Abstract
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises are pivotal to achieving the United Kingdom’s Net Zero objective by 2050, yet engagement with supply chain emissions measurement remains fragmented and underspecified. This study uses a critical-realist qualitative design to examine readiness as a multi-level phenomenon: 35 interviews with owner-managers pursuing Net Zero, analysed via the Gioia method. The analysis produces a decision-oriented empirical plan – process – practice conceptual understanding. It identifies five interacting domains: internal enablers, external pressures, contextual uncertainties, supply-chain coordination, and technology readiness, that jointly explain progression, stall, and reversal. Findings suggest that decarbonisation journeys are contingent rather than linear; firms advance when mobilisable resources, partner support, and fit-for-purpose digital tools align with perceived value under uncertainty. The paper presents an integrated conceptual framework tailored to smaller firms and recommends staged capability building and low-regret pilots to reduce adoption thresholds. The model offers practical guidance while clarifying theoretical mechanisms of readiness.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Number of pages | 31 |
| Journal | International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications |
| Early online date | 7 Nov 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 7 Nov 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Data Access Statement
Limited anonymised data supporting this study's findings are available from the corresponding author, MA, on reasonable request. However, the data are not publicly available due to restrictions, e.g. they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants and organisations.Keywords
- NetZero readiness
- SME decarbonisation
- SME environmental readiness
- Scope 3 emissions
- decarbonisation
- scope 3 readiness framework
- supply chain emissions