In an SME, a sustainability claim does not mean only a sentence in which the company says it is responsible. A sustainability claim can also be a claim about environmental friendliness, carbon neutrality, or a smaller environmental impact. It can also appear as a symbol, a label, in the name of a product or service, or in the way the company names its selection or an individual product group. Read more
SME sustainability claims are now a more important topic than before. It is allowed and necessary to communicate about sustainability, but the problem is not communication itself, but claims that are too general, too broad, or weakly justified. Misleading environmental claims could already be addressed under the current Consumer Protection Act, but the EU directive on empowering consumers for the green transition clarifies the rules of the game, and in Finland HE 47/2026 shows what changes are coming. According to the Government proposal, the provisions related Read more
Double Materiality Analysis in an SME helps a company understand which sustainability themes are most significant for its business. Still, many SMEs wonder whether such an analysis is truly necessary or whether it is merely a tool related to the reporting requirements of large companies. Behind this is often the assumption that double materiality analysis Read more
Double Materiality Analysis in an SME helps the company identify which sustainability themes are most significant for its operations. In practice, however, the analysis can fail if it is approached in an overly complex way or from the wrong starting points. In SMEs, mistakes are often related to trying to make the analysis too heavy a process. In reality, the purpose of double materiality analysis is above all to help the company make better decisions. The following mistakes are typical. Read more
A Double Materiality Analysis in SMEs helps a company identify which sustainability topics are most significant for its operations. In practice, it is not a complex reporting exercise but a way to structure the company’s activities and their impacts. In many SMEs, sustainability work begins with the question: where should we start? Double materiality analysis offers a simple answer. It enables the company to examine both its own impacts and the sustainability issues that may affect its business. Read more
A Double Materiality Analysis in an SME helps the company identify which sustainability themes are most significant for its operations. In practice, it is not a complex reporting exercise, but a way to structure the company’s activities and their impacts. In many SMEs, sustainability work begins with the question: where should we start? Read more
A Double Materiality Analysis in an SME helps the company identify which sustainability issues are most significant for its business, people, and the environment. It brings clarity in a situation where expectations, requirements, and opportunities related to sustainability are constantly increasing. For an SME, the value of double materiality analysis is primarily strategic. It enables the company to assess which sustainability issues it should focus on first and where the greatest impact can be achieved. When resources are limited, this is important. Read more
The benefit of VSME for an SME does not arise from the standard itself. It arises from the way it is used. In discussions, the voluntary sustainability reporting standard VSME for SMEs is often presented as a solution to SMEs’ sustainability challenges. It brings structure, comparability, and a common language with financiers. But no reporting framework develops a company on its own. Value is created only when management understands how the collected information will be used. When reporting supports decision-making and sustainability is linked to business development, risks, and opportunities. Read more
Sustainability work in an SME should be built from the business itself, not from a reporting framework. This is a simple principle that is surprisingly often forgotten when the discussion turns to standards and requirements. Many SMEs begin sustainability work by selecting a model or reporting framework. It seems logical, but it easily leads to a situation where action is subordinated to structure. Sustainability becomes a document rather than development A functional approach proceeds differently. Read more
Institutional work in SMEs is surprisingly clearly visible in the VSME discussion. In recent months, I have followed the discussion surrounding the voluntary VSME sustainability reporting standard. Reactions have largely been positive. The standard is described as necessary, useful, and a development in the right direction. More rarely do we stop to ask: what is actually happening when we, as experts, say this? In organizational research, the concept of institutional work refers to the actions carried out by actors such as companies, experts, and public authorities through which they create, maintain, or change the rules of the game Read more
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