Sustainability

Research

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30 pages, 2233 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Learning from Positive Impact Organizations: A Framework for Strategic Innovation

by Katrin Muff

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8891; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168891 - 9 Aug 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6020

Abstract

In view of the significant global challenges, this article analyzes and suggests pragmatic solutions for organizations to transform from sustainability risk management to creating a positive impact. Positive impact is defined by products and services that are created with the purpose of solving [...] Read more.

In view of the significant global challenges, this article analyzes and suggests pragmatic solutions for organizations to transform from sustainability risk management to creating a positive impact. Positive impact is defined by products and services that are created with the purpose of solving societal problems. It reflects the shift from reducing an organization’s negative footprint to achieving a significant net positive impact on society and the planet. This article shows that such a mindset shift is observed on the level of the leadership and the organization. This explorative, case-based research validates the Dyllick–Muff BST typology and identifies strategic differentiators of Positive Impact Organizations, including their governance, culture, external validation, and a higher purpose reflected in their products and services. This research is translated into two tools for practitioners: the Strategic Innovation Canvas (SIC) and the Positive Impact Framework (PIF). The SIC serves as a quick assessment for organizations to get started. It consists of eight action dimensions: (1) sustainability in the organization, (2) transparency and board support, (3) leadership perspective, (4) targets and incentives, (5) societal stakeholders, (6) triple value reporting, (7) market framing, and (8) products and services. The PIF offers step-by-step guidance during the organizational transformation. The article sketches a new field of research for both scholars and practitioners in organizational transformation towards positive impacts. It bridges business sustainability and strategy through an innovation approach. By recognizing the importance of the underlying mindset shifts, it connects the fields of organizational and personal development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategic Management for Sustainability: Imperatives and Paradoxes)

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17 pages, 509 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Global Challenges as Opportunity to Transform Business for Good

by Chris Laszlo, David Cooperrider and Ron Fry

Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8053; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198053 - 29 Sep 2020

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 10381

Abstract

Using insights from Peter Drucker’s Theory of the Business framework, the authors show that global challenges such as pandemics and climate change are contributing to a critical misalignment between businesses and their increasingly complex external environments, leading to a growing malaise in many [...] Read more.

Using insights from Peter Drucker’s Theory of the Business framework, the authors show that global challenges such as pandemics and climate change are contributing to a critical misalignment between businesses and their increasingly complex external environments, leading to a growing malaise in many organizations. Central to this misalignment are seven legacy assumptions which no longer serve businesses effectively. Seven new assumptions better reflect today’s external environment and point to how businesses can thrive (“Do Well”) by making a positive difference in society (“Do Good.”) The authors propose a set of change management methods and tools along with specific steps that leaders and organizations can take to transform their businesses into what they define as Positive Institutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategic Management for Sustainability: Imperatives and Paradoxes)

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14 pages, 269 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainability Mindsets for Strategic Management: Lifting the Yoke of the Neo-Classical Economic Perspective

by Gerard Farias, Christine Farias, Isabella Krysa and Joel Harmon

Sustainability 2020, 12(17), 6977; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12176977 - 27 Aug 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3953

Abstract

While sustainability has attracted the attention of managers and academicians for over two decades, the macro-level indicators of sustainability are not moving in the right direction. Climate change continues to be an existential threat for humanity and other indicators of sustainability do not [...] Read more.

While sustainability has attracted the attention of managers and academicians for over two decades, the macro-level indicators of sustainability are not moving in the right direction. Climate change continues to be an existential threat for humanity and other indicators of sustainability do not fare much better. The logic of the business case and the associated framing of tension between financial outcomes and sustainability have generated a limited and inadequate response to the existential challenges before humanity today. In this essay, we analyze the evolution of sustainability in the business context and call for a recognition that social and environmental outcomes must supersede economic ones in corporate sustainability thinking. We call for a widening of the spatial, temporal, and moral lenses in the formulation and execution of business strategy to ensure that it is in alignment with the needs of current and future generations of humanity and proportionate to planetary conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategic Management for Sustainability: Imperatives and Paradoxes)

35 pages, 587 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrating Sustainability into Corporate Strategy: A Case Study of the Textile and Clothing Industry

by Juliane Peters and Ana Simaens

Sustainability 2020, 12(15), 6125; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156125 - 30 Jul 2020

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 16961

Abstract

This paper aims to explore a set of institutional, organizational, and individual drivers of and barriers to the integration of sustainability into the corporate strategy of a European textile and clothing (T&C) company. The methodology is based on a case study of the [...] Read more.

