Sustainable Projects in Micro and Small Enterprises in the South: Characteristics and Financing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22478/ufpb.2238-104X.2021v11n2.57135Abstract
Objective: The present study aims to analyze characteristics of sustainable projects developed by MSEs located in the southern region, focusing on the way in which they are financed. Methodology: An exploratory research was carried out based on a multiple case study strategy with three organizations. A content analysis was conducted based on data from semi-structured interviews with managers and document analysis. Main results: The results show that all the projects used their own capital to make their projects viable. Such evidence corroborates the literature on financing Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) and sources of financing for sustainable projects, demonstrating that the scarcity of specific sources for enterprises that see gains in addition to financial, can make the implementation of these projects more arduous and expensive when compared to the others. Academic contributions: Due to the low number of researches interested in addressing financial issues related to sustainable entrepreneurship practices in the literature, this research aims to contribute to fill the aforementioned gap. Practical Contributions: The results elucidate relevant information regarding the limited availability of resources for financing sustainable projects in MSEs and, thus, demonstrate the need to establish sources of financing that take into account social and environmental returns concomitant with economic returns.