ABSTRACT


This thesis presents a proposal addressed to the Public Administration to improve Eco-Efficiency in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs represent over 90% of the business in most countries regardless of their level of development, therefore, a scheme to promote eco-efficiency among small and medium size companies will contribute significantly to achieve sustainable development. 
This proposal is aimed at the Public Administration, since it has been identified as the interest group or "stakeholder" that has more power and interest to influence SMEs to be eco-efficient. 
This work focuses on SMEs in Venezuela. It has been developed by reviewing studies in selected countries according to their different degrees of attention to the environment and by conducting empirical analysis. 
First, a diagnose is made by means of a survey applied to 54 SMEs from different manufacturing sectors in the central region of Venezuela. The obtained results are then contrasted with the opinions of 6 experts in the industry-environment relationship, in order to obtain an objective view of the situation of SMEs in Venezuela regarding Eco-efficiency.
Based on this study as well as on the work of various authors from different countries, barriers and incentives are identified that dissuade or encourage SMEs to implement Eco-efficiency. In order to verify whether these barriers and incentives identified in other countries apply to Venezuela, the Delphi method is used with six venezuelan experts in industry and environment. 
Having shown that the Public Administration (PA) may influence decisively the implementation of Eco-efficiency in the SME?s sector, the Public Administration Tools for the implementation of Eco-Efficiency (HAPE) are identified by analysing several studies in different European and Latin American countries. The HAPE are temporarily ordered and parameterized. The criteria to evaluate the HAPE are validated and valued by the venezuelan experts selected for this study.
Finally, a methodologic proposal is developed which provides a plan to apply a coordinated sequence of HAPE. This proposal is validated technically, economically and socio-legally, according to the judgement of venezuelan experts in each of its phases and stages.