Corporate sustainability

About: Corporate sustainability is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3517 publications have been published within this topic receiving 94075 citations.

Do Board Expertise and Networked Boards Affect Environmental Performance

Abstract: We examine the resource provision role of the board of directors in ensuring substantive corporate sustainability practices. Specifically, we examine two channels of resource provision (i.e., the presence of non-executive directors with previous experience in environmental issues—EEDs—and network connections of EEDs) that can affect a firm’s ethical and environmental behavior. Using greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data from FTSE 350 firms, as a measure of environmental performance, we show that the presence of EEDs on the board is associated with lower GHG emissions. Further, firms with better-networked EEDs have better environmental performance. A possible mechanism is that firms with EEDs invest more in environmental technology. These results suggest that, in addition to the traditional role of shareholder value maximization, the board of directors also caters to the interests of wider stakeholders of the firm by facilitating substantive ethical practices.

Corporate Sustainability Strategies and Decision Support Methods: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract: Sustainability is becoming an increasing issue for decision-makers and scholars worldwide and many managers understand the significance of the strategic approach of corporate sustainability. However, they face difficulties in aligning sustainable development and strategic management as well as to implement it in practice. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to conduct a bibliometric analysis exploring the integration of strategic management, decision-making and corporate sustainability, providing a framework of interrelated issues according to the current literature in this area. 72 peer-reviewed papers were analyzed based on Webster’s and Watson’s (2002) methodology. The results of this review revealed that the number of publications in this domain has increased in the last decade, and there is a need to foster research (especially empirical) in this field because managers should find out ways to implement, in action, corporate sustainability strategies and integrate their action plans with their business strategy. This review concludes with a framework that includes the most commonly addressed issues of this topic and provides opportunities and challenges for further research.

Disclosure of corporate sustainability performance and firm performance in Asia

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine the disclosure pattern of corporate sustainability (CS) and the influence of sustainability reporting on firm performance of four countries in Asia – Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and India.,The authors have collected the sustainability reports and annual reports of 111 firms from four Asian countries for a period of six years. Based on the framework of Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI, 3 and 3.1), content analysis is used for calculating the disclosure score of corporate sustainability performance (CSP). These scores are further used to examine the impact on firm performance by employing a panel data regression model.,The study finds that the average level and quality of disclosure are the highest for Japanese firms, followed by India and South Korea. However, in the case of Indonesia, the average score is very low. Further, the study finds a significant difference in the disclosure of overall sustainability as well as components of sustainability between the countries. The regression results indicate the positive impact of CSP (both in terms of level and quality) on MBR. Specifically, the outcome of the regression model reveals that both the level and quality disclosure of CS are crucial for enhancing firm value for both the developed and developing countries of Asia. Moreover, the relative influence of CSP (both in terms of level and quality) on firm performance is found to be more in developed countries than the developing countries of Asia.,This is the first comprehensive study in the Asian context to investigate the disclosure pattern of CSP and also examine the association between CSP and firm performance by employing the panel data model. The outcome of this study is useful for policy implication.

Comparing and Benchmarking the Sustainability Performance of Businesses

Abstract: Summary A determination of the sustainability performance of a company ought to fulfill certain requirements. It has to take into account the direct impacts from on-site processes as well as indirect impacts embodied in the supply chains of a company. This life cycle thinking is the common theme of popular footprint analyses, such as carbon, ecological, or water footprinting. All these indicators can be incorporated into one common and consistent accounting and reporting scheme based on economic input−output analysis, extended with data from all three dimensions of sustainability. We introduce such a triple-bottom-line accounting framework and software tool and apply it in a case study of a small company in the United Kingdom. Results include absolute impacts and relative intensities of indicators and are put into perspective by a benchmark comparison with the economic sector to which the company belongs. Production layer decomposition and structural path analysis provide further valuable detail, identifying the amount and location of triple-bottom-line impacts in individual upstream supply chains. The concept of shared responsibility has been applied to avoid double-counting and noncomparability of results. Although in this work we employ a single-region model for the sake of illustration, we discuss how to extend our ideas to international supply chains. We discuss the limitations of the approach and the implications for corporate sustainability.

A Methodological Proposal for Corporate Carbon Footprint and Its Application to a Wine-Producing Company in Galicia, Spain

Abstract: Corporate carbon footprint (CCFP) is one of the most widely used indicators to synthesise environmental impacts on a corporate scale. We present a methodological proposal for CCFP calculation on the basis of the “method composed of financial accounts” abbreviated as MC3, considering the Spanish version “metodo compuesto de las cuentas contables”. The main objective is to describe how this method and the main outputs obtained work. This latter task is fulfilled with a practical case study, where we estimate the carbon footprint of a wine-producing company for the year 2006. Results show the origin of impacts generated, providing this firm with disaggregated information on the contribution to its CCFP of each one of its activities and consumptions. Keywords: ecological footprint analysis; carbon corporate footprint; MC3 1. Introduction: Corporate Sustainability and Ecological Footprint Analysis Over the last few decades, organisations have gained better awareness on issues that have traditionally played a secondary role or were simply not regarded as business strategies. This is particularly true in the case of environmental sustainability-related questions.