University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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believe that this course of action will be less costly (in the event that they are caught)
than compliance. This attitude is supported by low standards of eco-literacy and
awareness levels (Tilley, 1999b) which promote ‘accidental’ non-compliance (Tilley,
1999b; Revell and Rutherfoord, 2003). However, Gelber (2001) and Simpson et al.
(2004) claim that legislation actually works indirectly on SMEs as they face
increasing pressure to improve environmental performance from customers and
suppliers (see next section).
Sustainable Development cannot be imposed upon a company, but SMEs do face a
number of pressures and drivers to engage in Sustainable Development. Two of the
major pressures are legislation and pressures in the supply chain (Simpson et al.,
2004). Having dealt with legislation, the second pressure will now be examined.
The Pressures put on SMEs by the Supply Chain
Merritt (1998) found that supply chain pressure had little or no significant impact on
SME behaviour and suggested that this driver was limited in the extent to which it
was likely to influence future practice in SMEs. However all the reviewed literature
written since then has put supply chain pressure as a major driver for SMEs
becoming more aware of their environmental obligations.
Revell and Rutherfoord (2003) say that since the onus for developing SME
environmental awareness has been put largely on larger organisations to ‘green their
supply chain’, they exert pressure on smaller suppliers to improve their
environmental performance. The CBI (2004:32) maintains that “big companies are
scrutinising their supply chains more and more carefully and do not want to be
associated with companies that show little or no respect for the environment.” It
must be noted however that this reinforces the ‘big business’ view that
environmental legislation is not necessary as it does not mention compliance as a
pressure.
O’Laoire and Welford (1996), Friedman and Miles (2002), Simpson et al. (2004) and
Preuss (2005) all put forward the view that it will be supply chain pressures that
force SMEs to adopt environmental policies, but each writer has a slightly different
emphasis. Friedman and Miles (2002) say that this pressure will be from larger
businesses and regulation equally. Simpson et al. (2004) say that SMEs will be
driven to adopt environmental policies in order to foster better relationships with
their customers. O’Laoire and Welford (1996) argue that larger firms will force
Environmental Management Systems (EMS) through their supply chain; and Preuss
(2005) contends that it is only the larger non-SME customers who will insist on SME
compliance as these tend to be the organisations whose activities come under close
scrutiny by shareholders and pressure groups.
Even if these larger firms require their SME suppliers to be accredited to the various
Quality Standards (ISO9000, ISO14001 and ISO19001), their achievement often
involves overcoming significant inertia and significant investment of time and
money (Gelber, 2001). Imposed, externally-dictated standards and procedures often
run contrary to the needs of an SME where informal methods are preferred (Spence,
2004).