Creating synergies between SMEs and universities for ISO 14001 certification

Despite the importance of working with environmental issues, many SMEs have little knowledge of, or even interest in, these issues. When they engage with such issues, they generally have difficulty fully integrating them into their business activities. This case study takes an action research approach in describing how nine SMEs co-operated with a university team in a learning network to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) with the aim of achieving ISO 14001 certification. The theoretical contribution of the article is its construction of a framework for understanding the outcomes in a learning network in which a university team works with SMEs. The practical contribution is that SMEs may use this empirically-supported learning network to overcome many EMS implementation barriers (e.g., lack of resources, isolation, and low self-confidence).