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Planetary Boundaries: Ecological Foundations for Corporate Sustainability
Abstract
Management studies on corporate sustainability practices have grown considerably. The field now has significant knowledge of sustainability issues that are firm and industry focused. However, complex ecological problems are increasing, not decreasing. In this paper, we argue that it is time for corporate sustainability scholars to reconsider the ecological and systemic foundations for sustainability, and to integrate our work more closely with the natural sciences. To address this, our paper introduces a new development in the natural sciences – the delineation of nine ‘Planetary Boundaries’ which govern life as we know it – including a call for more systemic research that measures the impact of companies on boundary processes that are at, or possibly beyond, three threshold points – climate change, the global nitrogen cycle (N), and rate of biodiversity loss – and closing in on others. We also discuss practical implications of the Planetary Boundaries framework for corporate sustainability, including governance and institutional challenges.
... Research on complex challenges in management studies has begun to take a systems approach, especially in the theoretical sphere (Dentoni et al., 2021;Tashman, 2021;Bansal et al., 2021;Whiteman et al., 2013;Williams et al., 2021). It has also been frequently suggested that innovation is needed to combat the eroding sustainability of complex, interdependent and multidirectional human and natural systems (Howard-Grenville, 2021;Williams et al., 2024), systems which intertwine ecological, social, political, economic and technological facets (Biggs et al., 2021;Chapin et al., 2009;Starik and Rands, 1995;Tashman, 2021). ...
... Introducing a new stakeholder categorization type based on profit orientation allowed us to find empirical support for the claims that governmental and other non-profit-oriented actors, whose core mission goes beyond commercial interests, can be effective partners for sustainability innovation which has system-level impact (Dentoni et al., 2021;Doh, Tashman, & Benischke, 2019). The complex interrelations between social and ecological systems associated with grand challenges (George et al, 2024;Whiteman et al., 2013) are harder for managers of a single firm to perceive, despite potentially good intentions. Diverse stakeholders who view the system from different loci, can assist companies in bringing system-level considerations into the innovation process and help firms to get out of their comfort zones, leveraging their expertise sufficiently early to identify optional pathways for the innovation (Phillips et al., 2019). ...
... Responding to the urgency (Olsson et al. 2017) in management studies and business practice to understand the connections of firm-level sustainability-oriented action on the surrounding systems (Dentoni et al., 2021;Whiteman et al., 2013;Williams et al., 2024), we offer insights into ways in which firms' collaboration with stakeholders in sustainability-oriented innovation can contribute to system-level impact. The two alternative recipes for system-level impact we discover suggest firms can integrate stakeholder views and inputs in different ways through the innovation process. ...
... First introduced to organizational scholars by Whiteman et al. (2013), the PB framework has been used to study questions related to social-ecological resilience (e.g. Kennedy et al., 2023;Williams et al., 2021) and systems (e.g. ...
... This shifts scholars' and practitioners' focus away from the "natural environment" or "natural resources" to the functioning of individual systems. As each PB is highly complex (Steffen et al., 2015), focusing on specific ones in detail captures the relevant properties that organizations impact and also depend on, 1 enabling progress in measuring and managing PBs (Ergene et al., 2021;Whiteman et al., 2013;Williams et al., 2024). ...
... Dependencies and impacts shape the interactions between organizations and natural systems, both in the short term and long term. Together, and through a systems perspective, ecosystem resilience captures the ongoing health of natural systems and their capacity to support economic activity (Ergene et al., 2021;Whiteman et al., 2013). It also captures that interactions between PBs shape the health of a given PB (Richardson et al., 2023). ...
Earth’s natural systems are increasingly destabilizing as human industrial activity has overshot planetary boundaries (PBs) such as climate change and biosphere integrity (biodiversity loss). While organizational scholarship on sustainability is increasing in prevalence and importance, the PBs framework has been under-studied and under-applied. To advance scholarship and practice, we assert the PBs framework can guide future research in three ways: (i) tuning to and measuring the state of particular PBs, (ii) inviting attention to temporal and spatial properties, and (iii) as a tool for inter- and transdisciplinary scholarship. We develop a reference framework that conceptualizes interactions between organizations and the PBs to develop specific, researchable questions. Organizational attention to PBs is driven by their dependence on them, which consequently impacts PBs and ecosystem resilience, with contextual influences shaping these interactions. We hope to encourage organizational scholars to explore how organizations can strategize and implement practices as embedded within planetary boundaries.
... Based on this logic, every day, more companies recognize that "there is value and opportunity in a broader sense, beyond short-term results" (KPMG, 2012, p. 1) and begin to follow a path toward sustainable development. Therefore, companies began worrying about their operations and environmental results (Hussey & Eagan, 2007), i.e., the so-called environmental management practices and corporate environmental performance (Dragomir, 2018;Severo et al., 2017;Bhattacharyya & Cummings, 2015;Whiteman et al., 2013;Hussey & Eagan, 2007;Tyteca et al., 2002). Corporate environmental performance is defined as "the results of an organization's management relating to its environmental aspects" (ISO, 1999). ...
... The study is based on the oil and gas sector, particularly oil and gas companies in the upstream segment. This is because there is a need for a greater understanding of business actions in the context of the nine planetary boundaries (Whiteman et al., 2013) and a definition of the biophysical limits proposed by the planetary boundaries for companies so that these boundaries become more suitable for companies' strategic planning (Clift et al., 2007). Furthermore, "business management literature remains focused on understanding the social, organizational or institutional implications of corporate sustainability, in isolation from quantitative indicators of ecosystem functioning" (Whiteman et al., 2013, p. 308;Bhattacharyya & Cummings, 2015;Goldstein et al., 2011). ...
... Furthermore, the easy correspondence of these planetary boundaries to key indicators that reflect specific environmental aspects of companies operating in the oil and gas sector in the upstream segment (Trumpp et al., 2015) makes them ideal for the analysis proposed by this study. Also, the determined planetary boundaries allow a "fair share" to be determined for each company regarding the biophysical limits proposed by the planetary boundaries (Whiteman et al., 2013), as detailed in this study's Results and Discussion section. ...
Objective: This study aims to demonstrate how planetary boundaries can serve as a method for evaluating the environmental performance of organizations. Methodology: The study is based on different methods of data collection and analyses, based on the literature on planetary boundaries and their measurement, secondary data collection and the use of two illustrative examples with two companies operating in the oil and gas sector in the upstream segment. Results: It was initially necessary to validate the downscaling of planetary boundaries to the business analysis level to apply the proposed conceptual model to two cases of companies operating in the oil and gas sector in the upstream segment. The proposed downscaling method proved to be adequate, effective, and plausible, as did the use of planetary boundaries as a method for evaluating the environmental performance of organizations. Implications: This study established contributions of methodological and practical natures, which allows companies in the sector to evaluate and be evaluated based on the need to respect the biophysical limits of the Earth system. Originality/Relevance: The concept of planetary boundaries provides a starting point for understanding the compatibility between the search for sustainable development and the current economic model, since the natural capital consumed is physically finite. In addition, a critical factor in this search is the role played by companies since the increased pressure on the consumption of natural resources directly impacts business operations.
... Recent corporate crisis response research has explored the utilization of SUSM initiatives and systems as strategic tools for addressing grand challenges and wicked problems (Hahn et al. 2014;Whiteman et al. 2013). This focus has intensified in response to a series of high-impact transformational events over recent decades, including the 2008 Financial Crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis, and the war in Ukraine. ...
... When applied to CSR, the theory brings into focus the crucial role businesses play within the larger socio-ecological system. Studies indicate that companies that truly comprehend their ecological dependencies and impacts tend to be more inclined toward implementing voluntary sustainable practices (Whiteman et al. 2013). Companies are positioned as active players within the socio-ecological framework, with their decisions on sustainability being deeply influenced by the awareness of their part within the ecosystem (Fischer et al. 2015;Virapongse et al. 2016). ...
This scoping review examines the applicability and evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) theories, which focus on voluntary corporate actions, during global transformational events. Additionally, the study explores the relevance of broader sustainability management (SUSM) theories, which provide comprehensive frameworks for integrating sustainability into corporate strategies, to assess their adaptability under such abnormal operating conditions. We identify and review 10 key theories pertinent to SUSM during normal and abnormal operating periods: Agency Theory, Cognitive Theory, Ecological Modernization, Institutional Theory, Leadership Theory, Legitimacy Theory, Neoclassical Theory, Shareholder Theory, Socio‐Ecological Systems Theory, and Stakeholder Theory. Our findings reveal that these theories are dynamic, evolving in response to global crises, thereby influencing and being influenced by corporate behaviors. This study contributes to the academic literature by highlighting the interplay between theoretical evolution and real‐world applications of CSR and SUSM. For managers, the study offers insights into building corporate resilience and adaptability, while policymakers are provided with guidance on fostering regulatory environments that support sustainable corporate practices during periods of disruption. These contributions underscore the importance of refining SUSM frameworks to guide corporate decision‐making in increasingly volatile environments.
... For example, when unsustainable practices contribute to climate change, this can manifest as climate-related natural disasters, notably in underprivileged regions (Keys et al., 2019); however, it is the wealthy minority that is responsible for causing climate change (e.g., Böhm et al., 2022). The complex nature of systemic sustainability risks means that they must be examined across scales (Steffen et al., 2015;Whiteman et al., 2013). Scales are both spatial (local, regional, global, etc.) and temporal (past, present, and future; slow or fast moving), and we use both dimensions of scale in this commentary. ...
