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Green Issues Not a Priority for SMEs

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Owners and senior managers of SMEs do not see environmental issues as a key challenge to their businesses in the coming years, according to a new report, ‘Opportunities and Challenges for SMEs – The Next Five Years’, released by Shirlaws.

Despite international concern to find solutions to global warming and major corporations making headlines by adopting significant environmental policies to reduce carbon emissions and wastage, respondents placed ‘reducing environmental impact’ last in a list of 18 choices of the greatest challenges facing their businesses in the next five years.

Key Findings

• Only 6.6% of all respondents put ‘reducing environmental impact’ in their top five choices
• Only 2.8% of owners, partners, MDs, CEOs and chairmen chose it as a top five issue
• Only 10% of respondents thought that ‘having a clear environmental stance’ would help them recruit and retain talent. Although this rose to 13.4% of Generation-X, aged 25-41, and dropped to 8% of Baby-boomers, aged 42-60.

“It has to be a concern that this sector of the commercial community is not registering the impact that green issues will have on the future of their businesses,” comments Darren Shirlaw, founder of Shirlaws Global.

“It has already been shown that Generation-Y talent, just entering the commercial world, rates an environmental stance as important in potential employers. And it is unthinkable that large corporations, who number SMEs among their suppliers, will not demand that their supply chain contribute to their publicised environmental goals.”

The biggest business challenges in the next five years listed by respondents to the survey were:

• Recruiting and retaining talent (62%)
• Increasing efficiency (46%)
• Finding new customers (36%)
• Developing future leaders (33%)
• Controlling costs (32%)

The report showed that the SME sector is bullish about the future of their place in the economy with many believing they will experience growth above 10 per cent per annum over the next five years (64 per cent small companies and 42 per cent medium sized companies) with 71 per cent believing they will be a key source of innovation for larger players.

“From our experience coaching SMEs we know that management time is often spent on day-to-day administration rather than concentrating on strategic issues to help develop the business,” says Darren Shirlaw. “I would anticipate that being ‘time-poor’ has contributed to senior managers relegating environmental policies to the bottom of the list of things they consider to be important. However, a clear position on the subject of the environment and a policy to reduce environmental impact will be major issues for the SME sector to face now, and in the foreseeable future.”

Posted March 26, 2007