Corporate sustainability

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

Measuring corporate sustainability: a Thai approach

Abstract: Purpose – This study aims to measure the Thai approach of corporate sustainability. In the corporate world, the Thai philosophy of Sufficiency Economy can be applied to ensure corporate sustainability. Derived from the literature, a structural model expressing relationships between six independent variables of Sufficiency Economy indicators and three dependent variables of sustainability performance outcomes is formed accordingly, followed by hypotheses to be tested. Design/methodology/approach – The model is tested through a random sample of 294 chief executive officers (CEOs) in Thailand who were asked to respond to a questionnaire. Factor and regression analyses are adopted to test the hypotheses. Findings – Findings indicate that “perseverance” and “resilience” are two direct predictors of three sustainability outcomes of the firm’s enhanced capacity to deliver strong performance, endure social and economic crises and deliver public benefits. “Geosocial development” is a direct predictor of firm’s enh...

The Corporate Sustainability Strategy in Organisations: A Systematic Review and Future Directions

Abstract: The corporate sustainability strategy in organisations is a current topic and set in Agenda 2030 for sustainability, and so this study aims to map the literature on the subject through a bibliometric analysis. From 97 documents identified and analyzed, the results obtained show the fragmentation and hiatus between the planning of a global strategy and inclusion therein of a sustainable strategy. Furthermore, these results provide the construction of a framework as an auxiliary tool for managers of different organisations to implement a sustainable strategy, this being the main contribution of the study. In addition, the theoretical contribution of this study is to obtain evidence that the resources and market position of organisations is crucial to the successful implementation of this type of strategy, in which the resource-based view and competitive advantage proved to be appropriate to support the same. The contribution to the practice showed the importance of having full involvement and commitment of all stakeholders in this implementation, so that the organisations acquire the so ambitious internal and external legitimacy. Finally, some limitations, indications for future research are draw.

An Assessment of the Association Between Renewable Energy Utilization and Firm Financial Performance

Abstract: Contemporary research highlights multiple societal and environmental benefits in addition to potential economic advantages associated with renewable energy (RE) utilization. As federal and state incentives for investments in RE technologies become more prevalent, RE sources represent increasingly viable alternatives to established fossil fuel energy. RE utilization is recognized as a key component of “green” product innovation that helps firms reduce the environmental impact of production processes and diminish their ecological footprints and energy consumption. Yet, despite consistent evidence that corporate sustainability initiatives are favorably associated with firm performance, the limited research that examines associations between RE initiatives and firm performance yields mixed results and an explicit link has yet to be established. Drawing on the natural resource-based view of the firm, we examine the association between RE utilization and firm financial performance over time. Annual ROI, Tobin’s Q, and operating margin for large U.S. firms identified as exceptional users of RE in the EPA’s Fortune 500 Top Green Power Partners list are compared with their respective industry medians over a 7-year period (2007–2013) and post hoc bootstrapping and sensitivity analyses are performed to further validate the study findings. Our research advances current knowledge about the influence of RE utilization by demonstrating that top RE user firms consistently generated superior financial performance compared to their industry competitors. As such, the study findings lend credence to the existence of a business case that complements the societal and environmental benefits of RE utilization.

Encouraging Investors to Enable Corporate Sustainability Transitions: The Case of Responsible Investment in France

Abstract: This paper studies the case of the socially responsible investment (SRI) industry in France. This case accounts for how the SRI category and practices have successfully moved from the margins of the industry in the late 1990s to become mainstream over two decades. We bring to the forefront the importance of three complementary factors in the process of causing corporations to transition toward more sustainable businesses: the role of investors and, in particular, institutional investors; the importance of the presence of a clear category definition and of intermediary organizations, providing ratings, scores, and other calculative devices; and the role of governments and regulators. With other studies, this case stresses the fundamental influence of investors in how corporations manage sustainability transitions.