Corporate Sustainability Strategy Research Articles

The Social Licence to Operate: Ambiguities and the neutralization of harm in Mongolia

The Social Licence to Operate (SLO) is increasingly used in extractive industries both as a response to calls for greater community engagement and as a corporate sustainability strategy. Given its current popularity as a policy instrument, critiques on the SLO deserve attention. Critiques mainly focus on ambiguities that surround the processes of granting and maintaining the SLO. This article explores the negative social and environmental impacts that these ambiguities may obscure from sight. It applies a critical research approach to a case study of the diversion of the river Undai as part of the Oyu Tolgoi mining project in Mongolia and the associated construction of a SLO. The results show that neutralising discourses obscured harmful impact on nature and society. Moreover, the SLO was intimately entwined with changes in the landscape and livelihood strategies that had a harmful effect on both the livelihoods and the social identity of herders. The analysis thus validates existing critiques on the SLO and calls for more authentic engagement with local communities that specifically includes the recognition of harm.

The Nature of the Relationship Between Corporate Identity and Corporate Sustainability: Evidence from The Retail Industry

ABSTRACT:This article addresses the nature of the interface between corporate sustainability and corporate identity at both the strategic and instrumental levels. We developed an empirical qualitative study in two countries in Southern Europe addressing retailers who are actively engaged in pursuing corporate-sustainability strategies. Data sources include in-depth interviews, observations, and physical artifacts of identity (digital and printed documents). Findings reveal that, at a strategic level, corporate sustainability is embedded in corporate identity reflecting the company’s strategy. Companies also instrumentally use corporate identity to operationalize corporate sustainability strategies. Organizations show different patterns in the way they bridge corporate sustainability and identity. The contributions of this article are threefold: it reports the symbiotic relationship between corporate sustainability and corporate identity; it scrutinizes how corporate sustainability and corporate identity are integrated at the strategic and operational levels; and it establishes distinct patterns at the interface of corporate sustainability and corporate identity.

Exploring Consumer Associations Between Corporate Reputation, Corporate Sustainability, and Product Attributes Within Utilitarian Market Contexts

Much of the extant literature proposes that contemporary motivated consumers assess, evaluate, and differentiate firms based not only on their corporate reputation (CR), but also on their corporate sustainability (CS) strategy. However, research that examines the inter-relationship and cognitive associations between CR, CS strategy, and a firm’s product attributes among consumer stakeholders remains scant. To address this gap, we take a holistic perspective that draws on the pertinent literature to develop a conceptual framework and subsequently explore consumer stakeholder cognitive associations between CR, CS, and product attributes within a utilitarian context. Adopting an exploratory methodology, findings are structured so as to reflect the components of the proposed framework. Reflecting the specificity of consumers’ associations between CS and market context, participants do not associate the telecommunications industry with CS despite many firms having a clear and positive Web-based communications strategy. Tangential proxies used in other market contexts such as point-of-sale communication, package design, and information communicated on the package would appear to be also pertinent within this context, particularly if standardized and adopted on an industry-wide basis.

Corporate Sustainability Strategies: A Case Study in Brazil Focused on High Consumers of Electricity

The decline of socio-ecological resilience has emerged as an unprecedented truth with high risks to local and global economies, thereby increasing the vulnerability of businesses and markets while potentially threatening the wellbeing of civil society as a whole. From a business perspective, corporate strategies towards sustainability are crucial to strengthen the social and economic foundations that foster sustainable development. In order to assist enterprises pursuing leading market positions, this work proposes a set of strategic actions towards sustainability and an evaluation scheme to assess the effectiveness of their implementation process. This proposed global strategy encompasses five key sustainability indices—commitment, investment, difficulty, proactivity and vulnerability—focusing the investigation on a sample of enterprises representing the highest consumers of electricity in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Addressing the energy consumption, this study also discusses the concerning level of GHG emissions that are associated with the generation of electricity. Although 85% of the enterprises participating in this survey recognized the relevance of the actions proposed, the current degree of proactivity and vulnerability associated with these enterprises indicate that very few of them have effectively implemented and invested in corporate sustainability programs, certainly a symptom of their institutional vulnerability.

