Share:


The corporate sustainability typology: analysing sustainability drivers and fostering sustainability at enterprises

    Winston Jerónimo Silvestre Affiliation
    ; Paula Antunes Affiliation
    ; Walter Leal Filho Affiliation

Abstract

Much has been written about the need for more humane, ethical, socially just and trans­parent ways of doing business and performing entrepreneurial activities. Consistent with this, con­cepts such as sustainable development, corporate citizenship, corporate sustainability (CS), sus­tainable entrepreneurship, business ethics, and corporate social responsibility (CSR), among many others, have emerged. This diversity of expressions raises the need to development a new typology for to CS. This paper addresses this gap and describes a framework typology for corporate sustain­ability, by analysing sustainability drivers and the interactivity factors in the context of sustainability. It also describes the various types of sustainable emphasis given by companies and their associated levels of CS, which may pave the way for a new framework typology.


First published online: 30 Nov 2016

Keyword : triple bottom line, sustainability strategy, corporate sustainability typology, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, business sustainability

How to Cite
Jerónimo Silvestre, W., Antunes, P., & Leal Filho, W. (2018). The corporate sustainability typology: analysing sustainability drivers and fostering sustainability at enterprises. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 24(2), 513–533. https://doi.org/10.3846/20294913.2016.1213199
Published in Issue
Mar 20, 2018
Abstract Views
2244
PDF Downloads
2204
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Alexander, S. 2013. Voluntary simplicity and the social reconstruction of law: degrowth from the grassroots up, Environmental Values 22(2): 287–308. http://dx.doi.org/10.3197/096327113X13581561725356

Allouche, J.; Laroche, P. 2005. A meta-analytical investigation of the relationship between corporate social and financial performance, Revue de Gestion des Ressources Humaines 57(1): 8–41.

Archel, P.; Fernández, M.; Larrinaga, C. 2008. The organizational and operational boundaries of triple bottom line reporting: a survey, Environmental Management 41(1): 106–117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9029-7

Asif, M.; Searcy, C.; Zutshi, A.; Fisscher, O. A. M. 2013. An integrated management systems approach to corporate social responsibility, Journal of Cleaner Production 56: 7–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.10.034

Atlee, J.; Kirchain, R. 2006. Operational sustainability metrics assessing metric effectiveness in the context of electronics-recycling systems, Environmental Science and Technology 40(14): 4506–4513. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es050935l

Aven, T. 2011. On the new ISO guide on risk management terminology, Reliability Engineering and System Safety 96(7): 719–726. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2010.12.020

Barney, J. B. 2000. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage, in J. A. C. Baum, F. Dobbin (Eds.). Economics Meets Sociology in Strategic Management. Volume 17. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 203–227. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0742-3322(00)17018-4

Baumgartner, R. J.; Ebner, D. 2010. Corporate sustainability strategies: sustainability profiles and maturity levels, Sustainable Development 18(2): 76–89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sd.447

Bird, R. D.; Hall, A.; Momentè, F.; Reggiani, F. 2007. What corporate social responsibility activities are valued by the market?, Journal of Business Ethics 76(2): 189–206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9268-1

Boiral, O. 2013. Sustainability reports as simulacra? A counter-account of A and A+ GRI reports, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 26(7): 1036–1071. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-04-2012-00998

Branzei, O.; Abdelnour, S. 2010. Another day, another dollar: enterprise resilience under terrorism in developing countries, Journal of International Business Studies 41(5): 804–825. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2010.6

Braungart, M.; McDonough, W.; Bollinger, A. 2007. Cradle-to-cradle design: creating healthy emissions – a strategy for eco-effective product and system design, Journal of Cleaner Production 15(13–14): 1337–1348. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.08.003

Carroll, A. B.; Shabana, K. M. 2010. The Business case for corporate social responsibility: a review of concepts, research and practice, International Journal of Management Reviews 12(1): 85–105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2009.00275.x

Deegan, C. 2006. Financial accounting theory. 2nd ed. Australia, Sydney: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 576.

Dyllick, T.; Hockerts, K. 2002. Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability, Business Strategy and the Environment 11(2): 130–141. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bse.323

EC. 2011. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions, a renewed EU strategy 2011–2014 for Corporate Social Responsibility [online], [cited 12 March 2014]. European Commission, 3–15. Available from Internet: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0681:FIN:PT:PDF

Ekins, P. 2005. Eco-efficiency: motives, drivers, and economic implications, Journal of Industrial Ecology 9(4): 12–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/108819805775247981

Etzion, D. 2007. Research on organizations and the natural environment, 1992–Present: a review, Journal of Management 33(4): 637–664. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0149206307302553

