Anna-Mari Simunaniemi travelling for a research visit to Melbourne, Australia

The research objective of the visit is to learn about the sustainability practices of small tourism businesses and to interview company management and entrepreneurs for an international comparative study. The data collected in Australia will complement the research already started in the Nordic countries on responsible management practices and strategic choices of micro and small enterprises in vulnerable Arctic and rural areas. Simunaniemi also intends to explore Australian corporate responsibility legislation and local guidelines, for example counselling tools applied in local business advisory services. Good practices serve as benchmarking examples for Finnish CSR training and advisory services.

Research on sustainability practices of micro and small enterprises helps to identify training and advisory needs, for which the University of Oulu and its partners can provide solutions. Corporate responsibility is a broad and difficult concept to grasp and guidance targeted at companies should adopt language and examples used by companies themselves. The research interviews allow entrepreneurs to articulate the phenomenon themselves, and through their first-hand accounts, researchers will gain a better understanding of which aspects of corporate responsibility are perceived as important in companies, which ones have the most direct impact on the sustainable profitability of companies, and where more guidance or, for example, clarification of terminology is needed.

The research visit is funded by the University of Oulu's profiling project GenZ (Profi4), a profiling project that strengthens people's capabilities, anticipates future changes and increases people's resilience through internationally high quality multidisciplinary research.