The Integrated Scorecard in support of corporate sustainability strategies

Organizations have increasingly recognized the importance and benefits of developing a sustainability strategy that incorporates environmental and social responsibilities. However, the simultaneous integration of the economic, environmental and social aspects remains a major concern for organizations. The Sustainability Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) represents one of the most promising strategic tools to help organizations face these challenges and support their sustainability strategy. However, past research has provided unclear, incomplete and even contradictory SBSC frameworks while offering little knowledge about how to integrate stakeholder management as well as environmental and social performance within the balanced scorecard to successfully support a corporate sustainability strategy. The aim of this study is to address these issues and limitations by proposing the Integrated Scorecard, a specific SBSC that integrates the three pillars of sustainability performance within four different perspectives, namely environmental, social and economic performance, stakeholder management, internal business processes, and skills and capabilities. This study provides a conceptual approach to the Integrated Scorecard and illustrates, through the use of two practical illustrations, the ability of this framework to support the corporate sustainability strategy by identifying the core sustainability objectives that organizations should achieve when creating value, facilitating the understanding of the contribution of environmental and social initiatives on economic performance, allowing the monitoring and measurement of the strategy's level of achievement, and creating synergy between sustainability performance management and reporting.

Achieving more with less: Henkel’s Factor 3 strategy

Purpose This paper aims to provide an inside view and analysis of corporate eco-efficiency/sustainability strategy resulting in recommendations for the consumer goods industry. Design/methodology/approach The paper is framed by a literature review and case studies of corporate sustainability strategies. Original research was conducted via in-depth, face-to-face interviews (26) of Henkel senior management familiar with the company’s “Factor 3” strategy. Findings This research identifies certain challenges to corporate sustainability strategy including consumer use of products and how best to measure ecological and social footprints. It shows that many managers find the Factor 3 strategy to be clear and understandable but with challenging goals and metrics; managers and executives are optimistic about success and feel Factor 3 gives Henkel a competitive edge. This paper uncovers areas of in the strategy that need improvement including consumer education, industry partnering, accountability and supply chain strategy, and also finds that the Factor 3 affects employees on a personal level, changing behavior and evoking positive responses. Originality/value While there is considerable literature on corporate eco-efficiency sustainability strategies, there has not been sufficient critical third-party analysis of how these strategies are progressing, the challenges they face and what their trajectory is. Because strategies like Henkel’s Factor 3 represent an increasingly popular corporate vision and set of articulated goals, researchers and practitioners need a deeper understanding of how large, global companies are tackling sustainability and how successful these strategies have been.

The financial aspects of corporate sustainability strategy

The financial aspects of corporate sustainability strategy

Pursuing Sustainability with the Balanced Scorecard: Between Shareholder Value and Multiple Goal Optimisation

A rising awareness about the limitations of measuring organisational success merely with financial metrics has motivated researchers and practitioners to call for more holistic performance management and measurement systems. The balanced scorecard (BSC) as proposed by Kaplan and Norton is maybe the most popular framework which aims at a balance between multiple performance dimensions and objectives. Moreover, the increasing strategic importance of environmental and social aspects have led to the suggestion of a so called sustainability balanced scorecard (SBSC), which promises the consideration of even further performance dimensions. More specific, the SBSC aims at balancing financial objectives with environmental and social objectives. However, the SBSC approaches proposed strongly differ in the way they deal with managing multiple objectives. Against this background, we conduct a systematic review of the research field dealing with the SBSC in order to advance the knowledge on managing multiple corporate objectives. As part of our results, we first give a brief description of the research field using bibliographical analysis. Second, we derive a typology of generic SBSC architectures showing that the architecture is contingent on the value system the organisation chooses to operate in (profit driven, care driven, systemic driven) and the corporate sustainability strategy opted for (defence, accommodation, proaction). We further show that the architectures can generally be applied by various types of organisations (public listed, large private, and small and medium-sized companies), but that some combinations are more likely than others. Implications for management and research are also derived.

