Sustainable Development Performance for Small and Medium Enterprises Using a Fuzzy Synthetic Method-DEMATEL

Kuo-Jui Wu, Qing Chen, Yun Qi, Xiaoyue Jiang, Shuo Gao and Ming-Lang Tseng
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Kuo-Jui Wu: School of Business, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
Qing Chen: School of Business, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
Yun Qi: School of Business, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
Xiaoyue Jiang: School of Business, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
Shuo Gao: Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
Ming-Lang Tseng: Institute of Innovation and Circular Economy, Asia University, Taichung City 41354, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 15, 1-25

Abstract: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are forced to adhere to sustainable development (SD) regulations and standards. However, SMEs encounter difficulty in assessing their performance due to the lack of an efficient and effective approach to deal with the uncertainties in hierarchical relationships and interrelationships. Moreover, interrelations exist among the proposed attributes that increase the difficulty of the assessment. To overcome these issues, exploratory factor analysis is used to screen out the less important attributes and build a hierarchal structure. The fuzzy synthetic method addresses the hierarchical structure and decision-making, and a trial evaluation laboratory assesses the interrelationships among the attributes by providing a visual interrelationship map. The results indicate that strategic and financial management are the major problems for SMEs. SD relies on enhancing sustainable supply chain performance, sustainable human resources and environmental management. This study contributes by not only filling the information gap for SD for SMEs but also providing a guideline for improvement. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Keywords: sustainable development; exploratory factor analysis; fuzzy synthetic method; decision-making and trial evaluation laboratory; small and medium enterprises (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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