... Organization-related phenomena and other social systems in which the economy and governments are embedded in and dependent on are actively shaping the natural environment (Berkes et al., 1998;Folke et al., 2016;Norström et al., 2017). Collective organizational impacts have dramatically altered the natural environment on a global scale, thereby creating great risks for humanity as the planetary boundaries' framework shows Richardson et al., 2023;Whiteman et al., 2013). ...
Narrow views of systemic sustainability risks can result in ecological concerns being neglected, as well as giving rise to unequal distribution and exploitation of natural resources, creating injustice. Given recent advancements in integrating justice with the safe space environmentally, as defined by the planetary boundaries, now is a critical moment for business ethics researchers to deepen the conversation on managing systemic sustainability risks to create a safe and just operating space. We argue that the social-ecological systems approach, that views humans as embedded in and dependent on the natural environment, provides a foundation for business ethics scholars to deepen the conversation. We build on two key dimensions from the social-ecological systems approach, social-ecological connectivity and cross-scale dynamics to develop a framework that illustrates four ways for business ethics scholars to research systemic sustainability risks. We demonstrate the relevance of these dimensions for understanding systemic sustainability risks, discuss their ethical implications, and outline opportunities for future research.
... Companies, in particular, are increasingly required to contribute to sustainable development (Aguilera et al., 2021). In recent years, an increasing number of companies have recognized the need to adopt sustainability measures and implement voluntary environmental management standards (Delmas et al., 2013), commit to sustainability (Whiteman et al., 2013), and report on their contributions to sustainable development (Adams and Clark, 2014;Hahn et al., 2015). Nevertheless, current corporate efforts to realize measures toward sustainable development have been criticized as insufficient (Ergene et al., 2020;Whiteman et al., 2013). ...
... In recent years, an increasing number of companies have recognized the need to adopt sustainability measures and implement voluntary environmental management standards (Delmas et al., 2013), commit to sustainability (Whiteman et al., 2013), and report on their contributions to sustainable development (Adams and Clark, 2014;Hahn et al., 2015). Nevertheless, current corporate efforts to realize measures toward sustainable development have been criticized as insufficient (Ergene et al., 2020;Whiteman et al., 2013). ...
Purpose: Given the urgency of corporate engagement in sustainable development, companies seek ways to involve their employees in sustainability efforts. In this regard, gamified systems have gained attention as a novel tool to promote sustainable employee behavior. However, as the research field matures, researchers and practitioners are confronted with a scattered academic landscape that makes it difficult to grasp how gamification can be designed to engage employees in sustainable behavior and to understand how gamification effects unfold at psychological, behavioral and corporate levels of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses a systematic literature review to consolidate the existing knowledge on gamification designs and their effects on sustainable employee behavior.
Findings: Studies have explored a variety of utilitarian and achievement-, immersion-and social-related gameful affordances to promote positive behavior-and system-related psychological effects as a basis for employee engagement in sustainable behavior. However, the evidence regarding their impact on rational decision-making processes and overcoming the intention-action gap inherent in sustainability is still limited. Nevertheless, several studies in focused areas indicate the potential to elicit behavioral changes that drive sustainability outcomes at the corporate level as well. Originality/value: Our study provides three main contributions. First, we develop a conceptual framework that illustrates how gamification can drive sustainable behavior in the workplace. Second, we derive seven agenda points to guide future research on gamification for corporate sustainability. Third, we deduce three practical approaches to use gamification as a strategic intervention to promote sustainable behavior in organizations.
... [17] It aided adoption of climate initiatives by farmers [18] in the UK, and the furtherance of IOLS adoption in understanding OL and ocean climate-change related behaviour change. [19] Adoptive alternative learning methods outside of formal educational curriculums and win mind sets, affect behaviours and breed a more knowledgeable future cohort of blue engineers, green architects, AI-program literate technical experts, adequately trained seafarers handling MASS vessels, better equipped researchers and a plethora of ocean-based career technocrats. ...
The implementation of UN [1] Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goal 14, and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021- 2030, (UNESCO, 2021), has generated global interest in ocean literacy, albeit without corresponding formal impetus for formal adoption of the concept - as is the case for many developing countries. This paper explores the inextricable links between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 14, 4 and 17. Ocean literacy is needed as a fundamental human science requirement for student and youth learning, across geographies, languages and curricula. Evidently, there are global examples of successful OL [2] initiatives which have been shown to be effective tools in creating unique, immersive, life-impacting learning experiences about the marine environment for both learners and educators. (Mann-Borgese et al., 2018) (Fauville et al., 2018a) Cognisance is also given to the current period of the UN Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022 – 32 (Martin, 2017), aptly displayed in the translation of the International Ocean Literacy Survey [3] (IOLS) framework into 16 international languages. (Fauville et al., 2018) The introduction of learner-friendly material, including in story-telling formats, is proposed as an effective learning tool for young learners. One such example is a cartoon publication in story format, illustrating ocean-literate choices based on IMO principles, translated by this paper’s author, into Africa’s most widely spoken Sub-Saharan language, Swahili,[4] – with relevance of indigenous languages. (Salawu, 2006). This submission advocates for learning systems that define relevant content and introduce ocean pedagogies aimed as empowering learners by establishing ocean literacy as a fundamental human science. The ability to effect positive and self-driven personal behaviour creates the best defence for ocean and planet sustainability by enhancing learners’ familiarity with ocean literacy principles, creating or strengthening the people-planet relationship, affect paradigm shifts in anthropogenic activities and inclusion of alternative marine environment education. (Watanabe, 2020). A collaborative approach amongst all stakeholders is necessary for the sake of the planet, people and progress.
... More radical changes in practices and beliefs come about not via regulation, but via a change in the wider global-institutional environment conferring authority and legitimacy (Schofer et al., 2012). Hence, central questions are, first, how alternative cultural models more aligned with planetary boundaries, that is, a safe operating space for humanity within the Earth's system endangered by climate change, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, and other processes (Richardson et al., 2023;Whiteman et al., 2013), could emerge and globally diffuse in a liberal world order and, second, what such templates could look like. ...
The ‘iron cage’ of the (neo‐) liberal‐capitalist system prioritizes economic returns over climate protection. Formerly powerful nation‐states are subordinated to the rule of markets, whereas business elites have been freed from substantial responsibility for social and environmental concerns. While we agree in principle with the Point that a reassertion of state power may facilitate more decided climate action, our Counterpoint adopts a cultural institutionalist perspective that highlights the embeddedness of actors in a broader cultural order. From this perspective, actors enact scripts while often lacking substantive agency towards protecting the natural environment. Cultural change in meanings, myths, practices, and rituals is needed to remodel the currently dominant scripts and templates of modern, liberal‐capitalist ‘world society’, including the script of state actorhood. We suggest the notion of ‘quixotic institutional work’ as a way of envisioning and prefiguring alternative cultural templates when both the physical and the social reality start showing cracks due to the climate crisis. Quixotic institutional work follows the logic of appropriateness rather than consequential purposiveness, and thus constitutes a different, often overlooked and mocked, form of agency for systems change relevant in the light of powerful forces towards maintaining an unsustainable world order.
... For management scholars to stay relevant in conversations on the 'greatest challenge we confront in the 21st century' (Howard-Grenville et al., 2014, p. 615; see also Buckley et al., 2017;Fernhaber and Zou, 2022;Howard-Grenville and Lahneman, 2021;Rivera et al., 2022;Whiteman et al., 2013;Williams et al., 2024), we argue that it is critical to develop a model that more accurately explains organizational CCA and reflects on the strategies, practices, and procedures that may unfold in managerial and organizational contexts, most prominently business and policy. Although scholars have started to highlight the unique challenges associated with the management of CCA (e.g., Doh et al., 2019;Griffiths, 2010, 2012;Tashman and Rivera, 2016;Winn et al., 2011), we lack a research program that systematically addresses CCA (Howard-Grenville and Lahneman, 2021). ...
Climate change adaptation has for a long time been the neglected half of the climate equation, as most attention has been directed toward mitigation. Yet, the catastrophic effects of a changing climate are already occurring, unavoidable, and in many cases irreversible. Organizations need to identify ways of adapting to present and future climatic conditions. In this editorial, we make the case for climate change adaptation as a research topic on par with mitigation. We outline how and why management and organizational scholarship should work toward an integrated approach of mitigation and adaptation in responding to climate change, suggesting three key avenues of research for future inquiry. In so doing, we encourage more impactful and ecologically relevant management research that will make a difference to society at large.
... As both corporate executives and policymakers increasingly recognize environmental concerns, investing in environmental activities has become a critical component in firms' strategic priorities across the globe (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012;Gast, Gundolf, & Cesinger, 2017;Wang, Wijen, & Heugens, 2018;Whiteman, Walker, & Perego, 2013). According to the UN Environment Programme (2021), global investment in nature-based solutions amounted to $133 billion in 2020, approximately 0.10% of global gross domestic product. ...
While environmental concerns are increasingly driving firms’ strategic decisions, insights into why firms make heterogeneous environmental investments are limited. Taking an institutional view, we explore the effect of institutional complexity resulting from multiple but incongruent institutional logics within an organization on firms’ environmental investments. Using China's mixed-ownership reform as a research context, we identify a unique condition in which institutional complexity arises as the privatization process results in two coexisting but incongruent institutional logics – namely, state and financial logic. We further propose that privatization plays both enabling and constraining roles in state-owned enterprises’ (SOEs’) strategic decisions about environmental investments, depending on the relative dominance of each institutional logic, resulting in an inverted U-shaped relationship between privatization and environmental investments. Moreover, we examine the moderating effects of CEO background characteristics and firms’ external environmental context to uncover how these factors influence the relative dominance of state or financial logic in privatized SOEs, thereby reshaping SOEs’ environmental investments. Analyses of multisource panel data from Chinese listed SOEs from 2013 to 2020 support our theoretical propositions. The findings contribute to the literature on how institutional factors affect firm environmental practices and provide new insights to better understand the influence of institutional complexity on firm strategic actions.
