Achieve Corporate Sustainability Research Articles

The moral responsibility of corporate sustainability as perceived by fashion retail employees: a USA‐China cross‐cultural comparison study

AbstractDespite fashion consumers' desire to protect the environment and behave in a socially responsible manner, the reality of the environment within the fashion retail industry is far from sustainable, as evidenced by several infamous scandals that continue to afflict fashion businesses. Though corporate sustainability is gaining traction with both consumers and businesses, the USA and China may exist in different institutional contexts in regard to corporate sustainability. Consequently, this study was designed to understand the differences in employees' perceptions toward corporate sustainability, and how employees in fashion retail businesses engage in organizational citizenship behaviour in the USA and China. By using a sample of 615 fashion retail employees from the USA and China, this study conducted Multivariate Analysis of Variance and multiple linear regression analyses to determine the differences between these two countries and their demographic characteristics. The study found that employees in China revealed a greater preference for transparency in production and operation than did US employees. The importance of corporate sustainability yielded quite opposite results according to age and gender differences. Overall, this study found that both US and Chinese employees perceived sustainability to be highly important for corporations to achieve, but only US employees were engaged in organizational citizenship behaviour with the influence of their MRCS. Hence, this study's findings provide better insight for global fashion retail businesses in that they may have to exercise different strategies to achieve corporate sustainability in different countries, as the employees might have different levels of moral expectations based on their country of employment.

Shareholder Sustainability Activism in the Netherlands

Corporations play a crucial role in achieving a sustainable world. In achieving corporate sustainability, the current regulatory frameworks generally emphasize the role of the corporate board, but today’s media suggest that institutional investors are becoming more involved. In this study, we explore the actual role of shareholders as an important class of corporate actors in promoting corporate sustainability in the Netherlands. It is common practice for Dutch companies to disclose full transcripts of their meetings on their websites, including shareholder questions. We studied shareholder activism on corporate sustainability in 763 AGMs of Dutch listed companies and found that, despite the lack of mandatory regulation and the use of shareholder proposals, shareholders in the Netherlands, including institutional investors, seem to increasingly care about corporate sustainability issues. We found that the share of questions and remarks of institutional investors related to corporate sustainability matters increased from close to two percent in 2004 to over twenty percent in 2017. Taking into account the large variety of topics shareholders may ask questions about, including remuneration matters, the corporate strategy, board elections, dividend policies, auditing, and so on, twenty percent is substantial. Despite the increasing interest of institutional investors regarding corporate sustainability matters, institutional investors’ use of the forum right in AGMs is still low. Since these investors and larger shareholders often make use of other, private activist tools, further research as to whether the use of other shareholder tools for advocating corporate sustainability goals has increased too is important.

The Effects of Cleaner Production and Resource Efficiency on Corporate Sustainability Performance

Malaysian Government enhances all sectors to focus on the corporate sustainability performance including for manufacturing sector. Manufacturing sector faces the sustainability issues which lead to negative consequences to the economic, environment and the social sustainability performance of the sector. Cleaner production which uses the green technology is one of the important green practices in achieving corporate sustainability performance. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of cleaner production and resource efficiency on corporate sustainability performance. Questionnaires are distributed to the employees from middle to top level of management in chemical manufacturing organization. This study uses multistage sampling technique and the data is analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis. The findings indicate that there is a positive effect of cleaner production and resource efficiency on the three dimensions of corporate sustainability performance which are economic, environmental and social sustainability performance. This study will assist employees in manufacturing sector to practice the appropriate green practices in order to achieve corporate sustainability performance. Keywords: Cleaner Production, Corporate Sustainability Performance, Green Technology, Manufacturing Sector

Dismantling the Legal Myth of Shareholder Primacy: The Corporation as a Sustainable Market Actor

