Navigating Corporate Sustainability : Empirical and Bibliometric Perspectives on CSR and Green Strategy in Business[Naviguer dans la durabilité des entreprises : Perspectives empiriques et bibliométriques sur la RSE et la stratégie verte dans les affaires]

This thesis examines the structural determinants of green transition among European SMEs. Drawing on a firm-level dataset of 40,000+ companies and a bibliometric analysis of the academic literature, it applies probit, logit, and sequential logit models to identify the conditions under which sustainability adoption becomes economically viable and durable. The central finding is that environmental performance is most robust when sustainability is structurally embedded at the production process stage through reduce-reuse-recycle (3R) practices. Regulatory incentives alone produce limited and temporary effects. Firm size, sector, access to finance, and institutional environment all moderate these relationships, but structural embeddedness consistently emerges as the dominant predictor. In policy terms, the findings argue for targeted structural incentives that help SMEs integrate sustainability into their core operations, rather than blanket compliance mandates with direct implications for CSRD implementation, EU green taxonomy design, and SME-focused green transition support programmes.