Decoding Sustainability Strategy in MSMEs: A Bibliometric and Content Exploration

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-608-1_5How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Sustainability Strategies; Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs); Digital Transformation; Circular Economy

Abstract

Sustainability has become a key necessity among Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), especially in institutionally void environments where regulatory frameworks and support systems are insufficient. We use the hybrid technique of the bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review to explore the changing environment of sustainability strategies of MSMEs in this study. Our analysis of 87 high-impact journal articles uncovers the main gaps in research, themes, and trends of sustainability adoption. Our results give support to the contribution of digital transformation and practices of the circular economy in the development of sustainable business strategies. The analysis further illustrates the way this MSME stage manages to overcome the sustainability issues through the adoption of innovation, resiliency of the supply chain and regulatory compliance. There are certain obstacles to be cleared, like financial unavailability, lack of policy implementation and standardization of sustainability indicators. Therefore, this work contributes to theory and practice by offering insights from institutional theory and actionable recommendations to MSMEs, their policymakers, and investors. The article further proposes future research directions that will build upon the study, as it advocates for empirical studies on sustainability in the various typologies of SMEs.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Adarsh Singh
AU  - Neetu Yadav
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/10
TI  - Decoding Sustainability Strategy in MSMEs: A Bibliometric and Content Exploration
BT  - Proceedings of the 12th AIM-AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium & International Marketing Conference 2025 (IMCDC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 54
EP  - 86
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-608-1_5
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-608-1_5
ID  - Singh2026
ER  -