The convergence of crises that we face as a global society, with its grand challenge of how to achieve social progress for all without destroying the very basis of our existence, emphasises the importance of discussing the role of the market actors. We cannot achieve environmental, social and economic sustainability of our societies without the contribution of the market actors (businesses, investors, consumers and the public sector in its many roles as market actor). With many difficult questions ahead, there is one thing we know for sure: the ‘business as usual’ path market actors in aggregate are on is not an option for sustainability; it is a very certain path towards a very uncertain future. A fundamental transition away from ‘business as usual’ and onto a sustainable path is necessary. Such a fundamental transition requires sustainable market actors. The paper focuses on what this means for business and more specifically, for the dominant business form of the corporation. In a time where social entrepreneurship in various shapes and sizes receives much (and undoubtedly warranted) attention, whether and how the dominant business form of the corporation fits into a sustainable future also needs to be discussed. This can be rephrased as a question of how to achieve corporate sustainability. The paper begins by discussing the role of the corporation in the unsustainable ‘business as usual’, based on the results of the Sustainable Companies Project (Section II), which shows that the main barrier to corporate sustainability is the social norm of shareholder primacy. This norm has become so dominant that it has turned into a legal myth, and corporate sustainability requires a dismantling of this myth. Section III presents a summary of the tentative reform proposal with this aim, while Section IV concludes with reflections on the work that needs to be done, where the mitigation of the legal myth of shareholder primacy is placed in the broader context of the ongoing research project Sustainable Market Actors for Responsible Trade (SMART).

Real estate sustainability strategy and green building development in Singapore

This paper examines the link between the contemporary corporate sustainability practices of real estate companies and green building development, illustrating the various facets with regards to the real estate sector in Singapore. The paper also looks at the close connection between green building rating tools and corporate sustainability objectives, and how green building development helps to achieve a win-win situation for all the stakeholders involved. The impact of green building is shown to go beyond achieving corporate sustainability goals, creating a robust green building ecosystem that supports the entire building supply chain.

Corporate Sustainability: Toward a Theoretical Integration of Catholic Social Teaching and the Natural-Resource-Based View of the Firm

Even though management scholars have offered several views on the process of corporate sustainability, these efforts have focused mainly on the technical aspects of sustainability while omitting the fundamental role played by individual moral competences. Therefore, previous work offers an incomplete and somewhat reductionist view of corporate sustainability. In this article, we develop a holistic framework of corporate sustainability in which both the moral and technical aspects of sustainability are considered. We do so by integrating the ethical, normative perspective of the Catholic social teaching (CST) with the competitive view of the natural resource-based view. This framework highlights the importance of CST principles and ideas in developing executive moral competences such as moral sensitivity and awareness, and moral cognition and motivation. Moral competences, in turn, influence the organizational selection of environmental strategies, giving leaders the intrinsic motivation to promote both a longer-term stance on corporate sustainability efforts and a relentless search for greener business models. Such strategies move the firm closer towards achieving environmental sustainability. Hence, by bridging the individual, normative-ethical with the organizational, implementational levels of corporate sustainability, our framework provides a more realistic, coherent, and complete perspective on the complex process of achieving corporate sustainability.

Relationships among triple bottom line elements

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to gain more insight of the nature and strength of relationships among the three triple bottom line (TBL) outcomes, namely corporate environmental performance outcome (CEPO), corporate social performance outcome (CSPO) and corporate financial performance outcome (CFPO) and to evolve a roadmap for integrating sustainable business practices that facilitates in managing and improving their sustainable performance. Literature reports that currently businesses try to achieve economic, social and ecological goals independently resulting in silos. The interrelationships of TBL elements have not been explored and integrated. The literature has already pointed out that to achieve corporate sustainability, managers need to integrate TBL goals in all their business decisions. However, the question remains – how to integrate these three competing goals and this paper attempts to answer this question.Design/methodology/approach– In the research design, the authors use a quantitative research methodology with data collected by means of a survey questionnaire that included both descriptive and exploratory flavour. The empirical study examines the relationships of TBL elements as perceived by 85 different Australian-based large, medium, as well as small business organisations. The data collected were analysed by performing factor analysis on 21 items resulting in three latent factors that were aligned to TBL outcomes and the correlations among them were analysed to assess their interrelationships.Findings– The results of the study report weak, positive relationships existing between the TBL. This result has useful implications well-supported by the qualitative feedback. The paper argues that Australian managers do not see any strategic advantage in pursuing “beyond compliance” sustainable business practices, as they perceive no added value to their organisations’ financial performance outcomes. Integrating economic, social and ecological performances is seen as an additional management burden.Originality/value– While most of the TBL studies conducted worldwide focus on predominantly assessing large organisations toward responsible and sustainable business practices, this paper considers large, medium as well as small businesses. Also, economic, social and environmental issues are explored by organisations individually, while this study investigates their inter-connections. Through the empirical study, this paper provides recommendations and proposes a four-step roadmap with the participation of quality circles that would facilitate the integration of the social responsibility and environment protection practices into the core business operations paving way towards achieving corporate sustainability.

