Sustainable development depends on the integration of sustainable perspectives and processes into the global economy. SMEs make up a significant portion of the industrial and commercial activities in developing countries, and therefore will drive a sustainable transition. Normative prescriptions of corporate sustainability strategy, however, do not often translate easily to the economic, environmental, social and cultural contexts of such developing country SMEs. Through a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Program of the EU, three European Universities, NTNU – The Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Delft University of Technology and Instituto Superior Técnico (University of Lisbon) are working with seven universities in India, Nepal and Uganda, to develop training material for local SMEs in sustainability and environmental management. The CapSEM Project – Capacity building in Sustainability and Environmental Management, is designed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between partners of European, Indian, Nepalese and Ugandan universities. This abstract provides a reflection on the co-development and application of training programs for selected case companies in the local economies of consortium members – an ongoing process, as of March 2018. European project partners are now working to utilize existing experience and resources to guide developing country partners in the creation of their own material and teaching strategies. Case companies have been selected by each partner, and include a collection of industries and associations separated widely across sectors and maturity levels, ranging from an informal association of plastic recyclers and waste water management companies in Mumbai, to a public telecom company and renewable energy SME in Nepal, to crocodile and fish farms, tea processors and a large pharmaceutical company in Uganda. In its planning stage, this part of the project was not foreseen to address companies from such an array of sectors and sophistications. The consortium initially worked to find a sectoral focus, but pinpointing one has proven difficult in the project timeframe. Such would also severely limit the impact and applicability of training in local contexts. Reflectively, this is a weakness in project design, which can be related to over simplification in the expected application of normalized business models and training strategies. Case companies have formed as a response to specific challenges or needs that do not match, in most cases, those at the forefront of European society today. With over a year and a half left to conduct the project, the consortium is now working to develop programs that better address the cultural, societal, economic and environmental needs of the case companies. Local industry best practice and case study methods are being applied across the project’s four ‘knowledge levels’ of sustainability and environmental management – 1) process level methods, 2) product level methods, 3) organizational methods, and 4) systems level methods – grouped for the systematic design and uptake of training material. Although a more intensive and rigorous process than initially planned, these methods will be adapted to the specific local sectors for teaching. The training phase will start in March 2018, and reflective results of these activities will be presented at the conference.
Corporate sustainability, environmental management, capacity building, corporate training and development
5a. Corporate sustainability and CSR
