How does sustainability affect the organization internally?

Sustainability is currently a hot topic in the media, business world and academic literature. Wrongly, most attention is fixated on large multinational organizations, while small and medium-sized enterprises are mostly ignored. In fact, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are estimated to account for 70% of total pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, and thus it is crucial to examine these organizations more carefully. This thesis therefore takes a specific look at Dutch SMEs and the problem statement of this thesis is as follows: "How does sustainability affect the organization internally?". The goal of this thesis is therefore to identify how the organization itself is impacted by the presence of a sustainable strategy. This will be investigated in terms of the innovation focus of the company, the organizational goals and rewards, and the organizational culture. Also, drivers and barriers to engage in sustainability will be identified.

The author pursued a study in International Business at the Maastricht School of Business and Economics. During a semester abroad in Sweden, he became interested in the topic of sustainability. Therefore, when finishing his master programme in Supply Chain Management the author decided the write his master thesis about this topic.