Barriers and Enablers for the Adoption of Sustainable Manufacturing by Manufacturing SMEs

Claudia Lood Alayón, Kristina Säfsten and Glenn Johansson
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Claudia Lood Alayón: Department of Industrial Product Development, Production and Design, School of Engineering Jönköping University, 551 11 Jönköping, Sweden
Kristina Säfsten: Department of Industrial Product Development, Production and Design, School of Engineering Jönköping University, 551 11 Jönköping, Sweden
Glenn Johansson: Department of Design Sciences, Lund University, 221 00 Lund, Sweden

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-34

Abstract: Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have inherent characteristics, which require specific solutions for improving the sustainability performance of their operations. The purpose of this paper is to increase the knowledge on barriers and enablers for the adoption of sustainable manufacturing by manufacturing SMEs and to provide insights into what enablers can be used to overcome existing barriers. Taking, as a starting point, a systematic literature review, this paper presents a categorization of barriers and enablers for the adoption of sustainable manufacturing by manufacturing SMEs. In total, seven categories for classifying the barriers and enablers for the adoption of sustainable manufacturing within SMEs were identified: organizational, managerial and attitudinal; informational; governmental; financial; training and skills development; market and business context; and technological. Additionally, this study elaborates on what barriers could be mitigated through the enablers. This study found specific enablers with the potential to mitigate a significantly higher number of barriers and referred to them as ‘critical enablers’. SMEs aiming to adopt sustainable manufacturing practices or improve their sustainability performance are encouraged to focus on the enablers in these categories. This paper synthesizes and facilitates interpretation of the existing body of evidence on barriers and enablers for adopting sustainable manufacturing in SMEs.

Keywords: SMEs; sustainable manufacturing; enablers; barriers; systematic literature review; categorization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:4:p:2364-:d:753128

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