... acknowledging that ecological issues are becoming more complex and challenging over time (Whiteman & Perego, 2013). Therefore, it is crucial for policymakers to find effective strategies to mitigate ecological issues by planning infrastructure that supports both social integration and environmental sustainability (Murphy, 2012). ...
This study explores the accelerating shift towards environmentalism in family business as global enterprises increasingly commit to sustainable development goals (SDGs). Specifically, it examines the challenges and capacities within the food and non-alcoholic beverages industry in Kosova, focusing on the integration of clean technology and renewable energy. Utilizing a quantitative approach, the research assesses the financial feasibility for firms to adopt green practices and explores the broader implications for market dynamics. The findings highlight significant opportunities and challenges that family businesses face, particularly in response to growing consumer demand for environmentally friendly products and services. This paper offers new insights into the complexities of corporate sustainability efforts and suggests strategies to enhance environmental responsibility in family business practices. By mapping the current landscape and identifying key barriers and facilitators to sustainable practices, this research contributes valuable perspectives to the ongoing discourse on corporate contributions to environmental sustainability.
... Maroun, W. is the third author, with ten publications; however, the author was not one of the top 15 authors by number of citations. Hazelton, J. 6 9 Kumar, A. 6 10 Larrinaga, C. 6 11 Rodrigue, M. 6 12 Serafeim, G. 6 13 Adams, Ca. 5 14 Caraiani, C. 5 15 Chen, X. 5 When citation and author analysis was performed, a total of 131 authors with at least three documents were identified and plotted, as shown in Figure 4. As some of the authors in the network were not connected to one another, only 82 authors were plotted in the zoomed-in version in the same figure. ...
This paper explores the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to sustainability in business, emphasizing the need for integrated perspectives from the angles of accounting, management, and governance. It argues that addressing the complex and multifaceted environmental and social impacts of business requires more than just sustainability reporting frameworks. While reporting holds businesses accountable, it is not sufficient on its own without meaningful action. Business management plays a crucial role in implementing sustainability initiatives, and executives, as key decision-makers, must align organizational strategies and resources to achieve sustainability goals. A bibliometric analysis of sustainability-related literature across three business research domains—accounting, management, and governance—has been undertaken. Web of Science has been used as the data source to identify key themes, trends, and relationships. In the analysis, co-authorship, citation patterns, and keyword co-occurrence analysis have been implemented to uncover interconnections between the domains. The findings highlight both commonalities and unique aspects of each literature stream, offering insights into how business practices can more holistically address sustainability challenges. The article concludes with recommendations for a combined approach to sustainability that encourages comprehensive action by researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers to address the pressing environmental and social issues that businesses face.
... In recent decades, the business world has witnessed a dramatic shift in the expectations placed on corporations regarding their environmental responsibilities. As global environmental challenges intensify, firms face mounting pressure to minimize their ecological footprint and contribute positively to environmental sustainability [1][2][3]. This evolving landscape has propelled corporate environmental performance (CEP) to the forefront of both managerial priorities and academic inquiries [4,5]. ...
This study investigates how the relationship between firm-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) governance and corporate environmental performance (CEP) varies across diverse national contexts. Drawing on institutional theory, organizational adaptation theory, and the concept of institutional voids, we analyze an extensive dataset of 5326 firms from 26 OECD countries over a seven-year period (2013–2019). Employing panel data analysis, we examine the moderating effects of country-level factors on the CSR governance–CEP relationship. Our findings reveal a significant positive association between a firm’s CSR governance quality and environmental performance, which is notably stronger in countries characterized by weaker environmental governance, less prominent societal environmental values, and fewer climate mitigation laws and policies. These results suggest that firms with strong CSR governance effectively fill institutional voids in environmental governance, going beyond mere compliance to drive environmental performance improvements where external pressures are weak. Our study contributes to the literature by advancing the current understanding of the contextual nature of CSR, extending the application of institutional void theory to environmental governance landscapes in developed economies, and providing a more nuanced perspective on when and where CSR governance matters most for environmental outcomes. These insights offer valuable implications for managers in diverse institutional contexts and for policymakers seeking to enhance corporate environmental performance through complementary governance mechanisms.
... In this context, firms' strategists are looking for 'alternative scenarios' to challenge their current business models but within a 'solutionoriented' trajectory. Often, this is a context where firms are already in the process of reconfiguring their business models more substantially and are exposed to the risks and uncertainties due to so-called grand challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss, from food security to soil health problems (Whiteman et al., 2013). In this context, high-level skills, competencies, and organizational capabilities are mobilized to experiment with and identify solutions and scenarios for the given challenges. ...
Firms implementing circular economy principles in their innovation processes necessitates the redesign of well-established processes and practices. This redesign leverages the various knowledge and practice domains within the firm, at different levels and scales. Despite the importance of knowledge to innovation management, there is a lack of research in innovation studies examining how firms could manage different knowledge flows within the circular economy context. In most research in this area, studies tend to assume that existence of governance mechanisms to manage these knowledge flows. However, given the need for redesigning or introducing entirely new business models to incorporate circularity principles, there is also a need to understand the internal organization that facilitates such changes. In this paper, we conceptualize how organizational mechanisms governing knowledge processes influence firms' adoption of circular-oriented innovation processes. We conclude that firms go through various stages and levels in the adoption process. These levels are linked through situational, action-formation, and transformational mechanisms that govern supportive knowledge processes. We contribute the innovation management literature by linking circular innovation process adoption to knowledge governance and the underlying knowledge processes. Specifically, we highlight the microfoundations nuances of circular-oriented innovation processes adoption that are pertinent to organizing innovation activities within the firm.
... In addition to country dynamics, it is also important to identify individual, organizational, and societal dynamics (Whiteman et al., 2013), considering the importance of collaboration and coordination of different stakeholders involved. Therefore, future research could look at the numerous stakeholders affected by sustainable digitization, such as policymakers, governments, businesses, organizations, and citizens to analyze a more systemic perspective. ...
The accelerating convergence of digitization and sustainability has given rise to the digital sustainability concept, emphasizing responsible and sustainable use of digital technologies to pursue a systemic sustainable development involving the triple dimension of economy, society, and environment. Despite the growing interest in digital sustainability, existing analyses remain fragmented and lack a holistic perspective on the multifaceted outcomes of digital transformation. This study aims to address this research gap by comprehensively investigating the impact of digital technologies on the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of digital development in European countries. By adopting a quantitative aggregative approach, this study constructs an index, the Digital Development Index (DDI), to measure and compare the three dimensions of digital sustainable development across the European countries (EU27). The index was based on 227 indicators from the Eurostat database. The results show advanced digital development in Western and Northern Europe, while disparities persist in Southern, Central, and Eastern European countries. In addition, correlation analysis shows that higher GDP per capita enables more effective digital development across the three dimensions, facilitating technology adoption, innovation, digital education, and fortifying digital foundations. Our study contributes to the literature by providing a new index to understand the factors influencing digital sustainability in the European context, highlighting established trends and dynamics. Furthermore, the paper offers multiple implications for managers and policymakers to identify the most appropriate policies and strategies for the joint development of the three spheres of sustainable development.
... Researchers have found that attempting to contribute to all SDGs or having too many goals can be as detrimental as having none (Holden et al. 2017). More specifically, various researchers agree that addressing the 17 SDGs is complex (Whiteman et al. 2013;Carmine and De Marchi 2023) due to the diversity of actors, activities, sectors and time periods involved. For this reason, companies need to be selective and prioritise their commitments to specific SDGs. ...
The importance of introducing a new sustainable development paradigm to safeguard the entire planet is now undisputed. One of the tools aiming to respond to this need consists of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) contained within the 2030 Agenda. Businesses play a crucial role in achieving these objectives and must prove themselves to be active actors in promoting sustainable practices. However, the integration of these objectives within their business models turns out to be a complex operation, which requires numerous skills and resources. This paper consists of a systematic literature review on the topic of research on the SDGs in the areas of business, management and accounting with the aim of identifying the barriers facing communities and tools to support companies in this process, as well as possible areas for improvement. Furthermore, it allows us to identify gaps on which future research should focus. To achieve this aim, papers related to the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs published in journals indexed in the Scopus database between January 2015 and June 2024 were analysed. The results demonstrated a great heterogeneity within the research area and the emergence of some important concepts, such as the circular economy, artificial intelligence and Industry 4.0, and some recurring themes, such as the role of stakeholders in achieving the SDGs and the financial and non-financial benefits of SDG strategies and practices.
... Scholars have grappled with addressing today's grand challenges in pursuit of more sustainable futures, particularly over the past decade (Ferraro et al., 2015;Howard-Grenville & Spengler, 2022). Conceptual and empirical research has considered how the field can contribute to climate change (George et al., 2016), planetary boundaries (Whiteman et al., 2013), and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Williams et al., 2019) through business strategy and theory building. Some of the most pressing issues of our time stem from the climate and ecological crises. ...