A new approach to measure sustainability in German facility management

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to present the development of an action and assessment framework to make sustainability in German facility management (FM) transparent, measurable and assessable.Design/methodology/approach– The underlying research project’s approach to develop the new action and assessment framework consisted of a three-step methodology: to define and substantiate sustainability in FM, to operationalise and quantify sustainability in FM and to validate the developed system draft through an initial pilot study.Findings– The main result of the presented research project is a set of 24 criteria, organised into the separate areas of environmental, economic and sociocultural quality, as well as the quality of FM organisation and the sustainability of building/contract-specific facility services. The assessment methodology reflects the strategic approach of a plan–do–check–act loop to create a transparent and objective appraisal and a practical action framework.Research limitations/implications– The outcome of the study is initially only a measurement and assessment framework. To transform the finalised system draft and assessment tool into a certification system, further steps of development are necessary.Practical implications– The newly developed action and assessment framework is able to cure the blind spot that the relevant players (building owners, users and service providers) suffer from while developing, purchasing and comparing concepts for sustainable FM. The results and practical experiences of its initial pilot study show that this new framework can make the building operation phase and its processes transparent, measurable and assessable.Social implications– The guideline is also able to establish a crucial basis for the development of corporate sustainability strategies and sustainability reporting. This is an important step in closing the existing gap in numerous corporate social responsibility reports.Originality/value– Due to its assessment methodology and the calibration of its criteria, this new action and assessment framework both diversifies and completes the range of existing sustainability certification systems.

A management control system to support corporate sustainability strategies

This paper outlines a management accounting system, based upon cost variance analysis, which supports the pursuit of environmental and traditional financial goals within a decentralized organization. The framework decomposes inefficiencies into two parts. The first consists of what might be considered a natural outcome of pursuing the traditional economic goal of efficiency through cost-minimization, a “waste” variance. The second part consists of sustainability gains that produce societal benefit but may be incongruent with short-term economic goals, a “sustainability” variance. While elimination of waste variances can be encouraged using a traditional performance evaluation and reward structure, elimination of sustainability variances requires re-design of performance evaluation tools and reward structures. We demonstrate that differing production functions across operational units within organizations can impact the relative magnitude of the two variances. The failure to recognize and incorporate these differences can lead to inefficient allocation of resources and/or only partial fulfillment of the strategic environmental goals of the organization.

Business planning for unintended consequences - good intentions are not enough

Unintended consequences are at the heart of a dilemma for firms acting on corporate sustainability. On the one hand, corporate sustainability encourages businesses to take bold, timely and ethical action to address society's grand challenges. On the other, due to the complexity and unpredictability of our world, action brings with it a higher risk of unintended consequences. This paper makes the case that unintended consequences are real and an important consideration for businesses taking action to improve their sustainability in complex environments. This paper develops a framework which positions unintended consequences among other business concepts. Further, I demonstrate fear of unintended consequences is a challenge that can further hinder corporate action on sustainability. However, developing tools and processes to detect unintended consequences, learn from them and respond innovatively provides an opportunity for businesses to better manage in uncertain and complex environments. This paper demonstrates why, in a complex world, a strategy for unintended consequences is needed to empower action on corporate sustainability strategy.

Business planning for unintended consequences - good intentions are not enough

Unintended consequences are at the heart of a dilemma for firms acting on corporate sustainability. On the one hand, corporate sustainability encourages businesses to take bold, timely and ethical action to address society's grand challenges. On the other, due to the complexity and unpredictability of our world, action brings with it a higher risk of unintended consequences. This paper makes the case that unintended consequences are real and an important consideration for businesses taking action to improve their sustainability in complex environments. This paper develops a framework which positions unintended consequences among other business concepts. Further, I demonstrate fear of unintended consequences is a challenge that can further hinder corporate action on sustainability. However, developing tools and processes to detect unintended consequences, learn from them and respond innovatively provides an opportunity for businesses to better manage in uncertain and complex environments. This paper demonstrates why, in a complex world, a strategy for unintended consequences is needed to empower action on corporate sustainability strategy.

