Sustainable Design Orientation in Furniture-Manufacturing SMEs in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have become the backbone of many nations as they contribute immensely to the growth of their economies. In Zimbabwe, they have filled in the gap left by the big companies after the economic crisis of the early 2000s. The impact of SMEs is small when we look at their environmental, economic, and social impact, but when grouped, it becomes a considerable contribution. Evidence from the literature shows that SMEs have a short lifespan. Therefore, sustainability in manufacturing SMEs in emerging economies and their survival strategy have been discussed. This study aimed to examine sustainability in the context of design in furniture-manufacturing SMEs in Zimbabwe. The qualitative study used a purposively selected sample of ten SMEs where the owner and/or manager and designer were the main participants. Observations were also conducted on-site in all ten cases where evidence was noted for analysis. The study reveals that SMEs in emerging economies face many challenges, such as a lack of finance, skilled human resources, and management commitment that hamper their capacity to adopt sustainable design in their practices. Sustainability adoption in these SMEs is more of adherent to the regulatory framework, especially considering the environmental aspect. The study concludes by recommending that policy makers in government should create tax rebate incentives that should be awarded to those SMEs that score highly in all three pillars of sustainability.