In response to pressing societal challenges, scholars are increasingly focusing on research aimed at fostering sustainable futures. We contribute to that discussion by theorizing the circular economy (CE) as an “ecology of practices.” The ecology of practices concept helps to make sense of a developing field that has been heavily practitioner‐driven. Through an analysis of the diverse CE practices in analytical and operational contexts, we investigate the roles, disciplinary influences, and visions for the future and categorize their trajectories. Drawing on the sociology of expectations, we consider the articulations of CE in practice, advocating for inclusive dialogue among stakeholders and collective engagement with ontological multiplicity in shaping CE futures. We propose a framework that contributes to broader debates in organization and management studies, emphasizing the significance of everyday practices in shaping sustainable futures beyond the realm of CE. In so doing, we focus on unpicking how sustainable futures are variously enacted as a way of enabling collaboration that might otherwise be hindered by disciplinary obligations.
... In the context of globalization, sustainable development has increasingly become the focus of common concern for all countries in the world. From the perspective of the United Nations' sustainable development goals [1,2] and planetary boundaries [3][4][5], sustainable development is essential. The goals of "climate action", "underwater life", and "terrestrial life" in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals define the specific tasks of protecting the earth's ecological environment, and the planetary boundaries also define the safe range of the impact of human activities on the earth's ecosystem. ...
The independent innovation of agricultural enterprises ensures national food security through enhancing food production efficiency and optimizing food nutritional quality. Independent innovation is an important way for the sustainable growth of agricultural enterprises. However, in this process, there are issues such as long cycles and high risks. Based on this, using the panel data of China’s listed agricultural enterprises from 2007 to 2021, this study empirically examined the impact of independent innovation on the sustainable growth of agricultural enterprises, as well as the moderating effects of internal drivers (digital transformation) and external pull factors (government subsidies) through a two-way fixed effects model. The findings are the following: (1) The impact of independent innovation on the sustainable growth of agricultural enterprises exhibits an “inverted U-pattern”. When the R&D investment of agricultural enterprises accounts for 77.85% of operating income, the sustainable growth ability of agricultural enterprises is the highest. (2) Compared with large agricultural enterprises, small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises reach the threshold of independent innovation ability later, and the incentive effect range of independent innovation is longer. (3) Independent innovation exerts a more significant “inverted U” effect on the sustainable growth of non-state-owned agricultural enterprises and agricultural enterprises in the mature stage, while its impact on the sustainable growth of state-owned agricultural enterprises and agricultural enterprises in the growth and decline stages is not significant. (4) Government subsidies can help enhance the positive impact of independent innovation on the sustainable growth of agricultural enterprises when it does not exceed the threshold but cannot alleviate the negative impact of independent innovation on the sustainable growth of agricultural enterprises when it exceeds the threshold; investment in digital transformation not only helps to enhance the positive impact of independent innovation on the sustainable growth of agricultural enterprises when it does not exceed the threshold but also helps to alleviate the negative impact of independent innovation on the sustainable growth of agricultural enterprises when it exceeds the threshold. The research results provide data support for agricultural enterprises to carry out innovation activities under internal drive and external pull. At the same time, it is of great significance for the national implementation of the strategy of storing food in technology and food security strategy.
This article aims to systematize and structure research on biodiversity accounting. We identify the main current areas and dynamics of biodiversity accounting. Therefore, we explore how stakeholder capitalism can contribute to corporate commitments to biodiversity conservation. We also examine how the institutional context plays a role in these commitments. Finally, we analyze how these factors can contribute to global governance to achieve SDGs 14 and 15. We used a mixed‐methods analysis by research synthesis. A bibliometric analysis was performed following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐Analyses) protocol to search and select scientific contributions to be analyzed. Citation analysis is used to map current research fronts. In addition, a bibliographic coupling is performed to identify connection networks in the current literature. We review a sample of 163 studies from the Academic Journal Guide (AJG). We identify research activities on biodiversity accounting between 1993 and early 2023. We used BibExcel and Gephi software packages to perform a scientific mapping analysis based on co‐word bibliographic networks. The R package Bibliometrix is used to perform an algorithmic historiography. The empirical results show the current state of the art on biodiversity accounting and suggest new research trends. Our results are also intuitive, as biodiversity conservation accounting is undoubtedly at the center of global policy discussions. We find from this meta‐analysis that differences in biodiversity accounting practices are due to the wide variety of institutions that have become entrenched over time. This article enriches the current state of the art. It also identifies important themes in the biodiversity accounting literature. This offers valuable theoretical and practical perspectives.
This research aims to examine the case for mainstreaming the positioning of ecocentric perspectives in university business school settings. We argue for an urgent need to reorient anthropocentric normative framings of sustainability in business and management education to ecocentric ontologies and epistemologies within pedagogical praxes of design and delivery. We draw upon two examples from university business schools’ sustainability programmes in Africa and The United Kingdom as comparative cases to illuminate the commonalities and differences in ontological and epistemological characteristics. Uganda and England are contextually different, whether it be geography, economy(ies), or how these contexts, in turn, shape/influence pedagogical approaches and practices in each of those business schools. Findings show that Education for Sustainable Development Goals (ESDGs) increasingly feature within courses across ‘sustainable’ management-centric pedagogies such as ‘sustainable marketing’ and ‘sustainable supply chain management’. However, these normative framings of sustainability pedagogies were found to potentially negate the inclusion of ‘deep green’ rooted concepts, ontologies and epistemologies in business and management education. In contrast to these normative approaches, we present and analyse opportunities for critically evaluating sustainability education that centres on biodiversity through ecopedagogy and eco-literacy.
This chapter explores the intricate relationship between the evolution of socio-cultural structure in India and focuses on transitioning of the same, from traditional worship practices to contemporary environmental responsibilities. The discussion delves into the significance of river flows as connectors, influencing diverse cultural beliefs and values. The concept of environmental flows is evaluated as a framework, for understanding these relationships, with an emphasis on its predominantly biophysical science-oriented approaches. Drawing on the research methodology employed in the investigation of human-river interactions in India, the chapter utilizes a comprehensive blend of qualitative and quantitative methods. The methodology involves extensive literature review, surveys, interviews, field observations and content analysis of river worship for Hinduism. The integration of thematic coding for analysis ensures a nuanced exploration of the multifaceted dynamics between communities and tropical rivers, contributing valuable insights to the discourse on riverine ecosystem management, thus bringing about the change in attitude, from worship to responsibility.
Purpose
This paper proposes a novel conceptual framework to guide future research in service technology with a focus on sustainability. Drawing on Eastern philosophical perspectives, this framework advocates for integrating the human-nature oneness concept into service technology design.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews existing literature on service technology and sustainability, highlighting gaps in addressing the environmental impacts of emerging technologies. Established on the systematic literature review, this conceptual paper introduces a holistic framework informed by Eastern philosophies of Daoism, Buddhism, and Ubuntu, advocating for an integrated approach to perceiving humans and nature as interconnected.
Findings
The proposed framework challenges the current human-centric perspective in service technology research, which often prioritizes economic and social sustainability over environmental considerations. By adopting a holistic view, the framework suggests that true sustainability can only be achieved by simultaneously fostering human and environmental prosperity.
Practical implications
The framework provides theoretical and practical guidance on aligning service technology development with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The current research advocates for a shift towards designing service technologies that not only enhance service efficiency and economic performance but also mitigate negative environmental impacts.
Originality/value
This paper introduces a radical shift in thinking about sustainability in service technology by integrating Eastern philosophical principles. It offers a new lens for addressing global sustainability challenges and contributing to the growing body of research on sustainable service ecosystems.
In this paper, we present a typology of managers' interpretations of sustainability as ‘narrative fields’ derived from a qualitative multi‐site study and offer a Pragmatist reading of the results. Pragmatism is grounded in an ethic of meliorism, the belief in the possibility of gradually improving the world through human effort and experimentation. Through a Pragmatist lens we see managers talking the way to better futures: continuously negotiating the big idea of sustainability via their myriad interactions with stakeholders and within their evolving constructions and re‐constructions of the relationships among ecology, society, and economy. We find that the contestable concept of sustainability is most usefully conceived as a field of narratives delineated by broad dimensions (discrete/integrated, actual/possible), with sustainability conversations —those that push toward integration and new possibility—as the primary means to move toward living better futures. We conclude with implications for research and management practice.
Human pressure continues to deteriorate social-ecological systems at alarming rates, risking destabilization and collapse. This provokes questions on the efficacy of corporate approaches to sustainability management and how business schools are preparing managers. A systems approach to sustainability management is gaining attention for its potential to resolve the disconnect between corporate sustainability practices and social-ecological system needs. Business school education can play an important role in fostering its adoption, yet educators may lack experience with teaching a systems approach and how to effectively integrate it within courses. We contribute to sustainability management and business education by offering a learning framework with a systems perspective. This framework consists of five conceptual moves leveraging systems thinking concepts that establish a strong theoretical foundation for learning. We further illustrate these moves through practical teaching examples and provide recommendations for the integration of a systems approach into sustainability management education.
Subject: The research provides a deep analysis about the explanation of the influence of mission statement’s textual content on ESG scores and vice versa.
Objective: The chapter explores whether and how mission statement’s textual contents reflect firms’ ESG commitment, and vice versa: alignment of mission-driven values and ESG principles can lead to greater corporate value creation and sustainability.
Contribution: A theoretical and practical contribution is provided. Theoretically, it falls within a literature gap regarding how textual contents of mission statements and ESG factors are linked. Under a practical point of view, this study provides executive support for governance bodies: (1) imprinting a corporate orientation inclined towards social responsibility and improving ESG scores; (2) composing the mission with ESG references; (3) defining and monitoring ESG strategies; and (4) assessing the importance corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices have on corporate governance orientation.
