Turkish SMES corporate sustainability approaches: Cluster analysis method, an empirical study

Abstract

Since sustainable concept was used in 1713 by Carl von Carlowitz as an environmental approach there have been many developments and the concept included economic and social subject and stated being an approach that helps the companies to create long term values. Corporate sustainability which many academicians and researchers worked on especially from 1990's till now have been shaped the national and international business sectors views and been a research subject for many researchers. A few national researches about corporate sustainability are aims on big scale companies. The SMEs which are 99% of all companies play a key role for employment, added value and manufacturing industry and also they create a big environmental and social impact. For this reason SMEs which a noticeable percentage on all companies and which are quite effective for sustainable development have been choose for this research. In this context, a research on determination of differences in perspectives and approaches of Turkish SMEs to corporate sustainability is included. As second 350 SMEs in Istanbul are investigated with quantative methods and with K-Means non hierarchical clustering technique managers are classified as sustainability leaders, reactives and unconcerns. Thus with this the point of view of companies towards corporate sustainability is detected. It is possible to link the distinction in perspectives of companies within these three groups to different evaluation of the tools of management used in sustainability practices and the forces that lead enterprises to sustainability practices.