An Interplay Between Barriers & Enablers : Swedish Multinational SMEs Journey Towards Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainability is a topic that gains more attention each year and new legislationforces companies around the world to follow more strict reporting. At the sametime, the United Nations (UN) has updated its Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) to the newer Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aresupposed to be marked throughout corporations, governments, and nations.These new goals are important for both emerging countries as well asdeveloped countries to strive for a better world for all. This thesis aimed toinvestigate what barriers and enablers Multinational Small and Medium-sizedEnterprises (MSMEs) in Sweden met when they incorporated the UN SDGsinto their companies' operations. The research aimed to find how the MSMEsdealt with various barriers, what enablers support SDGs implementation, andthe best practices for other (M)SMEs to follow. A qualitative multi-case studywith different MSMEs in Sweden was chosen through an abductive approachand thematic analysis. Furthermore, the SDGs4SMEs Roadmap to SDGsimplementation in (M)SMEs was created by the authors as a contribution toacademic international business studies as well for Swedish (M)SMEs. In theempirical findings chapter, several barriers and enablers were discovered, andhow MSMEs dealt with them. In the conclusion part, theoretical implicationsare given. Moreover, by comparing the empirical data retrieved, theresearchers identified best practices for (M)SMEs that further facilitate SDGsimplementation. As a result, recommendations for policymakers and managersare conveyed in a step-by-step manner to be easily applicable for most(M)SMEs around Sweden. This is the authors’ contribution, the SDGs4SMEsRoadmap followed by limitations and future research recommendations.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-130204
Date January 2024
CreatorsYunusbayeva, Gyulnara, Hjelmberg, Jens, Pohl, Hanna
PublisherLinnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för marknadsföring och turismvetenskap (MTS)
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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