Relevance: CSR studies are integral to corporate culture globally. Mission statements, as statements of intent, gain value. Therefore, their textual contents become important to link to ESG goals.
Originality: The research focuses on textual contents of mission statements and the reciprocal association mission statements—ESG.
Method: A systematic literature review is provided.
Defining a sustainable company presents challenges due to evolving sustainability contexts, diverse theoretical perspectives, and conflicting definitions. This often results in overlooking broader, macrolevel sustainability constructs, leading to a fragmented understanding of what a sustainable company really is. To overcome these issues, this study synthesizes insights from multiple disciplines to form a holistic understanding of sustainability in business. A six‐dimensional framework for defining corporate sustainability is proposed, categorized into fundamental and managerial dimensions. Five fundamental dimensions are used to characterize and outline a “sustainability continuum” in a business context with respect to sustainable development principles. A conceptual methodology is outlined to address sustainability management, defined as the sixth dimension. Using the proposed framework, company challenges to reach the sustainability goals are discussed. In particular, the developed “sustainability continuum” offers clarity to the concept of business sustainability, enabling companies to evaluate their compliance with sustainability criteria and comprehend their sustainability status.
Waste is an important socio‐ecological challenge of contemporary capitalism, contributing to climate change and environmental degradation. Despite its pervasiveness and its impacts on diverse stakeholders, it yet remains largely underexplored in management and organization studies. Addressing this gap, this paper investigates waste's crucial role in shaping specific stakeholder relations by theorizing it as a technique of power. By examining the case of a socio‐ecological crisis in Naples, Italy, characterized by illegal waste practices linked to Mafia organizations, we unpack two entangled techniques of power: commodifying waste – transforming it into something that can be traded on a market and perpetuating its exploitation; and ignoring waste – involving failing or refusing to consider and recognize waste. Our findings elucidate how these two techniques produced and reinforced socio‐ecological hierarchies, in which local stakeholders were wasted. By highlighting the lived experiences of local communities affected by waste, our study contributes to a deeper understanding of power dynamics among diverse stakeholders in socio‐ecological crises and demonstrates how waste functions as a mechanism of dispossession within capitalist accumulation.
The number of sustainability supports keeps growing. However, they are typically not capable of bridging planetary‐to‐organizational scales and therefore in themselves provide limited guidance for how organizations can contribute strategically to global sustainability. This is severe since the power of change that organizations represent is essential for humanity to succeed with the transition to sustainability. Furthermore, a specific sustainability support typically lacks a clear description of what gap it is designed to fill. This may add confusion to an already complex area and can result in organizations selecting supports that are not the most appropriate for the organization's purpose and transition plan. The aim of this study was therefore to prototype an approach for SWOT analyses of sustainability supports and for guiding effective and coordinated use of them. We tested the approach for some examples of supports that are currently receiving much attention: the sustainable development goals, planetary boundaries, circular economy, and science‐based targets. We argue that the tested approach can be generalized and makes it possible to clarify limitations and value of any support from a systemic, systematic, and strategic sustainability perspective and, therefore, also to clarify how the supports relate to each other and can be selected and used in an effective and coordinated way. This is similar to how an operative system of, say, a smartphone, facilitates an effective and coordinated use of apps. We argue that the presented approach addresses one of the most dangerously, still most commonly, missed pieces in public and private discourses on sustainability.
serving as a primary driver. This research delves into the multifaceted role of sustainable finance in advancing eco-conscious economic practices. It underscores the necessity of intertwining fiscal strategies with environmental and societal imperatives. With the introduction of benchmarks like the Equator Principles, there is a guided framework for financial establishments to determine and address environmental and societal risks, especially within project financing domains. The analysis identifies three distinct yet sequential stages in sustainable finance evolution: the establishment of baseline environmental compliance, an integrated approach considering both monetary and ecological values, and an ultimate focus on enhancing societal and environmental welfare. A crucial observation is the transition from the intermediate stage to the advanced one, where businesses not only mitigate harm but also proactively foster societal and ecological well-being. the comparative analysis of businesses across these stages, accentuates the long-term advantages of sustainable finance practices.
This chapter examines the principle of respect within the circular economy context. It begins with a brief overview of the nature of respect, followed by an exploration of four distinct types of respect. The discussion then shifts to the respect for the rights of future generations and the respect for planetary and social boundaries. The challenges of integrating the principle of respect for planetary and social boundaries within global supply chains are also addressed. Finally, the chapter concisely describes how Unilever implements this integration through a specialised planetary boundaries life cycle assessment.
Despite the urgent need to teach, support and research the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) in business education, only 3.83% of universities worldwide have committed to integrating the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) into their curriculum by 2024. This statistic highlights the limited progress in aligning business education with the 17 SDGS. Whether through Critical Management Education (CME) or PRME, it is evident that 17 years after the global economic recession of 2008, more wicked problems have emerged and/or worsened. It seems that we are far from preparing our graduates to position themselves ethically to address these crises with the requisite criticality and tenacity. In the midst of such challenges, critical coaching is proving to be a valuable pedagogical tool for working in teams of students. Coaching student teams to create a safe (courageous) space for fostering critical dialog can empower young people to tackle issues at the local, national or international level. A recent doctoral study suggests and supports this approach using critical pragmatism, action research, and team coaching to foster higher order thinking skills in student teams. Through critical dialog, students can better manage crises and develop the skills necessary to tackle complex problems.
Environmental strategy research has often used organizational interpretation as a key lens for understanding how firms engage in sensemaking around natural environmental issues and environmental performance. This work has rarely empirically tested the proposed relationships of organizational interpretation in firms' sensemaking around environmental issues nor the relationship between firms' environmental sensemaking and environmental performance. We empirically test this relationship, capturing environmental sensemaking through computer‐aided text analysis (CATA) of published sustainability reports, and environmental performance with the Trucost environmental dataset. Mixed‐effects general linear modeling on a bespoke longitudinal dataset of 117 publicly traded companies from 2005 to 2018 reveals the three stages of the organization interpretation model of sensemaking—scanning, interpreting, and responding—align as expected. We also find firms' environmental scanning relates with year‐over‐year improvement in environmental performance, yet environmental interpreting correlates with worsening environmental performance. Additionally, larger firms and firms in industries with high carbon emissions gather more environmental data and exhibit more extensive environmental interpreting. This research provides insight for scholars by testing environmental sensemaking and exploring the boundary conditions of sensemaking and performance, and for practitioners and policymakers by offering a new framework for analyzing and interpreting sustainability reports and corporate environmental performance.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), characterized by the integration of advanced digital technologies and intelligent systems, presents a transformative opportunity for achieving sustainable manufacturing. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of how Industry 4.0 technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the Industrial Internet of Things, blockchain, digital twins, big data analytics, advanced robotics, and additive manufacturing, can be leveraged to foster environmentally responsible, socially equitable, and economically viable industrial practices. The study examines the impact of these technologies across diverse industrial sectors and evaluates their effects on the three pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic, and social. Specifically, the study identifies the manufacturing processes that most benefit from Industry 4.0, including resource efficiency, waste minimization, and supply chain optimization. It identifies key areas of manufacturing that stand to benefit, such as resource efficiency, waste reduction, and supply chain optimization. The analysis reveals that the enhanced connectivity and real-time data processing capabilities of Industry 4.0 technologies - such as real-time data acquisition, predictive maintenance and closed-loop manufacturing - improve supply chain transparency, enhance operational efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and promote the circular economy - leading to positive economic, and environmental outcomes. These advancements drive positive social outcomes, including improved workforce safety, the creation of new skill-based jobs, and more equitable access to digital infrastructure. However, the study also highlights that while these technologies can improve resource efficiency and reduce environmental impacts, their widespread implementation may also intensify social challenges, such as job displacement and inequality, and exacerbate environmental trade-offs, particularly in energy consumption. To navigate these complexities, the study proposes an integrative framework that encompasses technological, cultural, and policy dimensions, providing a valuable roadmap for aligning Industry 4.0 advancements with robust governance mechanisms and fostering a culture of sustainability within organizations and society at large.
This study investigates the perspectives of Makerere University Business School (MUBS) students enrolled in the Environmental Management (EM) course on climate change. Using a focus group methodology, the research explored the attitudes and perceptions of 22 third-year Bachelor of Leadership and Governance students. Guiding questions rooted in climate change policy decision-making were employed to facilitate discussion. The findings reveal that all students displayed a strong awareness of both local and global climate change issues. Their environmental engagement ranged from recycling and reducing energy consumption to advocating for school-wide energy-saving initiatives, such as the installation of thermal energy generators. Students also reported noticeable shifts in local climate patterns, with many expressing concern over rising global temperatures and future environmental risks. Varied opinions emerged regarding the anthropogenic causes of climate change, with some students attributing it to natural cycles, while others recognized human activity as a significant contributor. This research provides valuable managerial insights for academic institutions, emphasizing the need to integrate climate change education into the curriculum and promote student-led environmental initiatives. Additionally, it underscores the importance of addressing climate change perceptions to foster greater collective action among students. This study contributes to the limited body of knowledge on climate change perspectives in university settings, particularly in Uganda.
Sürdürülebilirlik kavramı, sorumsuz tüketim ile öne çıkan ekolojik sorumluluk ve uzun vadede doğal kaynakların yönetilme ihtiyacının giderek artması gibi birçok alanı kapsayan kritik bir durum olarak ortaya çıkmıştır. Sürdürülebilirlik için tasarım ise bu eko sistem çerçevesinde hem tasarım literatüründe ve hem de tasarım eğitiminde önemli bir pozisyonda konumlanmaktadır. Sürdürülebilirlik ve sürdürülebilirlik için tasarım kavramları birçok sektörlerde olduğu gibi mobilya endüstrisinin de gündeminde bulunmaktadır. Mobilya günümüzde hızlı tüketim ürünlerinden biri olmakla birlikte, tüketim davranışlarından dolayı çevresel sorunlara da yol açmaktadır. Fakat sürdürülebilir tasarım uygulamalarının önemi birçok akademik yayında vurgulanmasına rağmen sınırlı olarak uygulanması ve endüstride bu yaklaşımın karşılığının sınırlı olması bir problem olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Bu çerçevede araştırmada, Doğanlar Mobilya Grubu Tasarım Merkezi örneği ele alınarak, mobilya sektöründe sürdürülebilirlik yaklaşımlarının endüstriyel tasarım literatürü altında değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Çalışma, mobilya sektöründe en az beş yıllık deneyime sahip endüstriyel tasarımcılardan oluşan odak grup çalışması ile gerçekleştirilmiştir. Nitel bir yaklaşımla ele alınan araştırmada, odak grup tartışması tematik ve tümevarım bir yaklaşım kullanılarak analiz edilmiş ve veriler sistematik olarak SWOT kategorilerine göre sınıflandırılmıştır. Ayrıca, çalışmanın tasarımda sürdürülebilirlik ilkelerine yaptığı vurgu, mobilya endüstrisinde sürdürülebilir tasarım uygulamalarının sınırlı bir şekilde uygulanmasına yönelik küresel eleştirilerle de uyumlu olarak ele alınmıştır.
This review advances a critical discussion of prevalent sustainability discourses in the leadership and management literature. Since the 1990s, ecocentric approaches to management have been discussed in opposition to anthropocentric (human centered) management theory. However, limited attention has been given, so far, to clarifying how sustainability discourses have influenced the literature of leadership and management. The influence of rights‐based United Nations Sustainable Development dating back to the Brundtland report in 1987 is widely recognized, as are business and technology‐based discourses in sustainability (ecological modernism). Such discourses are united in a belief in green growth. However, a literature review shows that critical sustainability discourses about limits to growth, planetary boundaries and the need for degrowth, as well as ecocentric discourses, are only marginally present in the literature on leadership and management. In view of the need for leadership to address the “polycrisis” of entangled environmental and social crises, we problematize the lack of critical sustainability discourses in the leadership and management literature.
Higher education institutions need to address the global polycrisis. This organizational study delves into Finnish universities´ sustainability programs, management challenges and what are the stifling factors for implementation despite the accelerating sustainability and CSR commitments. This chapter introduces how differences between universities´ talk, decisions, and actions appear in the context of Finnish universities. Hypocrisy, greenwashing, and aspirational talk will be discussed, and managerial implications for transformational change in the organizations will be introduced. Empirical study is based on Finnish universities, 14 in total, all committed to national theses on advancing sustainable development. By using mixed methods, grounded theory, and Gioia method, walking the talk is examined. Strong stakeholder expectations and moderate priority of sustainability implementation seem to lead to hypocritical activities. Factors and impulses supporting and weakening the SD-CSR implementation are mapped, and universities are categorized into four groups in terms of differences between the sustainability talk and walk: beginners, followers, question marks, and forerunners. The typical challenges are strong but ambiguous commitment combined with low implementation, minimal human and other resources, unclear organizational status, ambiguous responsibilities, and temporary positions. The chapter will provide possible solutions and managerial implications on how to prevent decoupling and turn the hypocrisy into authenticity and transformative action.
As organizations worldwide face increasing pressure to integrate sustainability into their core principles, the need for robust sustainability accounting practices has never been more crucial. This study takes on the challenge by mapping out the intellectual structure of sustainability accounting research domain. Using a mix of scientometric analysis of 1702 articles and in‐depth content analysis of 122 key works spanning more than 30 years from 1991 to 2024, the study unveils the past, present, and future of this vital field. Intricate domain visualizations were created utilizing CiteSpace software revealing networks of co‐authorship, keywords, subject categories, institutions, and countries committed to research on sustainability accounting, including co‐citation and cluster analysis. Results revealed research production concentrated in developed nations, highlighting the urgency for increased focus on this topic within developing and emerging countries. The network structure indicated a scarcity of global collaboration particularly at the company level. The central themes of sustainability accounting, identified through cluster analysis and examination of highly co‐cited documents, encompass sustainability management accounting, life cycle assessment, carbon accounting, national accounts, climate policy, and ecosystem accounting, playing a significant role in shaping its landscape and ongoing evolution. Six relevant emerging themes were identified from in‐depth content analysis of recent literature in the management domain, comprising the role of accountants in mitigating climate risk, rethinking accounting for planetary boundaries, biodiversity loss and extinction accounting, sustainability assurance, technological advancements, and other miscellaneous themes. This study carries significant implications for a diverse array of stakeholders, including policymakers, organizations, society, and academics.
How can associations use digital technologies to address grand challenges? This paper analyses the digital practices of French associations specialised in Environmental and Sustainable Development Education (ESDE) and the types of learning processes they activate. Based on a case study of 13 ESDE associations through semi-structured interviews, we explore the learning processes these practices activate. To identify ESDE digital practices, we use social practice theory, according to which a practice emerges when performed through the combination of three elements: Material, Competence, and Meaning. Our study identifies 131 ESDE digital practices and concludes that only 17 practices could activate second order learning, which is crucial to deep sustainability transformation. It also underlines the benefits of interdisciplinary research, in our case of using the sociological concept of social practices to analyse organisational practices tackling grand challenges.
The empirical evidence in the papers in this special issue identifies pervasive and difficult cross-scale and cross-level interactions in managing the environment. The complexity of these interactions and the fact that both scholarship and management have only recently begun to address this complexity have provided the impetus for us to present one synthesis of scale and cross-scale dynamics. In doing so, we draw from multiple cases, multiple disciplines, and multiple perspectives. In this synthesis paper, and in the accompanying cases, we hypothesize that the dynamics of cross-scale and cross-level interactions are affected by the interplay between institutions at multiple levels and scales. We suggest that the advent of co-management structures and conscious boundary management that includes knowledge co-production, mediation, translation, and negotiation across scale-related boundaries may facilitate solutions to complex problems that decision makers have historically been unable to solve.
The new corporate environmentalism and green politics In focusing this chapter on the natural environment, we invite organizational studies scholars and other readers to think critically about what many believe is one of the most urgent practical problems of our time - a problem compounded in its gravity by the apparently insurmountable political barriers to any real solutions. Ours, as Brown (2003) aptly put it, is a planet under stress wherein systemic degradation is exceeding the earth's regenerative capacity. Given the severity of many environmental problems and their anthropogenic character, you might expect to find concerned, responsible citizenries engaged in public discussions about these issues. Serious green political movements and other forms of green politics would be expected to emerge from these public activities. The activities might be expected to resemble Habermas' (1989) image of the vibrant public sphere, an arena that joins all interested citizens in educative, rational debate ...
This paper offers a critique of sustainability reporting and, in particular, a critique of the modern disconnect between the practice of sustainability reporting and what we consider to be the urgent issue of our era: sustaining the life-supporting ecological systems on which humanity and other species depend. Tracing the history of such reporting developments, we identify and isolate the concept of the ‘triple bottom line’ (TBL) as a core and dominant idea that continues to pervade business reporting, and business engagement with sustainability. Incorporating an entity’s economic, environmental and social performance indicators into its management and reporting processes, we argue, has become synonymous with corporate sustainability; in the process, concern for ecology has become sidelined. Moreover, this process has become reinforced and institutionalised through SustainAbility’s biennial benchmarking reports, KPMG’s triennial surveys of practice, initiatives by the accountancy profession and, particularly, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)’s sustainability reporting guidelines. We argue that the TBL and the GRI are insufficient conditions for organizations contributing to the sustaining of the Earth’s ecology. Paradoxically, they may reinforce business-as-usual and greater levels of un-sustainability.
Relying on institutional theory, agency rationale, and environmental management research, we hypothesize that, in polluting industries, good environmental performance increases CEO pay; that environmental governance mechanisms strengthen this linkage; that pollution prevention strategies affect executive compensation more than end-of-pipe pollution control; and that long-term pay increases pollution prevention success. Using longitudinal data on 469 U.S. firms, we found support for three hypotheses. Contrary to our expectations, firms with an explicit environmental pay policy and an environmental committee do not reward environmental strategies more than those without such structures, suggesting that these mechanisms play a merely symbolic role.
We investigated the individual and contextual influences shaping the environmental ethical decision intentions of a sample of managers in the U.S. metal-finishing industry in this study. Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior and Jones's (1991) moral intensity construct grounded our theoretical framework. Findings revealed that the magnitude of consequences, a dimension of moral intensity, moderated the relationships between each of five antecedents-attitudes, subjective norms, and three perceived behavioral control factors (self-efficacy, financial cost, and ethical climate)-and managers' environmental ethical decision intentions. We then developed implications for theory and practice in environmental ethical decision making.
arbon Strategies describes specific steps any business can take to implement sound, practical, climate-related corporate policies. Based on Andrew J. Hoffman's widely praised report from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and significantly revised in light of subsequent developments, Carbon Strategies teaches practitioners and students about the importance of timing policy implementation, establishing appropriate levels of internal and external commitment, influencing beneficial policy development, and creating new business opportunities based on climate policy. Hoffman presents real-life "lessons learned" at each step of the climate-strategy development process and concludes this concise guidebook with six case studies (Cinergy, Swiss Re, DuPont, Alcoa, Shell Group, and Whirlpool) that demonstrate the principles of corporate climate policymaking in action.
