Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can have significant resources, capacities, and influence in their communities, suggesting they have the potential to be agents for transformative sustainability. However, SMEs will need to move beyond firm-centered sustainable business practices towards strategic approaches that encompass and contribute to resilience-building processes. Amid the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, we explored what types of sustainable business practices of SMEs can contribute to individual, organizational, and community resilience. We identified six clusters of practice that are important in this regard. The clusters are not solely technical or “environmental” but rather illustrative of deeper sustainable values shaped by organizational structure, culture, and behavior. This paper suggests that SMEs can pursue transformative approaches to sustainability that are more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable and better able to withstand shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and can be significant contributors to community resilience. We conclude with a series of future research priorities critical to examine a largely unexplored nexus in the private sector, the linkages and dynamics between sustainability practice, resilience building, and broader community pathways.

中文翻译：

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探索中小企业通过以可持续发展为导向的商业实践建立个人、组织和社区弹性的潜力

中小型企业 (SME) 可以在其社区中拥有重要的资源、能力和影响力，这表明它们有潜力成为变革性可持续性的推动者。然而，中小企业将需要超越以公司为中心的可持续商业实践，转向包含并有助于恢复力建设过程的战略方法。在不断发展的 COVID-19 大流行中，我们探讨了中小企业的哪些类型的可持续商业实践可以为个人、组织和社区的复原力做出贡献。我们确定了在这方面很重要的六组实践。这些集群不仅仅是技术性的或“环境性的”，而是说明了由组织结构、文化和行为塑造的更深层次的可持续价值。本文建议，中小企业可以采用更具环境、社会和经济可持续性的变革性方法来实现可持续性，并且能够更好地抵御 COVID-19 大流行等冲击，并且可以成为社区复原力的重要贡献者。我们总结了一系列未来的研究优先事项，这些优先事项对于检查私营部门中一个很大程度上未被探索的联系、可持续性实践、韧性建设和更广泛的社区途径之间的联系和动态至关重要。