Corporate sustainability: an IS approach for integrating triple bottom line elements

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the inter-relationships among three triple bottom line (TBL) outcomes of corporate sustainability, namely, corporate environmental performance outcome (CEPO), corporate social performance outcome (CSPO) and corporate financial performance outcome (CFPO), with the aid of an empirical study conducted in Australian businesses. The paper also aims to provide a roadmap for integrating sustainable business practices using information systems (IS) approach of continuous improvement lifecycle. Current business practices try to achieve economic, social and ecological goals independently as silos due to the individual operational challenges posed by each of these TBL principles. Design/methodology/approach – The research design mainly adopts a quantitative research methodology with data collected by means of a survey questionnaire that included both descriptive and exploratory flavour. The empirical study examines the relationships of TBL elements as perceived by 85 different Australian-based large, medium as well as small business organisations. The data collected were analysed by performing factor analysis on 21 items, resulting in three latent factors that were aligned to TBL outcomes and the correlations among them were analysed to assess their inter-relationships. Findings – The results of the study report weak and positive relationships existing between the TBL elements, with insights gained through the study leading towards useful implications that are well-supported by the qualitative feedback. The empirical study has also resulted in providing practical recommendations and an implementation framework consisting of a four-step roadmap with the participation of quality circles within an IS approach. Practical implications – The study focuses on inter-relationships and integration of TBL elements in Australian businesses. This could be extended to other businesses in different countries. The proposed roadmap with a continuous improvement cycle of system implementation steps facilitates any organisation to adopt an incremental integration of the social responsibility and environment protection practices within its core business operations for achieving corporate sustainability. Originality/value – While most of the TBL studies conducted worldwide focus on predominantly assessing large organisations towards responsible and sustainable business practices, this paper considers large, medium and small businesses. The research methodology adopted in this study as well as the proposed IS approach with quality circles add value to a growing body of literature with a recent increasing focus on integrated approaches for corporate sustainability.

Methods and instruments for measuring success of corporations in achieving sustainable development goals

The article analyses existing methods and instruments for evaluation of the progress in achieving corporate sustainability. Further they have been categorized according to the following features: strategic focus, orientation on a specific group of users and status of developers of such instruments. Hereby the characteristic features of certain instruments and techniques have been provided.

Effects of organisational ambidexterity and change for sustainability on organisational effectiveness: empirical evidence from India

The increasing interest in both practice and scholarship is facilitating the ongoing research on corporate sustainability. The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of organisational ambexterity (OA) and organisational change for sustainability (OCS) in achieving corporate sustainability (CS) and in turn contributing to the organisational effectiveness. In addition to the above mentioned direct relationships, the study further explores the interaction effects of the moderating variables such as employee integration (EI) and resource endowments (RE). The study is undertaken in the context of select pharmaceutical companies in India with a sample size of 245 respondents. Structural equation modelling was used as a method for the statistical validation of the latent constructs. The key finding of the study reveals that OA, OCS significantly predicts and also explains the variability of the latent constructs CS and OE.

Effectiveness of ISO 14000 Environmental Management Systems in Malaysian Manufacturing Industries

Malaysia ranks 54 out of the 163 countries under the Environmental Performance Index and Environmental Management System (EMS) is becoming an important requirement for the manufacturing industries and companies are obtaining the ISO14000 EMS certification. However the real benefits are not realized by manufacturing sectors. Hence this research would be addressing the need to value the environment and the critical dimensions of ISO14000 EMS leading to effective implementation thereby helping in achieving corporate sustainability and examines the mediating relationship between the dimensions and corporate sustainability by proposing a model.The research is planned as a cross-sectional survey of manufacturing firms that have obtained ISO14000 certification and will be conducted in Klang Valley of Malaysia. Questionnaire-based survey will be used to obtain information and Structural Equation Modeling will be used to analyze the data. The findings will generate an effective EMS in line with the national agenda and will generate new ideas and knowledge by identifying the problems and giving innovative solution helping the Malaysian manufacturing industries to contribute positively towards valuing the environment endowment.