Corporate sustainability strategy – bridging the gap between formulation and implementation

While it is agreed that corporate sustainability strategy formulation is relevant for companies, to date only little attention has been paid to its actual implementation, i.e. to the concrete steps needed to translate sustainability strategy into practice. The research presented in this article is based on the existing literature in the field and on an in-depth analysis of a case in the automotive industry. The case study entailed participant-observation over a period of three months, and is supported by company data, qualitative expert interviews and workshop data. The main objective of this study is to investigate the factors involved in the successful implementation of corporate sustainability strategy. The success factors identified provide new insights concerning how the gap between the formulation and the implementation of corporate sustainability strategy may be bridged. Particular focus is placed on identifying the conditions needed in successful corporate sustainability strategy implementation, i.e. on factors relating to organizational structure, organizational culture, leadership, management control, employee motivation and qualifications, and communication. In addition, the study was also able to identify factors which are largely ignored in the relevant literature, such as employee motivation and communication. Evidence from an in-depth analysis of a single case in the automotive industry provides the basis for the research. It is hoped that the insights gained will be helpful to other companies and scholars engaged in analyzing the crucial transition from strategy formulation to strategy implementation and to all those seeking to cope with the challenges arising in the research field of corporate sustainability strategy implementation.

Corporate sustainability for architecture engineering and construction (AEC) organizations: Framework, transition and implication strategies

This research aims to propose a regenerative sustainability framework for AEC organizations, not only to focus on delivering green certified projects, but to encourage a revitalized approach to systematically drive their sustainability initiative. To achieve this aim, the study conducts an extensive global review of sustainable assessment systems in various industries and organizations, such as corporate sustainable reports, green company competitions, and green-renowned stocks. After learning the best practices from other industries, a sustainable development framework for the AEC organizations is developed. The proposed framework constitutes 110 key indicators covering three-dimensions of sustainability—social, environmental, and economic, respectively—and four-elements of corporate development essentials—projects, operations, governance, and stakeholders. By comparing the proposed framework to existing AEC practices, the study identifies the skewed development of corporate sustainability in the AEC industry where much awareness have been given to project-level environmental matters, but the social dimension, such as social stakeholders and social governance, are seriously lacking and need to be prioritized. A case study of a multi-millions construction company in China was investigated to validate this framework in practice. The case analysis justifies the practical value of the proposed framework, and elaborates the future need of regenerative sustainable initiatives for AEC organizations. The study contributes to the development of corporate sustainability theory in the AEC industry, and also provides industrial practitioners and policy makers with a better understanding of the next generation of corporate sustainable performance and implementation strategies.

Work for sustainability: Case studies of Brazilian companies

The introduction of strategic corporate sustainability policies is expected to result in the improvement of several issues in companies. One of these issues is work, which should involve greater well-being for workers. Within the context of production engineering, this research connects sustainability and work-related issues, the latter seen in light of the discipline of ergonomics. Based on case studies conducted at four companies considered sustainability benchmarks, we examined how the introduction of the theme of sustainability has influenced work-related issues. The elements analyzed here were the corporate sustainability strategy, organizational practices for deploying the strategy, and the work design phase. The last element is the moment in which work is prescribed in the organization. The results show that, despite the announcement of the inclusion of changes in work, there is not any explicit evidence confirming that such changes are considered as a requirement for corporate sustainability projects.

