Purpose The purpose of this paper is to do a thorough literature review to assess the current status of corporate sustainability (CS) practices, issues and challenges in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and based on literature suggest a model that can improve and strategically manage their sustainability practices in the emerging market context of Asia. Design/methodology/approach After setting the theoretical background on why the corporations need to shoulder the responsibility of sustainable development, the authors did a high level literature review to estimate the gap area and based on the findings formulated some research questions on why the SMEs, more specifically those in Asian emerging market, are lagging behind in terms of CS practices. Next, using the “literature survey” as the methodology the authors did a thorough in-depth literature review to answer the above research questions and organised the findings in light of those research questions. Considering the research gap and the crucial role of SMEs in a country’s economic progress the authors restricted the literature search on CS in the case of SMEs only. Findings CS is a well-practiced area in big organisations. However, the literature suggests that in the case of SMEs the situation is different. Social and environmental practices are grossly neglected in SMEs more specifically in emerging markets. Existing literature mentions that collaborative mode of operation, government policy and facilitation, supporting organisation culture can positively influence SME’s sustainability performance, and hence, improve their financial performance. Research limitations/implications The conceptual model has been developed based on suggestions and recommendations in western countries context. To establish the validity of the model in the Asian business scenario it needs to be tested with a sizable sample of SMEs in the Asian market. Practical implications The current paper has practical implications both for academic research on sustainable development and also in business development. The proposed model in the current form is based on the literature survey only. Once such a model is empirically established this can be proved beneficial for providing guidance to SMEs to enhance the sustainability of their business operations. Moreover, environmental and social best practices adopted by SMEs will also have a positive influence on society and the environment in the long run. Originality/value This paper had done a country-wise comparison of sustainable practices in SMEs and based on the recommendations and suggestions of different scholars as found in the detailed literature review, the authors developed few research propositions and also presented a conceptual model. Finally, to address the gap it mentions some future research possibilities to test and validate the proposed model in the context of SMEs in emerging markets of Asia.

Purpose The influence of sustainability practices, especially those related to the environment and society in driving business growth is evident from the annual sustainability reports of big corporations. Also, there has been a plethora of research relating sustainability performance to the financial performance of these companies. However, in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises, a very limited research study has been done so far considering the societal and environmental aspects of their business operations. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those in the emerging economy have grossly neglected their responsibilities and obligations towards the environment and society. SMEs are considered as growth engines for any nation. However, literature has shown that a large percentage of SMEs across the world fail within a few years of their incorporation. This paper aims to verify the relationship between sustainability performance and business growth for SMEs in the developing economy. Design/methodology/approach In the paper, the authors have tried to develop a model taking a sample of 200 SMEs from Indian leather and chemical sectors and find out how the factors like collaborative synergy and government policy initiatives impact the sustainability performance of small and medium firms and how in turn, their improved sustainability performance helps them to drive sustainable business growth. Data were mainly collected through primary survey and also from the company websites. Findings Empirical results of the study reveal that both policy initiatives and collaborative synergy positively influence the firm’s sustainability performance and, in turn, the company’s business growth is positively impacted by their enhanced sustainability performance. Company size was found to have a moderating effect on this relationship. Originality/value There are theoretical and conceptual papers elaborating on the importance of adoption of sustainability practices in SME business operations but no empirical study has been conducted to mathematically relate the factors of sustainability and business growth. The authors have tried to build a model relating the factors of sustainability improvement with those of the business growth of the firm and also verified the influence of control variables like company size on the proposed relationship.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between corporate sustainability performance (CSP) and corporate firm performance (CFP) for a sample of the top 500 Indian firms covering the period from 2008 to 2018. CSP variables have been considered at both aggregate and disaggregate levels of environmental, social and governance performance. CFP has been evaluated in both accounting and marketbased measures. Rigorous statistical methods have been used to evaluate the bidirectional causality and intensity of the CSP-CFP relationship using the Granger causality test and multiple regression for panel data. A sectoral level trend analysis is presented dividing the firms in various industries and classifying them in ESI vs non-ESI sectors. The findings indicate the absence of causality among CSP and CFP variables in either direction and suggest that the CSP-CFP linkage is mostly insignificant for Indian firms at the aggregate level. At an individual level, some negative association is found between CSP and CFP. This relationship has an adverse impact on CSP-CFP linkage in both cases, which means that Indian firms don't get the financial performance benefits of investments done for sustainability. Our findings with mostly insignificant results for this relation also means that firms with higher or lower CSP on ESG dimensions will perform likewise in terms of CFP. The findings have practical implications for corporates, academicians, and policymakers alike given sustainability as a high focus area for all.

This study aims to evaluate the contribution of the Indian corporate world towards sustainable development. We propose a framework of Corporate Sustainability Performance derived from factors suggested by Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a component of a global agenda for sustainability. This framework is further applied to evaluate the sustainability performance of Indian firms to identify potential gaps in their sustainability efforts. The impact of factors like firm-size, ownership structure, and environmental sensitivity of firms has been statistically tested for these firms. The paper uses a mixed-method where content analysis has been applied to generate the data by analyzing disclosure reports of the top 100 Indian firms for the year 2016-2017, and a mathematical model is used to arrive at sustainability performance factors at various levels. Statistical tools like descriptive analytics, t test, and analysis of variance are used to test various hypotheses. The findings suggest a significant gap in the full potential and current status of sustainability investments by Indian corporates and hence confirm a huge improvement potential. "Cement" is the best performing sector, whereas "Media" is at the bottom of the performance stack. The Indian corporate world aligns its maximum effort along the "Education and Learning" dimension, whereas minimum effort is made for "Oceans, Sea, and Marine." A significant difference was found for the performance based on environment sensitivity and firm-size. Differences across firms based on ownership identity and concentration could not be established. The study highlights the implications for the regulatory mechanism that needs to change if the contribution from the private sector is required for SDGs.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to do a thorough literature review to assess the current status of corporate sustainability practices, issues and challenges in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and, based on literature, suggest a model that can improve and strategically manage their sustainability practices in the emerging market context of Asia. Design/methodology/approach The authors did a meta-analysis of the reviewed literature taken from peer-reviewed scholarly journals in the time frame of 1985-2016. Methodology used by the authors is through preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Findings Corporate sustainability is a well-practiced area in big organisations. However, literature suggests that in case of SMEs, the situation is different. Social and environmental practices are grossly neglected in SMEs, more specifically in emerging markets. Existing literature mentions that collaborative mode of operation, government policy and facilitation and supporting organisation culture can positively influence SME’s sustainability performance and hence improve their financial performance. Research limitations/implications Most of the papers in corporate sustainability literature are qualitative in nature and there is no empirical evidence of establishing this relationship in SME context. This paper tries to conceptualise the existence of a possible framework relating factors of sustainability and their role in improving business performance of the SMEs. However, the findings are purely literature-based and piloting of the questionnaire is also done on 20 SMEs in a specific geography. This is a very small and also a biased sample. Future research studies based on this paper are expected to verify the proposed relationship with larger data set catering to different industry clusters and countries. Practical implications The proposed model is only directional in nature. With the content analysis, the authors have tried to answer the research questions relating to factors of sustainability and its impact on business performance. To address the research questions in a more generalised way, an empirical research needs to be conducted to establish the research propositions. The proposed model needs to be validated and optimised with further research and data analysis. Once such a model is established, this can be proved beneficial for providing guidance to SMEs to enhance the sustainability of their business operations. Social implications The SME sector has made a significant contribution to the economic development in countries, and this sector has huge potential for growth, and their geographic spread and penetration is much higher than large organisations. Sustainable growth of this industry sector can reasonably be expected to lead to stable and sustainable development of the nation. Moreover, environmental and social best practices adopted by SMEs will also have a positive influence on society and environment in the long run. Originality/value This paper had done a geography wise analysis of sustainable practices in SMEs, and based on the recommendations and suggestions of different analyses, the authors developed few research propositions and also presented a conceptual model. Finally, to address the gap, it mentions some future research possibilities to test and validate the proposed model in the context of SMEs in emerging markets of Asia.