Environmentally Sustainable Business Practices in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises: A Sub-Saharan African Country Perspective

Prince Dacosta Anaman, Ibrahim Anyass Ahmed, Abdul-Razak Suleman and Gloria Ama Dzakah

Business Perspectives and Research, 2025, vol. 13, issue 2, 175-190

Abstract: In line with the natural resource-based view, this paper explores the sustainable business practices (SBPs) of Ghanaian micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Qualitatively, the study interviewed eight MSME operators and middle-level managers purposively to assess their use of SBPs and how it affects their businesses. Data collected were edited, coded, and grouped under themes based on the Braun and Clarke thematic framework. The study identified holistic environmental management, eco-preneurship, and regenerative practices as the environmental stewardship drivers among Ghanaian MSMEs. Also, integrated vision and strategy, process efficiency and resource optimization, and risk profiling drive process excellence. Finally, sustainability-focused leadership, internal advocates and change agents, and ongoing education and awareness as drivers for sustainability-oriented culture. The business practices of organizations have continually impacted the immediate environment within which they operate. Consequently, there is a clarion call for businesses to engage in SBPs to mitigate the effect of their operations on the environment. The study brings to bear the SBPs Ghanaian MSMEs are engaged in and how they affect their operations and survival, especially in this era of sustainability.

Keywords: Sustainable business practices (SBPs); sustainable development; environmental concerns; micro; small; and medium enterprises (MSMEs); thematic analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/22785337231162740 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:busper:v:13:y:2025:i:2:p:175-190

DOI: 10.1177/22785337231162740

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Business Perspectives and Research
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().