Why should business care about water? Water is a common-pool resource, critical to many business operations, which faces depletion if not sustainably managed. Based on popular and trade press and academic business research, the authors develop a taxonomy of water issues (water quality, quantity, use, sustainable resource management, company and industry management). Through a review of 135 water-related articles published in 49 leading business journals, the authors examine the degree to which business scholars address these issues. They discuss intersections, diversions, and gaps and conclude with insights for future research.
The study of business interests adds an important dimension to our understanding of the development of international environmental agreements. The contrasting role of business interests in the cases of ozone depletion and climate change is critical to explaining why climate change is a much more difficult issue for the international community to tackle. In the case of ozone depletion, industry concentration and the technological factors provided incentives for industry leaders to invest in alternative products and processes. By contrast, fossil fuel substitutes present a long-term strategic threat to the major sectors that produce and use these fuels. Where relatively few actors were involved in ozone depletion, it will be much more difficult to craft an agreement that is acceptable to the broad range of industries affected by climate change. However, business does have substantial influence over the timing and shape of international environmental agreements, even when there is considerable disunity within the business ranks.
In theory, eco-industrial parks can make significant improvements in the environment. In that light, this article analyses six planning methods currently in use in the Netherlands. The most salient findings are that these methods lack an explicit vision of sustainability, they do not give due consideration to symbiotic or utility-sharing options, they do not sufficiently engage the companies involved in the development and their policy instruments have a limited environmental impact. The planning methods prove to have many shortcomings: the definition of sustainability is unclear; there are no quantitative standards; information on symbiosis and utility sharing is inadequate; the economic and organizational implications are largely ignored and the environmental impact is insufficiently monitored. However, eco-industrial parks can only have greater environmental benefits through symbiosis and utility sharing. Therefore, location- and company-specific factors have to be taken into consideration. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment
This article examines the historically constituted dimensions of anthropocentrism. tracing the emergence of linear perspective. a camera theory of knowledge. and the human-nature dualism. These epistemological conventions are socially reproduced in organization science and management practice in their more contemporary anthropocentric forms: a disembodied form of technological knowing conjoined with an egocentric organizational orientation. Following this critique. the paradigmatic differences between anthropocentric and ecocentric approaches for dealing with issues related to the natural environment are discussed in what is referred to respectively as the environmental management and ecocentric responsibility paradigms. Our analysis suggests that corporate environmentalism and so-called ''greening-business'' approaches are grounded in the environmental management paradigm. It is argued that environmental management approaches are incommensurable with the ecocentric responsibility paradigm. The tensions between these competing paradigms are examined as a useful stimulus for theory development toward an ecocentric organizational paradigm.
Why should business care about water? Water is a common-pool resource, critical to many business operations, which faces depletion if not sustainably managed. Based on popular and trade press and academic business research, the authors develop a taxonomy of water issues (water quality, quantity, use, sustainable resource management, company and industry management). Through a review of 135 water-related articles published in 49 leading business journals, the authors examine the degree to which business scholars address these issues. They discuss intersections, diversions, and gaps and conclude with insights for future research.
Earth system interactions, as highlighted by the planetary boundaries framework, occur within and across natural, social and economic systems and shape global environmental change. This paper addresses the multi-level governance problem of coherently addressing key interactions between four Earth sub-systems – climate change, freshwater use, land use and biodiversity – taking into account concerns over problem shifting. After discussing possibilities for regional downscaling of the boundaries, we explore challenges for the EU region to coherently address this particular set of interacting Earth sub-systems and reduce the risk of problem shifting. This analysis demonstrates that Earth system interactions can be governed, but that they likely require comprehensive packages of governance responses across both sub-systems and levels. Three overarching governance functions are tentatively identified that directly or indirectly address Earth system interactions: reduction of system stress, risks and vulnerabilities; triggering and navigation of transformation of economic activity; and development of a diversity of options. Finally, the paper briefly discusses political and institutional challenges for developing, enabling and stabilising these governance functions.
A congruence model of organizational design suggests that direct reporting relation- ships between plant managers and environmental quality managers, monetary incen- tives for environmental performance, and coordination between environmental qual- ity managers and business strategists reduce plant-level toxic emissions. We tested these relationships in a large sample of U.S. electronics facilities. Only a link between plant manager compensation and environmental performance reduced emissions. Subsequent analyses support a reverse causality, suggesting organizational character- istics result from (rather than cause) emissions performance and that firms remain reactive on environmental issues. These findings confront theories of environmental management and congruence with provocative questions, which we discuss in depth.
Industrial ecology is a rapidly developing field of research and practice in which the sustainability of industrial systems is thought to be improved through closing of material and energy loops among firms. In this paper, I look at the developing practice around this concept from a self-organization perspective. A central question is the extent to which closing of material loops has to be planned and guided by governmental agencies. Based on a longitudinal case study of industrial ecology development in the Rotterdam harbor area (the Netherlands), the interplay between self-organization, external control, and vision development is analyzed.
The failure to establish an international agreement on climate change at Copenhagen in December 2009 highlights the challenge of managing complex problems at the interface of business and the natural environment (B&NE). This unfortunate outcome can be understood in the context of the larger “sociotechnical system” within which business and policymakers are operating: a complex dynamic system comprising economic, technological, social, political, and ecological elements, generating complex interactions and unforeseen outcomes. Yet even as recriminations were fl ying at Copenhagen, some welcomed the opportunity to move beyond a centralized, top-down model of global climate governance. Instead, they embraced the opportunity for businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and governmental agencies to experiment with a plethora of innovative approaches to reducing emissions, which off er new opportunities for learning and creative solutions ( Hoffmann 2011 ). Complexity theory provides a grounded theoretical basis for this more optimistic perspective by explaining how networked actors can display adaptive learning and emergent self-organization. In this chapter we examine the contribution of complexity theory to our understanding of B&NE, with a particular focus on climate change as an illustrative and representative example. These provide insight into systemic tendencies towards patterned behavior, frozen inertia, and sometimes extreme instability. At a macro level, complexity theory explains why systems are oft en hard to comprehend and forecast, let alone manage and control. Yet complexity also offers micro-level tools and concepts to help innovative organizations improve sustainability through local initiatives of loosely networked agents.
The workshop on Applications of Natural Language to Information Systems (NLDB)hassince1995providedaforumforacademicandindustrialresearchers and practitioners to discuss the application of natural language to both the development and use of software applications. Theuseofnaturallanguageinrelationtosoftwarehascontributedtoimpr- ing the development of software from the viewpoints of both the developers and the users. Developers bene?t from improvements in conceptual modeling, so- ware validation, natural language program speci?cations, and many other areas. Users bene?t from increased usability of applications through natural language query interfaces, semantic webs, text summarizations, etc. The integration of natural language and information systems has been a - search objective for a long time now. Today, the goal of good integration seems not so far-fetched. This is due mainly to the rapid progress of research in natural language and to the development of new and powerful technologies. The in- gration of natural language and information systems has become a convergent point towards which many researchers from several research areas are focussing.
Modern management theory is constricted by a fractured epistemology. which separates humanity from nature and truth from morality. Reintegration is necessary if organizational science is to support ecologically and socially sustainable development. This article posits requisites of such development and rejects the paradigms of conventional technocentrism and antithetical ecocentrism on grounds of incongruence. A more fruitful integrative paradigm of “sustaincentrism” is then articulated, and implications for organizational science are generated as if sustainability, extended community, and our Academy mattered.
Interdisciplinary environmental research has been deemed essential to addressing the dynamics of coupled social-biophysical systems. Although decades of scholarship in science and technology studies (STS) take the analysis of interdisciplinarity out of the realm of anecdote, there is almost no overlap between this literature and discussions of interdisciplinarity in ecology-oriented journals. The goals of researchers in these areas are quite different, and thus far, their analyses of interdisciplinarity have been incommensurate with each other's purposes. To introduce an STS perspective into how environmental scientists think about interdisciplinarity, I argue that biophysical and social scientists are not just bringing information and different understandings of biophysical and social systems to the intellectual table. Those knowledge claims have differential power associated with them: within the sciences, between social and biophysical science, and between science and society. Power can manifest in many ways, e.g., individual scientific status, the most accepted account of an environmental problem, inclusion or exclusion of researchers, or perceived relevance of research to policy decisions. I propose four possible scenarios: conflict, tolerant ambivalence, mutual identification, cooperation, and fundamental transformation for how an interdisciplinary undertaking might unfold. Then, to constructively confront the relationship between power and knowledge, I outline a three stage process to enhance the transparent development of interdisciplinary research. First, there is differentiation of the analytical elements of the research, then clarification of purposes, and finally, the steps toward intellectual synthesis. As core differences are encountered, e.g., "subjectivity" vs. "objectivity," active engagement with these issues will be essential to successful communication, collaboration, and innovation.
