What are the barriers to imparting sustainable development education to SMEs in the East Midlands?

This thesis looks at the Barriers to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) based in the East Midlands accepting free environmental training and advice. The literature consistently maintains that SMEs are a substantial part of any economy with the capacity to have a negative environmental impact d...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Allen, A.
Published: Nottingham Trent University 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.684908
Description
Summary:This thesis looks at the Barriers to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) based in the East Midlands accepting free environmental training and advice. The literature consistently maintains that SMEs are a substantial part of any economy with the capacity to have a negative environmental impact disproportionate to their size. Earlier research had established six Barriers that a Service Provider of free environmental training and advice needs to minimise or overcome if SMEs are to improve their environmental awareness and impact. This thesis uses regression analysis to establish if any of the six barriers can act as predictors to the behaviour of the SME Owner Managers (OM) with regards to an invitation to undertake environmental training. The research establishes that the strongest predictor is whether or not the SME OM accepts any advice at all from any source. The perceived lack of awareness of their environmental impact within the SME is a secondary predictor.