According to the latest Finnish Entrepreneur Survey, sustainability thinking has slightly decreased among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In 2024, 74% of companies considered sustainability in their operations, which is a drop of seven percentage points compared to 2022. This trend has raised concerns within the Suomen Yrittäjät (Federation of Finnish Enterprises), as sustainability is a key component of sustainable business.
SMEs have faced significant financial difficulties in recent years, which may partly explain the decline in sustainability thinking. In financially challenging times, companies have fewer resources to invest in sustainability, even though it remains important to customers, employees, and stakeholders. Sustainability can also open new business opportunities and provide a competitive edge.
Sustainability Thinking Varies by Company Size and Industry
Sustainability is strongest in companies with more than ten employees, where 84% report considering sustainability in their operations. Among industries, sustainability is most prominent in manufacturing (84%) and retail (79%). Geographically, sustainability thinking is least common in the Helsinki metropolitan area, where only 62% of companies report focusing on it.
What Do SMEs Consider Sustainability?
SMEs primarily define sustainability as compliance with laws and contracts, paying taxes, and providing good customer service—values emphasized by 78% of respondents. Environmental responsibility and employee well-being are also key aspects of sustainability. Notably, the focus on employee well-being has grown significantly, with 59% of respondents prioritizing it, an increase of nine percentage points from two years ago.
In companies with over ten employees, employee well-being is the top sustainability issue, and industrial companies carry out the most diverse range of sustainability initiatives.
SMEs Strive to Be Good Corporate Citizens
Although sustainability thinking has decreased slightly, SMEs still aim to act responsibly and be good corporate citizens. Compliance with laws, paying taxes, and offering good customer service remain central to many companies’ views of responsibility. Environmental and employee well-being are also important factors in their sustainability efforts.
Entrepreneurs see sustainability as encompassing multiple dimensions, including the environment, the economy, and people’s well-being. This holistic view of sustainability is particularly important in today’s business environment, where companies are expected to address broad sustainability factors even in the face of economic challenges.
The Yrittäjägallup results are based on responses from 1,122 representatives of micro and small businesses, collected between August 14 and 26, 2024. The study has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