Industrial ecology (IE) is an ensemble concept that specifies ways in which firms can and are currently starting to deal with their environmental impact. Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) have become familiar elements of public discourse and environmental management. Self-organization, selfgovernance, governments setting conditions, external control can be instrumental in providing the coordination necessary for industrial ecology. IE intersects with operations management and research primarily in three ways: through its focus on resource efficiency, through efforts to accomplish loop-closing, and through insights that emerge from the ecological analogy. It can inform, shape, and even constrain corporate marketing activities. It has a less distinctive connection to finance. The anchoring of IE in a physical conception of environment that challenges the monopoly of conventional approaches to management is a key source of a central dilemma for the field.
This article evaluates the institutions society uses to mitigate environmental externalities. A unified theory of environmental governance is reviewed, which determines the key players influencing environmental outcomes and their objectives, the institutions within which they interact, and the expected results of their interactions. It incorporates a number of key ideas from political science, and takes initial steps toward integrating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) into the overall theory. Environmental governance includes markets for green products and investments, regulatory relationships, and NGO/corporate engagements. Inducing compliance becomes increasingly difficult as the number of firms covered grows. A full theory of environmental governance must comprise interest-group politics and industrial organization. Markets increasingly provide incentives for companies to green themselves. The penetration of information technology into every crevice of modern life continues to change the set of strategies available to both activists and firms.
Karl Weick's classic study of "sensemaking" showed that there is much to be learned from a wildland fire. In this tradition, we present an ethnographic tale from the subarctic to introduce the concept of ecological sensemaking-the process used to make sense of material landscapes and ecological processes. We then reanalyze data from the Mann Gulch fire and conclude that ecological sensemaking and ecological materiality were underappreciated dimensions of this historic tragedy. Comparisons of incidents and actors suggest that ecological embeddedness enables sensemaking and that inability to make sense of subtle ecological cues introduces hidden vulnerability.
Drawing on institutional theory emphasizing translation and discourse, we explore outsider-driven deinstitutionalization through a case study of the abandonment of widespread, taken-for-granted practices of DDT use between 1962 and 1972. Our findings illustrate how abandonment of practices results from "problematizations" that-through subsequent "translation"- change discourse in ways that undermine the institutional pillars supporting practices. This occurs through new "subject positions" from which actors speak and act in support of problematizations, and new bodies of knowledge, which normalize them. We introduce the concept of "defensive institutional work" and illustrate how actors carry out disruptive and defensive work by authoring texts.
The construct of social embeddedness has helped explain some of the ways in which individuals and organizations form and sustain alliances. We introduce the construct of ecological embeddedness, or the extent to which a manager is rooted in the land. Ecological embeddedness is illustrated by an ethnographic study of a Cree tallyman, or beaver trapper, in James Bay, northern Québec. To be ecologically embedded as a manager is to personally identify with the land, to adhere to beliefs of ecological respect, reciprocity, and caretaking, to actively gather ecological information, and to be physically located in the ecosystem. We conclude by drawing some implications for sustainability.
This book brings together emerging perspectives from organization theory and management, environmental sociology, international regime studies, and the social studies of science and technology to provide a starting point for discipline-based studies of environmental policy and corporate environmental behavior. Reflecting the book’s theoretical and empirical focus, the audience is two-fold: organizational scholars working within the institutional tradition, and environmental scholars interested in management and policy. Together this mix forms a creative synthesis for both sets of readers, analyzing how environmental policy and organizational practices are shaped, spread and contested.
Environmental issues now loom large on the social, political, and business agenda. Over the past four decades, "corporate environmentalism" has emerged and been constantly redefined, from regulatory compliance to more recent management conceptions such as pollution prevention, total quality environmental management, industrial ecology, life cycle analysis, environmental strategy, environmental justice, and, most recently, sustainable development.
As a result, understanding the intersection of business activity and environmental protection has become increasingly complex, and there has emerged a focus in academic research on business decision-making, firm behavior, and the protection of the natural environment. This handbook reviews the state of the field as it grows into a mature area of study within management science, its achievements, and its future avenues of research. It brings together original contributions in the field along several lines of enquiry. The first six focus on disciplines as delineated in contemporary business schools: business strategy; policy and non-market strategies; organizational theory and behavior; operations and technology; marketing; and accounting and finance. The seventh section reviews emergent and associated perspectives, whilst a concluding section, written by long-standing leaders in the field, discusses the future outlook for research.
Readership: Academics, researchers, and graduate students in Business, Management, Environmental Studies, and Environmental Protection
Coming Clean is the first book to investigate the process of information disclosure as a policy strategy for environmental protection. © 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.
Ecological problems rooted in organizational activities have increased significantly, yet the role corporations play in achieving ecological sustainability is poorly understood. This article examines the implications of ecologically sustainable development for corporations. It articulates corporate ecological sustainability through the concepts of (a) total quality environmental management, (b) ecologically sustainable competitive strategies, (c) technology transfer through technology-for nature-swaps, and (d) reducing the impact of populations on ecosystems. It examines the implications that these concepts have for organizational research.
This article explores the concept of ecological sustainability and applies it to organizations by utilizing a systems framework and multiple levels of analysis. The implications for ecological sustainability of dyadic relationships between the organization and entities at the individual, organizational, political-economic, social-cultural, and ecological environment levels are examined. Critical factors that influence the degree to which an organization's behaviors are ecologically sustainable are examined, and behavioral and structural elements that are likely to be manifested by ecologically sustainable organizations (ESOs) are suggested.
Natural resource management is entering a new era in which rapid environmental and social changes inevitably alter ecosystems and the benefits they provide to society. This textbook provides a new framework for natural resource management framework based on stewardship of ecosystems for ecological integrity and human well-being in a world dominated by uncertainty and change. The goal of ecosystem stewardship is to respond to and shape changes in social-ecological systems in order to sustain the supply and availability of ecosystem services by society. The book links recent advances in the theory of resilience, sustainability, and vulnerability with practical issues of ecosystem management and governance. Chapters by leading experts then illustrate these principles in major social-ecological systems of the world. Inclusion of review questions, glossary, and suggestions for additional reading makes Principles of Ecosystem Stewardship: Resilience-Based Natural Resource Management in a Changing World particularly suitable for use in all courses of resource management, resource ecology, sustainability science, and the human dimensions of global change. Professional resource managers, policy makers, leaders of NGOs, and researchers will find this novel synthesis a valuable tool in developing strategies for a more sustainable planet. About the Authors: F. Stuart Chapin, III is Professor of Ecology in the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Gary P. Kofinas is Associate Professor of Resource Policy and Management in the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Carl Folke is Professor and Science Director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009. All rights reserved.
We examine the market reactions to firms' voluntary announcements of emissions reductions plans, unconditional and conditional on whether the firm has joined one or more of four voluntary commitment mechanisms whose goal is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Our aim is to shed light on whether, and to what extent, these commitment mechanisms enhance the credibility of voluntary disclosures that are usually neither standardized (and therefore noncomparable) nor subject to verification or sanction (and therefore potentially unreliable). We find that the unconditional market reaction to announcements of emissions reduction plans is reliably negative on average, suggesting that investors view such plans as value-destroying. Consistent with the prediction that commitment enhances credibility, we find that membership in the most stringent commitment mechanism, the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), is associated with an incrementally positive reaction; the average net reaction to CCX-committed announcements is also reliably positive, implying that investors view these plans as value-enhancing. In contrast, we find no incremental effects for other less-stringent commitment mechanisms. We conclude that while external commitment mechanisms can enhance the credibility of firms' voluntary environmental disclosures, the efficacy of these mechanisms depends on how well they overcome the comparability and reliability problems typically associated with these disclosures.
With rising interest in sustainability, ecology is an increasingly important dimension of organizational research. Yet few empirical studies integrate local ecology into coevolutionary approaches where firms are key actors, and fewer still approach the question of sustainability and organizations from a systems perspective. In this paper, we ask how organizations can effectively participate in efforts to increase sustainability from a systems perspective. We develop an interdisciplinary framework for understanding firm-ecology relationships and then explore how this framework sheds light on regional planning and industrial practice in northern California's wine industry.
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The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the corporate social performance of an organization and three variables: the size of the organization, the financial performance of the organization, and the environmental performance of the organization. By empirically testing data from 1987 to 1992, the results of the study show that a firm's corporate social performance is indeed impacted by the size of the firm, the level of profitability of the firm, and the amount of pollution emissions released by the firm.
Industrial ecology is a label under which many linkages between production and consumption processes are grouped. This article is based on a social science approach, ranging from organisational learning to the analysis of industrial districts, in reflection to the techno-economic approach of the developments in the industrial ecology projects ‘INES 1994–1997 and INES Mainport 1999–2002’ in the Rotterdam harbour and industry complex. In relation to the growing attention for regional types of industrial ecology, the article aims to provide a useful social science analytical framework for investigating regional industrial ecology, and to develop a prescriptive approach that can stimulate such industrial ecology. Regional industrial ecological systems meet with static and dynamic issues as a result of specific system boundaries of their decision-making levels. The analytical framework provides insight into these issues through a focus on three phases of (regional) industrial ecology, the production of collective goods, and governance mechanisms. We find that the INES Mainport project is still in the first phase of industrial ecology. To go beyond this phase, the Rotterdam harbour and industry region faces the limits of system boundaries of the decision-making levels within the regional management.
Historically. management theory has ignored the constraints imposed by the biophysical (natural) environment. Building upon resource-based theory, this article attempts to fill this void by proposing a natural-resource-based view of the firm-a theory of competitive advantage based upon the firm's relationship to the natural environment. It is composed of three interconnected strategies: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development. Propositions are advanced for each of these strategies regarding key resource requirements and their contributions to sustained competitive advantage.