Practical Guide to Resolving Societal Grand Challenges in Developing Economies through Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Involvement in the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda

Illustration of people around the earth
Public lectures / seminars

Friday 28 February 2025

02:00 PM - 03:30 PM

Location

William Morris building, Room 233

Book your place

Event details

This event will discuss Societal Grand Challenges in Developing Economies, and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises’ Involvement in the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda.

Abstract

Research on societal grand challenges (SGCs) such as those the sustainable development goals (SDGs) seek to address, has burgeoned. Yet, there is insufficient theorisation on how the SDGs can be practically and systematically achieved through partnerships with important societal actors particularly in non-Western, transition economies, where these societal grand challenges are more pronounced and still rudimentary.
In order to theorise on authentic SGCs-SDGs practical possibilities by 2030 in developing countries, we obtained data from 101 small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) owners (Mexico =20, Indonesia = 21, Nigeria =42, Turkey =18) and from 27 different regions (Mexico =9, Indonesia =7, Nigeria =5, Turkey =6) and 6 policymakers from the 4 MINT countries situated in 4 continents and matched our findings with the global indicator framework for the SDGs and targets of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.
This study is instructive for three main reasons. 1. From SMEs’ perspective, we identify 4 Barriers to SMEs’ SDGs participation in developing economies, and we inductively unpack 14 similar-but-not-always identical factors that explain the lack of buy-in of SMEs in SDGs ideals. 2.We reveal from the perspective of SMEs (at micro level) and responses of policymakers (at macro level), 5 different SDGs needs participation classifications levels 3. Our theoretical triangulation, grounded in normative facets of stakeholder theory, enable us to develop an SDGs -SGCs -SMEs participation framework, which proposes how SMEs and national policymakers can achieve the SDGs in a timely manner in the MINT countries.
Consequently, we advocate for SMEs’ annual reporting (mandatory or voluntary) to align with the SDGs, a possibility that can be achieved by relying on our SDGs -SGCs-SMEs participation framework. With a focus on SMEs in non-Western transition economies, this study moves beyond a grand theory of global SDGs designed for national- macro level implementation, and instead theorises on SMEs’ inclusivity, a necessity if the SDGs are to be achieved by 2030.

Biography

Folajimi Ashiru is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity (CFCI) at Coventry University, UK, where he lectures Strategy, International Business and Leadership. His research focuses on corporate governance, with emphasis on strategy, resilience, digitalisation, SMEs, SDGs and banking, in the context of emerging economies. His research has been published in the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Accounting Forum, Information Systems Frontier, Annals of Operations Management, and Industrial Marketing Management. Folajimi has over 13 years of banking experience spanning international funding, NGOs, MDGs, SDGs and multilaterals, commercial banking, operations and treasury, prior to academia.