Overcoming of barriers to environmental sustainability for SMEs: What makes ecopreneurs different?

Sammanfattning: This study aims at generating knowledge about ecopreneurs’ perception towards barriers complicating the implementation of a more environmentally friendly business concept. Managers in SMEs would often like to orientate their business more environmentally friendly but perceive certain barriers holding them back from doing so. By gathering in-depth information regarding ecopreneurs’ (which have a high motivation for environmental sustainability) perception to barriers we will be able to assess these barriers more realistically and see if they can be overcome. Interviews with owners, managers, and employees of different hierarchical levels in three different companies were conducted, yielding interesting results and bringing us to relativize the term barrier. Literature provides barriers which proved to be less relevant for ecopreneurs, while unmentioned external factors like market demands and partners played a bigger role in making a successful transition to a green business. This different perception was a result of the unusual strong motivation people in the researched businesses has for environmental sustainability.