The Awareness, Action and Advancement (AAA) Environmental Management and Reporting System: moving from the household to small and medium-size enterprises

Households have many similarities to small and medium-sized enterprises. They have inputs and outputs, produce services and wastes, have cash flows and related budgeting issues and incorporate a range of management functions. Households also cover the full suite of Triple Bottom Line aspects, i.e., social, environmental and economic. For tertiary education purposes the household has been a focus at Lincoln University for environmental management students to study environmental management systems and sustainability reporting. This paper outlines the educational aims and context for the course of study and demonstrates, through the examination of one student's course work, how there are similarities between SMEs and households and the sort of initiative designed for a household that also might work in SMEs. As part of this demonstration the paper introduces the Awareness, Action and Advancement (AAA) Environmental Management and Reporting System. The AAA system is cyclic, straightforward, marketable and appears to work. As such the principles from this educational exercise might have relevance in SMEs.