Change agent sensemaking for sustainability in a multinational subsidiary

Purpose – This paper seeks to improve the understanding of implementation processes that achieve corporate sustainability by providing explanatory knowledge about the role of change agents from a sensemaking perspective. The paper also aims to focus on the sustainability efforts of change agents in a multinational carpet tile manufacturer.

Green manufacturing in the packaging and materials industry: case study of small-to-medium sized corporate eco-friendly initiatives

Via the examination of two medium-to-large Ohio-based companies, analysed from a case study-perspective, revealed that their approaches to product design, green marketing strategy, and strategically becoming operational leaner and greener, has resulted in significant savings and enhanced reputation, although the exact return-on-investment is still unclear. In particular, the present study inspected aspects of product design and how selective changes have been made based on the customer/market demand for sustainability in materials and/or manufacturing processes. Both companies and the packaging industry in general have been under increasing pressure to become more environmentally friendly, especially in promoting aspects of triple bottom-line and changing business processes that help achieve corporate sustainability.

Linking stakeholders and corporate reputation towards corporate sustainability

The purpose of this paper is to understand the interdependence of corporate reputation within the sphere of stakeholder management with the goal of achieving corporate sustainability. The paper investigates literatures in corporate sustainability, stakeholder management, social marketing, corporate communication, and reputation management in order to build a new framework. This study suggests that building and managing stakeholder relationships solidly can assist business organisations to become more sustainable, and solidifying a strong corporate reputation by utilising corporate communications, public relations, and social marketing as practices and as discipline can also contribute to corporate sustainability. This paper provides a new approach to link stakeholders and corporate reputation towards corporate sustainability.

Achieving sustainability in the construction supply chain

Sustainable construction and supply chain management (SCM) have, in recent years, become two of the most important performance-related issues within the construction industry. To achieve corporate sustainability within any organisation, it is essential that sustainability issues are addressed throughout the organisation's whole supply chain, a process referred to as sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). The implementation of SCM and sustainability is, however, an extremely complex undertaking. Through an extensive literature review and detailed interviews, this research has identified the conditions and strategies for achieving SSCM within construction organisations. The research also investigated the meaning, barriers and enablers, issues, tools and techniques for achieving successful SCM and SSCM. The study was based on the perspectives of senior managers of exemplar organisations with a proven track record in sustainability and SCM. It has been possible to identify best practice from which other organisations can learn, thus supporting the industry in the move towards more sustainable construction practices.

Stakeholder engagement, social auditing and corporate sustainability

PurposeTo identify the applicability of social auditing as an approach of engaging stakeholders in assessing and reporting on corporate sustainability and its performance.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon the framework of AA1000 and the social auditing studies, this paper links stakeholder engagement, social auditing and corporate sustainability with a view to applying dialogue‐based social auditing to address corporate sustainability.FindingsThis paper identifies a “match” between corporate sustainability and social auditing, as both aim at improving the social, environmental and economic performance of an organisation, considering the well‐being of a wider range of stakeholders and requiring the engagement of stakeholders in the process. This paper suggests that social auditing through engaging stakeholders via dialogue could be applied to build trusts, identify commitment and promote co‐operation amongst stakeholders and corporations.Research limitations/implicationsThis research requires further empirical research into the practicality of social auditing in addressing corporate sustainability and the determination of the limitations of dialogue‐based social auditing.Practical implicationsSocial auditing has been identified as a useful mechanism of balancing differing interests among stakeholders and corporations in a democratic business society. The application of social auditing in developing and achieving corporate sustainability has apparently practical implications.Originality/valueThis paper examines the applicability of dialogue‐based social auditing in helping business to move towards sustainability. Social auditing as a process of assessing and reporting on corporate social and environmental performance through engaging stakeholders via dialogue could be applied to build trusts, identify commitment and promote cooperation amongst stakeholders and corporations.