Managing the Business Case for Sustainability

Stefan Schaltegger is full professor for Management and Business Economics at the University of Lüneburg, Germany and director of the Centre for Sustainability Management (CSM). He is head of the MBA sustainability management programme "Sustainament" and chairman of the Environmental Management Accounting Network (EMAN) Europe. His research deals with sustainability management including sustainability accounting, information management, sustainable finance, sustainable entrepreneurship and strategic environmental management. He is on the board of a number of international scientific associations and journals.Marcus Wagner is assistant professor at the TUM Business School. He is an associate research fellow at the Centre for Sustainability Management, University of Lüneburg, where he also teaches on the MBA programme "Sustainament". His research is concerned with innovation and technology management as well as sustainability management in areas such as co-operation in innovation and sustainable and environmental innovation. Dr Wagner was also a lecturer/author at Hagen University (microeconomics; growth, distribution, business cycles; environmental accounting and performance indicators; environmental economics). From 2002 to 2005, he worked as a senior manager/manager in the semiconductor and chemicals industries. In 2001, he was scientific advisor to the Global Reporting Initiative.

Laden with the vernacular of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the text is clearly not geared toward a lay audience but toward heavyweights – academics conducting empirical research on CSR and business practitioners trying to make corporate social and environmental sustainability a reality. For this audience, the book will prove an indispensable resource ... Instead of validating one approach over the other, the researchers identify the strengths of each strategy. Likewise, the book seeks not to endorse one particular perspective on the corporate sustainability, but rather viewpoints across the spectrum. Indeed, what is impressive about the book is its incredible breadth and depth – which might explain its heft! Read the full review

