How Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Can Uptake the Sustainable Development Goals through a Cluster Management Organization: A Case Study

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper is a very broad and pleasant reading about SDD and a potential way to support the SMEs through the clusters.

The weakness, in my opinion are:

• to detailed introduction and presentation of the Basque region with information irrelevant for the study;
• fig 1 - total irrelevant;
• methodology - not clear - how many SMEs were analysed, how many subjects were used for the empirical study;
• what results were obtained;
• haw the collected data were processed;
• the research question are not related with the research and the results.
• there are missing parts - not filled zones;
• not clear the contribution of the paper for the domain.

The subject is very generous but the paper missed the target. It has to be restructured by taking out the irrelevant parts, reformulate in a clear manner the objectives and the hypotheses, clearly describe the methodology - giving the important components of the methodology not a poetry about it, show the results of the applied methodology and discuss them. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Please see the attachment.

Best regards.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for the opportunity to review this article. The authors have put a great effort into it, however, I have some suggestions for improvement.

In my opinion, the questionnaire itself could be included as an attachment, not in the main part of the article. The testing process could be clarified - the tool was tested in two SME focus groups - there could be more information about the testing process and the results obtained. How many companies took part in the tests? Have any corrections been made as a result of testing? Is there any basis (a benchmark) for comparison/positioning of SMEs - a benchmark that will allow the SME to compare its results with other companies in the sector it operates?

Are there more other research results that could indicate the need for SMEs to undergo the evaluation process in this regard? My experience shows that the emerging tools are only slightly popularized, partly due to the reluctance of SMEs to disclose data.

It would be worth explaining how the authors would like to include in the tool the condition " Company tailored " to the criteria of sustainable development management tools, which the tool does not meet at present.

From the linguistic and editorial side, minor errors can be corrected, e.g .:

Line 200:

“aka Cluster Management Organizations”

line 402:

“In the begging of 2019”

Line 595:

“Table 2. Own author”

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Please see the attachment.

Best regards.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The revised manuscript include the remarks and adjustment I suggested. Is better organised and highlighted the aim of the research and the results.