field study from July 2015 through November 2016. Further, to gain an in-depth understanding, a qualitative study was conducted in the form of semi-structured interviews with HR managers responsible for environmental management in manufacturing units. The research is more objective in nature because of field observation and is not based on perception or experience. Furthermore, the research is original in nature and is undertaken to explore the role of HRM in SMEs towards environmental sustainability. The key finding as quoted by managers was that they see their firm at an awareness level and discussed that not all workers are aware of the health benefits of environmental sustainable practices in the firm, thus posing a threat to implementation. Rewards and compensation were not reported to be linked to pro-environmental behaviour or even wastage reduction done by employees, but were found to be directly linked to the revenue generated by the respective teams on an annual basis. It was further observed that environmental initiatives were a result of pressure from buyers of different countries and were not implemented categorically under Environmental HRM. Recommendations and implications for HR managers are discussed at the end of the study, which rationalises the purpose behind conducting research.