How Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Can Uptake the Sustainable Development Goals through a Cluster Management Organization: A Case Study

Abstract

Even though many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) realize the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for their sustainable business development, they face difficulties when individually pursuing this target. This paper aims to provide cluster-based SMEs with a framework to facilitate the uptake of the SDGs through a cluster network model. By focusing on the case study of a furniture production Cluster Management Organization (CMO Habic a network-based approach to sustainability management is analyzed in order to integrate the SDGs framework into SMEs’ everyday language and day-to-day operations. Through a cluster model approach, industry-specific sustainability material issues are tackled jointly and with the aim of applying a common solution to a similar challenge, Lehi-ODS, an online sustainability management tool for SME self-evaluation, has been developed wherein the participating SMEs can gain an overarching knowledge about the UN 2030 Agenda, assess their own alignment with the SDGs and with respect to that of their peers, and prioritize initiatives to correctly deliver them. The main conclusion derived from the paper is that a CMO is deemed to be a valuable driver in identifying common sector-specific challenges of corporate sustainability and in addressing collectively the question of contributing to the SDGs.