This paper aims to explore a set of institutional, organizational, and individual drivers of and barriers to the integration of sustainability into the corporate strategy of a European textile and clothing (T&C) company. The methodology is based on a case study of the exemplar VAUDE, a family-owned sustainable outdoor outfitter company. The results are in accordance with institutional theory and stakeholder theory as a theoretical framework explaining why companies deal with sustainability. The determined drivers depend on coherence at all levels of analysis, i.e., institutional, organizational, and individual. The barriers found are of an institutional and organizational nature only. The findings present significant practical implications for other T&C companies that seek to integrate sustainability into their corporate strategy and for the T&C industry to create a sustainability-friendly environment to drive more companies to become sustainable. It further supports T&C companies in identifying potential barriers, determining how to overcome them, and successfully integrating sustainability into their corporate strategy. To conclude, the results suggest that it only works if sustainability is strongly integrated into the corporate strategy and deeply anchored in all departments and daily tasks of a T&C company. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategic Management for Sustainability: Imperatives and Paradoxes)

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14 pages, 222 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Norwegian Firms’ Green and New Industry Strategies: A Dual Challenge

by Jarle Aarstad and Stig-Erik Jakobsen

Sustainability 2020, 12(1), 361; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010361 - 2 Jan 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3101

Abstract

Today, there is strong pressure for firms, in Norway and abroad, to adopt green or sustainable strategies. Furthermore, many Norwegian firms, directly or indirectly dependent on the dominating but declining petroleum sector, face a further challenge as they have to enter new industries [...] Read more.

Today, there is strong pressure for firms, in Norway and abroad, to adopt green or sustainable strategies. Furthermore, many Norwegian firms, directly or indirectly dependent on the dominating but declining petroleum sector, face a further challenge as they have to enter new industries in search of market opportunities. We address these dual challenges and study how green and new industry strategies are a function of firm- and regional-level characteristics. Multilevel analyses of Norwegian survey data show that both green and new industry strategies are pursued by knowledge-intensive firms that are innovative and having interfirm innovation collaboration. Green strategies are pursued by large firms and firms localized in sparsely populated regions, but they are avoided by independent firms and firms having carried out layoffs. New industry strategies are pursued by small firms, firms with growth in employees, and firms having carried out mergers or acquisitions and cost reductions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategic Management for Sustainability: Imperatives and Paradoxes)

Review

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27 pages, 3310 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Retrospective and Foresight: Bibliometric Review of International Research on Strategic Management for Sustainability, 1991–2019

by Suparak Suriyankietkaew and Phallapa Petison

Sustainability 2020, 12(1), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010091 - 21 Dec 2019

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 8770

Abstract

Over the past 30 years, scholars have been calling for modern management theory and research to consider how strategic management tools could be applied to enhance corporate sustainability. While strategic management for sustainability has emerged as a multidisciplinary field, the existing knowledge base [...] Read more.