Associations between organisations’ motivated workforce and environmental performance

Purpose– This study aims to investigate the association between a motivated and prepared workforce and environmental performance.Design/methodology/approach– Self-administered surveys were used to collect data for the study from 300 organisations operating in Australia. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to test the robustness of the various measurement models, and structural equation modelling was used to test the two propositions for this study.Findings– The results identify significant associations between affective commitment, employee performance process and training and enhanced environmental performance, which is mediated through the value-creating processes, work practices, process improvement and innovation process. Also, there is a set of sequential associations between work practices and process improvement and well as process improvement and innovation process.Practical implications– The study has identified specific management practices that enhance environmental performance. The findings add to the body of knowledge because previous studies focused on general conceptual rather than actual management practices. The implications for practice are that organisations should enhance organisational affective commitment to their environmental strategy, tailor employee performance processes and provide regular, specific training to employees to improve processes that lead to better environmental performance.Originality/value– Results, mentioned in findings above, provide some specificity to associations that had been illustrated and explained previously in an abstract or conceptual framework. A framework of identified associations provides a basis for future research and for practical application to assist with organisational environmental performance as part of a corporate sustainability strategy.

Modeling corporate sustainability strategy

This study uses empirical information to demonstrate the analysis of a corporate sustainability model and presents five leading Mexican companies as illustrative examples of sustainable, long-term firms whose strategic plans incorporate three views of sustainability: market-industry, resource-based, and institutional-based. By considering all three domains, companies better position themselves to adapt to the restrictions imposed by the economic, social, and environmental systems. Competitive success requires a constant awareness of the conditions under which the company may lose or generate value, and a company’s competitiveness reflects its long-term performance and relationships within the industry and with competitors. Sustainable companies demonstrate successful long-term performance amid the restrictions imposed by economic, social, and environmental systems by developing a strategy that sustainably generates and captures value into the future. Sustainable practices are central to a company’s business model and survival because a strategy of targeted, enduring actions affords competitive advantages.

Sustainable Procurement in Australian and UK Universities

Sustainable procurement is a growing phenomenon and a key component of organizations’ corporate responsibility and sustainability strategy. The focus of this paper is sustainable procurement (SP) at universities in Australia and the United Kingdom. The study identifies a dearth of academic research into SP at universities and presents actionable insights gained from practitioners. Results from qualitative data collected from Australian and UK universities highlight the continued dominance of price in procurement decisions and the practical challenges faced in changing the status quo both internal and external to the university. Implications for theory, research and policy are also presented.

Corporate water stewardship

The aim of this paper is to provide an exploratory review of the extent to which some of the world’s leading food and drinks companies are publicly addressing water stewardship as part of their corporate sustainability strategies. The paper begins with brief outlines of the challenges of sustainable water resource management and of corporate water stewardship. The paper draws its empirical material from the most recent information on water stewardship and the sustainability reports posted on the Internet by a small number of the world’s leading food and drinks companies. The findings reveal that the selected companies address a number of elements concerning water stewardship as part of their more general approach to corporate sustainability. However, corporate commitments to water stewardship can be interpreted as being driven as much by business imperatives as by any concerns for environmental sustainability or a desire to maintain the viability and integrity of natural ecosystems. More critically, the authors suggest that the selected companies’ commitments to water stewardship are predominantly framed within existing business models focused on technological improvements in eco-efficiency and continuing economic growth. The paper provides an accessible review of the water stewardship issues currently being pursued by some of the world’s leading food and drinks companies and as such it will interest academics, students, political commentators and business managers interested in water stewardship and corporate sustainability.

Planned or Emergent Strategy Making? Exploring the Formation of Corporate Sustainability Strategies

AbstractIn strategy research, there is a consensus that strategy making resides on a continuum from planned to emergent where most strategies are made in a mixed way. Different contingency factors have been suggested to explain the factors that influence strategy making. Sustainability research seems to overlook most of this development and assumes instead that sustainability strategies are made in a purely planned way. We contribute to a better understanding of the role of different strategy making modes for sustainability in three ways. First, we point to the bias towards planned strategy formation in sustainability research. Second, we propose a new contingency factor to help explain sustainability strategy making based on the nature of the problem addressed. Third, we discuss strategy making for different types of sustainability problems. We argue that planned strategy making is expected for salient and non‐wicked problems while emergent strategy making is likely for non‐salient and wicked problems. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment