Corporate sustainability

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

Strategic decisions between short-term profit and sustainability

Abstract: Sustainability has evolved into one of the key topics for organizations and organizational researchers alike. To meet changing societal demands, organizations have to adapt their long-term strategies and incorporate environmental and social aspects into their product offerings and decision-making. However, at the same time companies must satisfy short-term profitability interests and demands from shareholders. An organization’s sustainability commitment, strategy, or view is impacted by several influential factors, e.g., by the top management commitment or stakeholder integration. These factors have largely been studied individually without linking them. As such, the following study aims at creating a holistic view and framework for organizational influences and on sustainability. The framework is validated by a comparison to industrial practice in interviews with sustainability managers from the chemical and automobile industry, which are both highly relevant in the context of sustainability. Interview results suggest that the identified influential factors attributed to the four framework layers organization, top management, project team and project are relevant for industrial representatives. The view on and impact of specific influential factors can vary between companies and industries. The study further gives insights into the actual status and future direction of the management of corporate sustainability (CS) in practice.

Role of Foreign and Domestic Institutional Investors in Corporate Sustainability: Focusing on R&D Investment

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of ownership by foreign and domestic institutional investors on corporate sustainability by focusing on the level of research and development (R&D) investment. Long-term investment in R&D is crucial for companies that seek to generate sustainable growth. Ordinary least-squares regression is performed on a sample of Korean listed companies. The main test with both foreign and domestic institutional ownership is based on a study period from 2001 to 2004. The results indicate that firms with higher levels of foreign institutional ownership exhibit greater levels of corporate R&D activities, while the ownership by domestic institutions has no significant influence on firms’ R&D investment. An additional test with foreign institutional ownership data is based on an extended study period from 2001 to 2014, and shows that foreign institutional ownership is positively related to firms’ R&D investment. This result survives the two-stage instrumental variable approach used to address endogeneity factors in foreign institutional ownership. Taken together, these findings suggest that foreign institutions can effectively monitor managerial myopia and promote corporate innovations.

Sustainability managers or rogue mid‐managers?

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to look into the motivations of managers to commit their time and energies to look at environmental, social, and ethical issues. In short, this research set out to answer the following research questions: What are the different types of change agents for sustainability, in terms of their existential needs? What are the motivations and frustrations faced by sustainability managers as change agents? and How are the motivations and frustrations of sustainability managers framed by the sources of meaning in their life and work?Design/methodology/approach – As the research is still at an exploratory stage, a qualitative methodology was adopted. This methodology was also appropriate for the purpose of this research, which was focused on studying how meaning emerges and changes in situated organizational settings. The authors were engaged in 27 value‐laden semi‐structured interviews where they were looking to build a close relationship between the researcher and what was studied. The in...

Corporate Sustainable Development and Marketing Communications on Social Media: Fortune 500 Enterprises

Abstract: This study proposes a measurement to evaluate corporate sustainability marketing communications on social media implemented by Fortune 500 enterprises. The results reveal significant differences between sustainability marketing communications in blogs and on Facebook. This study makes theoretical contributions by proposing a customer-centric SMC framework that integrates sustainability issues, stimulation of sustainable mindsets and encouragement of sustainable consumption. It also demonstrates how corporate sustainability marketing communications differ on different social media. In addition, practical suggestions are provided. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Strategic role of information, knowledge and technology in manufacturing industry performance

Abstract: – The purpose of this paper is to study how knowledge management strategy (KMS), technology management strategy (TMS), and information management strategy (IMS) influence an organization’s performance. , – The authors use manufacturing data and employ causal modeling, with structural equation modeling, which will enable managers to understand the interrelationships among the use of information, knowledge management, and technology strategy in manufacturing enterprises. , – There are two major findings of the research: first, an organization’s financial performance (FINP) is directly dependent on its information management and TMSs, and second, KMSs indirectly influence FINP via mediation. , – Managers should be aware of various roles that TMS, IMS, and KMS play on an organization’s performance. The model analysis provides a direction to decision makers in understanding various intricate relationships through which information, technology, and KMSs could impact corporate sustainability. , – First, the authors present a specific approach to capture and model information-related strategies in a powerful decisions support system framework. Second, the modeling environment provides examination of non-linear relationships among latent variables, as well as examining additive, moderating, and mediating relations so that other modelers could replicate the experiment in other sectors or enterprises. Last, this work addresses one of the major problems in manufacturing research: the lack of empirical research in sustainability development. The paper shows empirically that both TMS and IMS impact organization’s performance directly and KMS does so indirectly.