Improved energy efficiency is being considered as one of the significant challenges to mitigating climate change all over the world. While developed countries have already adopted energy management and auditing practices to improve energy efficiency, the developing countries lag far behind. There are a limited number of studies which have been conducted in the context of developing countries, which mostly revolve around highly energy-intensive sectors. This study looks into the existence and importance of the challenges to and motivating forces for the adoption of energy management practices in Bangladesh, a developing country, focusing on the non-energy-intensive manufacturing industries. Conducted as a multiple case study, the results indicate the existence of several barriers towards adopting and implementing the management of energy practices in the non-energy-intensive industries of Bangladesh, where among them, "other preferences for capital venture" and "inadequate capital expenditure" are the most dominant. This study also identified a number of driving forces that can accelerate the acceptance of energy efficiency practices, such as the demands from the owner, loans, subsidies, and a lowered cost-benefit ratio. Findings of this study could assist the concerned stakeholders to develop beneficial policies and a proper regulatory framework for the non-energy-intensive industries of developing countries like Bangladesh. © 2019 by the authors.