New Perspectives in Research on Corporate Sustainability series – serie

Managing for sustainable development has become increasingly accepted worldwide by corporate, public, and non-profit organizations as vital to the continued existence and development of both these organizations and their natural and social environments. This collection of original papers provides various perspectives on sustainable management practices, particularly as practiced by large corporations. The ten studies in this volume represent the latest theoretical and empirical research in the field of organizations and the natural environment. The contributors present a range of unique perspectives on issues including the impact of globalization on sustainability, cross-cultural comparisons of the impact of institutional contexts on environmental practices of Japanese and Chinese firms, comparisons of voluntary environmental initiatives undertaken by public and private sector organizations, processes of organizational change in response to stakeholder pressures, the transfer of environmental capabilities during mergers and acquisitions, why some companies keep the environmentally friendly features of their products secret, and the influence of emissions and health-impacts information on attitudes toward the environment. This volume opens and closes with two essays that comprehensively review the state of research in organizations and the natural environment and suggest directions for future researchers. This insightful book presents studies from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives: Human Resources Management, Strategy, Operations Management, Accounting, International Business, Marketing, and Development. It represents the latest state of knowledge in organizations and the natural environment and provides interesting perspectives for academics, environmental consultants as well as environmental managers from business, the public sector, NGOs, international development institutions, and government.

The role of stakeholders is integral to corporate sustainability as society increasingly demands that corporations play a role in achieving environmental objectives in addition to building shareholder wealth. In the first book to gather cutting-edge research on the interactions between stakeholders and organizations within the context of corporate sustainability, the contributors to this volume provide a diversity of perspectives from North America, Europe, and Oceania.The authors examine the role stakeholders play in influencing regulations on global issues such as climate change and national and regional problems. Stakeholder selection of companies and the sustainability issues they choose to target are explored, as are the ways in which organizations motivate them to participate in the evolution of holistic sustainable solutions. The interactions between stakeholder pressures, organizational characteristics and corporate sustainability practices are also covered. Finally, the volume provides an examination of the dynamic structure of organizational fields in the European automobile industry in order to analyze the factors that foster or hinder ecological modernization.Academics, environmental consultants, sustainability managers, NGOs, and international development institutions will find this timely volume of great value.

A major dilemma for businesses has been the struggle to understand how to adopt and implement proactive environmental practices while meeting the core business objectives of growth and competitive advantage. The international contributors - leading scholars in the field of environmental strategy and management - shed light on this difficult balance as they examine the generation and deployment of capabilities, processes, and routines that help a business develop advanced environmental practices while simultaneously lowering costs and creating differentiation benefits. The first book to gather cutting-edge research on this complex relationship, Corporate Environmental Strategy and Competitive Advantage presents conceptual ideas and empirical findings, as well as a valuable review of extant literature and future directions for researchers. At an organizational level of analysis, the topics covered include the external and internal antecedents of environmental capability-building including public policy, stakeholder engagement, managerial and organizational values, and human resource practices, and the outcomes of such capabilities in terms of environmental innovation. At a macro level, the topics covered include an examination of capabilities that will help organizations detect and prepare for extreme environmental events, and the development of clusters/networks of innovation to tackle sustainability problems that transcend organizational boundaries.Scholars, consultants and managers from business, the public sector, NGOs, international development institutions, and government working at the interface of business and the natural environment will find this book a necessary addition to their library.

The contributors to this book present research on crafting long-term ecological and societal solutions in order to achieve sustainability. The in-depth analyses explore the interactions among social, environmental, and development impacts of organizations at community, regional, national and global levels. In doing so they shed light on the way forward amidst the complexity of issues involved, referred to here as the sustainability mosaic.Organizations and individuals cannot be sustainable in isolation. Rather, it is necessary to understand them as parts of an overall system comprising ecological, individual, organizational, political-economic and socio-cultural levels. One of the characteristics of the sustainability mosaic is that efforts are carried out at all these levels. Collectively, the contributors provide the analytic framework required for understanding sustainability and the multiple, interconnecting and embedded systems. Students and scholars of sustainability, environmental studies and business will find in this book commonalities for new and collaborative research. CEOs, managers and consultants will find much of value as they negotiate their way towards sustainability.