Sustainability Strategies in German Small and Medium-Sized Companies

Background: Small and medium-sized enterprises are believed to have a significant impact on the environment and yet are not as engaged in increasing their environmental performance as research suggests should be done. The study examines sustainability strategies of German small and medium-sized enterprises by performing an inductive and deductive qualitative content analysis of 29 (filtered from a total of 58) sustainability reports. Methods: The deductive and inductive content analysis is implemented sequentially to categorize sustainability strategies and to structure action- or achievement oriented content accordingly. After a preparatory content analysis of the entire reports, a deductive content analysis was performed to identify strategy types. Subsequently actions of achievements were identified and structured with an inductive content analysis. Results: The result is a structured analysis of strategy typologies as well as their operationalization. Offensive, extroverted strategies are identified as being the most common. Corporate activities towards sustainability are dominated by environmental topics such as environmental and biodiversity protection as well as resource conservation and efficiency. Conclusions: While the sustainability strategies contrast previous empirical research in part, the activities of the analyzed enterprises depict a mature and proactive sustainability management within small and medium-sized enterprises. Yet under the premise, that the voluntary publishing of a sustainability report may imply a purpose and passion and thus an appropriate sustainability engagement and performance.