Abstract
Corporate sustainability is considered a fundamental paradigm and solution in creating a prosperous future for organizations. However, social sustainability issues and pandemic problems from COVID-19 have affected corporations and interrupted plans for sustainable development. To date, corporate sustainability frameworks have taken a relatively narrow view of this paradigm. This study highlights serious challenges to corporate sustainability while providing a framework in an attempt to enable more sustainable business practices. To fill the gap in the literature, we have developed a framework to organize and prioritize important sustainability indicators. The first phase of the study involves the classification of 45 sub-criteria of corporate sustainability under nine main categories by using a literature review and novel Fuzzy Delphi method. The resulting categories are Corporate Governance, Product Responsibility, Transparency and Communication, Economic, Environmental, Social, Natural Environment and Climate Vulnerability, Energy Consumption along with Energy Saving, and includes Pandemic COVID-19 as a new aspect of social sustainability. Next, we applied the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) to help determine the weights and prioritizing the criteria and sub-criteria. The results revealed that the Pandemic, along with the Natural Environment and Climate Vulnerability, ranked higher among the main criteria category. Whereas, emergency response planning, social distances, modification of working hours, and just-in-time delivery are the most influencing sub-attributes among the 45 sub-barriers of different categories. Contributions of this study include new insights regarding corporate sustainability criteria and subcriteria, application of novel methods, and integrated framework for dimensions of corporate sustainability. This study is among the first of its kind to consider the COVID-19 pandemic as an essential category and social sustainability attribute of corporate sustainable business practices. Outcomes of this study can help assist scholars, corporations, and decision-makers in understanding sustainable development initiatives while simultaneously improving social sustainability practices.
Highlights
Sustainable development is the potential to fulfill today’s needs without undermining a future generation’s ability to satisfy their needs [1]
We review our methods for employing the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) for calculations of weights for both the sub-criteria using a matrix of pairwise comparisons
This study’s goal is to propose a corporate sustainability framework that is more resilient than prior models and, to rank relevant criteria to the degree that could help develop a corporate sustainability model
Summary
Sustainable development is the potential to fulfill today’s needs without undermining a future generation’s ability to satisfy their needs [1]. The business environment is changing rapidly, guided by social, economic, and ecological developments [3,4]. For these and other aligned reasons, companies have become increasingly interested in corporate sustainability; see, for example, Christ et al [5] and Manrique and Martí-Ballester [6]. Since decisions relating to sustainability are made at a strategic level, there has been an increasing scientific interest in the field of strategic management in connection with the inclusion of sustainability in the strategy, vision, change management, and culture of a company [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