Over the past 30 years, scholars have been calling for modern management theory and research to consider how strategic management tools could be applied to enhance corporate sustainability. While strategic management for sustainability has emerged as a multidisciplinary field, the existing knowledge base has yet to be systematic reviewed. This paper responded to the literature gap by conducting a bibliometric review of strategic management for sustainability. The paper aimed to document the landscape and composition of this literature through the analysis of 988 relevant Scopus-indexed documents. Data analyses found that the strategic management for sustainability knowledge base remained an emergent field with increasing interests from diverse groups of international scholars in various fields, particularly in environmental science, engineering, and strategic business management. Over the past three decades, the literatures have been continuously grown from a few publications in the early 1990s to almost 1000 documents to date. The review found that the most influential journals and authors of this knowledge base were international in scope but predominately from Western developed countries. Five Schools of Thought from author co-citation analysis revealed the intellectual clustering composition of the knowledge base on strategic management for sustainability: corporate sustainability strategy, sustainable waste management, strategic sustainability systems, strategic sustainability management and entrepreneurship, and sustainability assessment strategy. Key topics addressed in this research include the distribution of documents across the most highly cited journals, reflecting the breadth, quality and influential scholars in the strategic management for sustainability knowledge domain, naming of the influential scholars in the field and identification of contemporary foci and research front in the existing literature through the keyword co-occurrence analysis and co-word map. The strategic management for sustainability field has evolved from the key topics related to the green movement at the policy-driven macro level (i.e., ecological or environmental protection/impact, water/waste management and natural resource conservation) to the practicality in organizations with the topics related to social strategic responsibility and business management issues (i.e., corporate strategy, project management, supply chain management, information management, adaptive management, corporate sustainability). In addition to a retrospective, insightful prospective interpretation, practical implication, limitations and future research direction are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategic Management for Sustainability: Imperatives and Paradoxes)

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Other

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14 pages, 249 KiB

Open AccessCommentary

A Positive Impact Rating for Business Schools: Case Study

by Thomas Dyllick and Katrin Muff

Sustainability 2020, 12(22), 9551; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12229551 - 17 Nov 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3638

Abstract

Business school rankings have been criticized, to blindly “follow the money” with their strong focus on salaries and economic performance, thereby reflecting the values and expectations of the times the rankings were created. Rankings are increasingly seen as out of touch with changing [...] Read more.

Business school rankings have been criticized, to blindly “follow the money” with their strong focus on salaries and economic performance, thereby reflecting the values and expectations of the times the rankings were created. Rankings are increasingly seen as out of touch with changing demands on business and business schools to address issues of social impact and sustainability. The newly created Positive Impact Rating for Business Schools (PIR) provides an answer to these demands. This paper presents a case study on the new PIR. It first provides an overview of the critique of current business school rankings. It highlights emerging trends towards including social impact and sustainability in the business school landscape, with a focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, research initiatives, accreditations, and rankings. It then presents and discusses in detail the new PIR launched in January 2020 at the WEF in Davos and its initial reception. This new “by students and for students” rating reaches out to students to assess their own business schools on how they perceive them in creating a positive impact on and for the world. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategic Management for Sustainability: Imperatives and Paradoxes)

11 pages, 266 KiB

Open AccessViewpoint

Will Businesses and Business Schools Meet the Grand Challenges of the Era?

by Sandra Waddock

Sustainability 2020, 12(15), 6083; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156083 - 29 Jul 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3633

Abstract

Meeting today’s grand challenges means changing the economics paradigm that informs both business practice and business/management education. This paper asks whether business schools meet the challenges of the 21st century and argues not without shifting away from the core—neoliberal—paradigm of economics. This essay [...] Read more.

Meeting today’s grand challenges means changing the economics paradigm that informs both business practice and business/management education. This paper asks whether business schools meet the challenges of the 21st century and argues not without shifting away from the core—neoliberal—paradigm of economics. This essay makes the following argument. Paradigms shape narratives. Changing core narratives is a powerful lever for transformation. Narratives are constructed of core ideas (memes) that replicate readily from mind to mind. Neoliberalism’s memes are pervasive and highly resonant in business schools. To move towards sustainability, the fundamentals taught in business school need to shift away from neoliberalism’s tenets towards what gives life to economic systems. From a theory perspective, neoliberalism’s lack of attention to social and ecological consequences of economic activity plays a large part in shaping today’s crises, including the pandemic, climate change, and biodiversity loss. A new/next economics paradigm is needed that shifts away from an emphasis on only financial wealth and constant economic growth on a finite plant towards life-centered economies that foster wellbeing and flourishing for all, creating what scholars call collective value. The result of this analysis is a conceptualization supporting new memes that include collaboration and competition, stewardship of the whole system, a cosmopolitan to local sensibility, and recognition of humanity’s deep embeddedness and connection with other people, other beings, and nature. The article concludes that business schools need to meet this challenge head on, changing the fundamentals of what is taught and why. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategic Management for Sustainability: Imperatives and Paradoxes)

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