‘Sustainable Practice’? A Case Study of Small Businesses and Environmental Quality Marks

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Policymakers in the field of sustainable development often stress the role of the individual in making a contribution to the sustainability agenda. Various initiatives have been pioneered to engage sections of the community in examining current practice with the hope of changing both perceptions of what is possible and actual practice, creating a ripple of activity which impinges on larger numbers of the population over time. One such initiative is examined to discern how effective in terms of cost and coverage, this focus can be. It is based on a study of a scheme currently being used in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, UK, known as the Environmental Quality Mark (EQM). It questions whether the model used is simply rewarding existing practice, or if it is promoting innovative and tangible change to organizational processes, which are in keeping with the ideals of sustainable development. We categories participating SMEs as Pioneers, Reformists and Opportunists in their motivations for participation and organizational commitment to sustainable practice, which for some is trans formative, but for others does little to challenge prevailing orthodoxies. The future of the EQM scheme will continue to be influenced by the relationships between the award-holders, in developing a localized approach to sustainable development.

Stream: Economic Sustainability

Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

I have been researching social and environmental accounting,sustainable development and CSR issues for about ten years. I have just had a major work on Corporate Responsibility published by Oxford UNiversity Press (January 2008), and I sit on the United Nations Global Compact Taskforce on Principles of Responsible Management Education. I am Chair of the British Academy of Management Special Interest Group in CSR, and I also sit on the Executive Committees of the British Academy of Management and the British Accounting Association.