• ForewordJohn Elkington, Founder and Chief Entrepreneur, SustainAbility ForewordPeter Forstmoser, CEO, Swiss Re Introduction. Managing and Measuring the Business Case for Sustainability. Capturing the Relationship between Sustainability Performance, Business Competitiveness and Economic PerformanceStefan Schaltegger, Centre for Sustainability Management, University of Lüneburg, Germany, and Marcus Wagner, Dr Theo Schöller Chair in Technology and Innovation Management, Technische Universität München and Centre for Sustainability Management, Universi Part 1. Theory – conceptual approaches1. The link between environmental and economic performanceEnvironmental and Economic Performance: The Basic LinksLeena Lankoski, Helsinki University, Finland How Can Environmental Management Contribute to Shareholder Value? The Environmental Shareholder Value ApproachStefan Schaltegger, Centre for Sustainability Management, University of Lüneburg, Germany 2. Social performance and economic successDo Social Objectives Integrate with Core Corporate Objectives? The Future of Social AuditingTrevor Goddard, Curtin University of Technology, Australia Social Performance and Competitiveness: A Socio-Competitive FrameworkKuno Spirig, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland 3. Integrative approachesMapping the Links of Corporate Sustainability: Sustainability Balanced Scorecards as a Tool for Sustainability Performance Measurement and ManagementMarcus Wagner, Dr Theo Schöller Chair in Technology and Innovation Management, Technische Universität München and Centre for Sustainability Management, University of Lüneburg, Germany, and Stefan Schaltegger, Centre for Sustainability Management, Universi A Model of Financial Analysis at the Service of SustainabilityJuan Piñeiro Chousa and Noelia Romero Castro, Department of Finance and Accounting, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain Sustainable Value Added: A New Approach to Measuring Corporate Sustainable PerformanceFrank Figge, School of the Environment, University of Leeds, UK, and Tobias Hahn, Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment, IZT, Germany Sustainable Analysis of Industrial Operations: A Proof of Concept Demonstration StudySonja Lynn Odom, Laboratory for Sustainable Solutions, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, USA Part II. Empirical surveys – financial markets; industry and country surveys4. Views from the financial marketsThe Economic Performance of European Stock Corporations: Does Sustainability Matter?Klaus Rennings, Michael Schröder and Andreas Ziegler, Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Germany Capital Markets and Corporate Environmental Performance: Research in the United StatesDinah A. Koehler, Economics and Decision Sciences Research, National Center for Environmental Research, US Environmental Protection Agency, USA Sustainable Investment and Financial Performance: Does Sustainability Compromise the Financial Performance of Companies and Investment Funds?Eckhard Plinke and Andreas Knörzer, Sarasin Sustainability Investments, Bank Sarasin & Co. Ltd, Basel, Switzerland Benchmarking Competitiveness and Management Quality with the Dow Jones Sustainability Index: The Case of the Automotive Industry and Climate ChangeNiki Rosinski, Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), Zurich, Switzerland 5. Industry surveysHave Trends in Corporate Environmental Management Influenced Companies' Competitiveness?Henning Madsen and John P. Ulhøi, The Aarhus School of Business, Denmark Competitiveness, Environmental Performance and Management of SMEsDavid Hitchens, Queen's University Belfast, UK, Jens Clausen, IÖW, Germany, Mary Trainor, Queen's University Belfast, UK, Michael Keil, IÖW, Germany, and Samarthia Thankappan, Cardiff University, UK IPPC and the Impact of Best Available Techniques (BAT) on the Competitiveness of European Industry: Survey of the European Non-Ferrous Metals IndustryDavid Hitchens, School of Management and Economics, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, Frank Farrell, Environment Agency, Bristol, UK, Josefina Lindblom, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), Seville, Spain, and Ursula Triebsw 6. Country surveysThe Mutual Relationship between the Environmental Context and Management in the NetherlandsRonald S. Batenburg, Department of Information Sciences, Utrecht University, the Netherlands The Norwegian Environmental Business BarometerBjarne E. Ytterhus, Norwegian School of Management (BI), Sandvika, Norway Sustainability Performance of Countries: Based on the Example of Oekom Research AG's Country RatingMatthias Bönning, Oekom Research, Munich, Germany Does a Nation's Ecological Performance Affect its Economic Stability? The Potential for Enhancing Sovereign Credit Risk Assessments with Ecological Resource AccountsMathis Wackernagel, Global Footprint Network, Oakland, CA, USA, Chris Martiniak, Global Footprint Network, Oakland, CA, USA, and University of Michigan Business School, USA, Fred Wellington, World Resources Institute, Sustainable Enterprise Program, and formerly Environmental Management Program, University of San Francisco, USA, Chad Monfreda, Sustainability and Global Environment Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA, and Steve Goldfinger, Justin Kitzes and Deborah Cheng, Global Footprint Network, Oakland, CA, USA, Part III. Evidence – strategies, case studies and management systems7. Strategies and the business case for sustainabilityAchieving Sustainable Corporate Competitiveness: Strategic Link between Top Management's (Green) Commitment and Corporate Environmental StrategyKi-Hoon Lee, KwangWoon University, Korea, and Robert Ball, University of Stirling, UK Ecopreneurship and Competitive Strategies: Striving for Market Leadership by Promoting SustainabilityHolger Petersen, Umweltbank Nürnberg and Centre for Sustainability Management, University of Lüneburg, Germany Building a Business Case for Corporate SustainabilityUlrich Steger, Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland Developing Value: The Business Case for Sustainability in Emerging MarketsJodie Thorpe and Kavita Prakash-Mani, SustainAbility, UK 8. Company casesManaging Sustainability Performance in the Textile ChainStefan Seuring and Maria Goldbach, Supply Chain Management Centre, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany Sustainability and Competitiveness in the Renewable Energy Sector: The Case of Vestas Wind SystemsRolf Wüstenhagen, Institute for Economy and the Environment, Switzerland Path-Dependent Thinking and Ecoproducts: An Empirical Study of Socio-Cognitive Models and Product Propositions of Ford and Volvo CarsMats Williander, Fenix Centre for Research on Knowledge and Business Creation, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden Honda and Toyota: Using Sustainability in a New Competitive BattlegroundPeter A. Stanwick and Sarah D. Stanwick, Department of Management and School of Accountancy, College of Business, Auburn University, USA Incremental Change towards Sustainanbility: Integrating Human and Ecological Factors for EfficiencySuzanne Benn, School of Management, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, and E. Jane Probert, European Business Management School, University of Wales Swansea, Swansea, UK 9. Environmental management systems and competitivenessISO 14001: Profitable? Yes! But is it eco-effective?Jost Hamschmidt and Thomas Dyllick, University of St Gallen, Switzerland What Makes Environmental Management Systems Successful? An Empirical Study in the German Manufacturing SectorBoris Braun, Department of Geography, Otto-Friedrich-University, Bamberg, Germany