Fernandez-Feijoo, B.; Romero, S.; Ruiz, S. 2014. Commitment to Corporate social responsibility measured through global reporting initiative reporting: factors affecting the behavior of companies, Journal of Cleaner Production 81(0): 244–254. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.06.034

Fifka, M. S. 2013. Corporate responsibility reporting and its determinants in comparative perspective – a review of the empirical literature and a meta-analysis, Business Strategy and the Environment 22(1): 1–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bse.729

Figge, F.; Hahn, T. 2004. Sustainable Value Added–measuring corporate contributions to sustainability beyond eco-efficiency, Ecological Economics 48(2): 173–187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2003.08.005

Figge, F.; Hahn, T. 2013. Value drivers of corporate eco-efficiency: management accounting information for the efficient use of environmental resources, Management Accounting Research 24(4): 387–400. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mar.2013.06.009

Fiksel, J. 2006. Sustainability and resilience: toward a systems approach, Sustainability Science, Practice, and Policy 2(2): 14–21.

Finnveden, G.; Hauschild, M. Z.; Ekvall, T.; Guinée, J.; Heijungs, R.; Hellweg, S.; Annette, K.; David, P.; Sangwon, Suh. 2009. Recent developments in Life Cycle Assessment, Journal of Environmental Management 91(1): 1–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.06.018

Fischer, J.; Manning, A. D.; Steffen, W.; Rose, D. B.; Daniell, K.; Felton, A.; et al. 2007. Mind the sustain¬ability gap, Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22(12): 621–624. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2007.08.016

Freeman, I.; Hasnaoui, A. 2011. The meaning of corporate social responsibility: the vision of four nations, Journal of Business Ethics 100(3): 419–443. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0688-6

Ghosh, S.; Buckler, L.; Skibniewski, M. J.; Negahban, S.; Kwak, Y. H. 2014. Organizational governance to integrate sustainability projects: a case study, Technological and Economic Development of Economy 20(1): 1–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/20294913.2014.850755

Gibson, R. B.; Holtz, S.; Tansey, J.; Whitelaw, G.; Hassan, S. 2005. Sustainability assessment: criteria and processes. London: Earthscan, 180–188.

Gomes, C. M.; Kneipp, J. M.; Kruglianskas, I.; Rosa, L. A. B.; Bichueti, R. S. 2015. Management for sustainability: an analysis of the key practices according to the business size, Ecological Indicators 52: 116–127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.11.012

Govindan, K.; Azevedo, S. G.; Carvalho, H.; Cruz-Machado, V. 2014. Impact of supply chain manage¬ment practices on sustainability, Journal of Cleaner Production 85: 212–225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.05.068

Graafland, J.; van de Ven, B. 2006. Strategic and moral motivation for corporate social responsibility, Journal of Corporate Citizenship 2006(22): 111–123. http://dx.doi.org/10.9774/GLEAF.4700.2006.su.00012

Halpern, B. S.; Klein, C. J.; Brown, C. J.; Beger, M.; Grantham, H. S.; Mangubhai, S.; et al. 2013. Achieving the triple bottom line in the face of inherent trade-offs among social equity, economic return, and conservation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 1–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1217689110

Hasnas, J. 2012. Reflections on corporate moral responsibility and the problem solving technique of Alexander the Great, Journal of Business Ethics 107(2): 183–195. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-1032-5

Henning, P. B.; Henning, G. K. 2013. Organizational sustainability and systemic boundary processes, Journal of Organisational Transformation and Social Change 10(2): 104–123. http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/1477963313Z.00000000012

Holling, C. S. 2001. Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological, and social systems, Ecosys¬tems 4(5): 390–405. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-001-0101-5

Hubbard, G. 2009. Measuring organizational performance: beyond the triple bottom line, Business Strategy and the Environment 18(3): 177–191. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bse.564

Jantsch, E. 1980. The self-organizing universe: scientific and human implications of the emerging paradigm of evolution. Toronto, ON: Pergamon Press.

Jerónimo Silvestre, W.; Antunes, P.; Leal Filho, W. 2014. Hybrid Bottom Line: another perspective on the sustainability of organizations, International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 21(5): 456–464. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2014.959580

Kallio, T. J.; Nordberg, P. 2006. The evolution of organizations and natural environment discourse: some critical remarks, Organization and Environment 19(4): 439–457. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1086026606294955

Kemp, R.; Loorbach, D.; Rotmans, J. 2007. Transition management as a model for managing processes of co-evolution towards sustainable development, International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 14(1): 78–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504500709469709

Kuosmanen, T.; Kuosmanen, N. 2009. How not to measure sustainable value (and how one might), Ecological Economics 69(2): 235–243. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2009.08.008

Kurucz, E. C.; Colbert, B. A.; Wheeler, D. 2008. The business case for corporate social responsibility, Chapter 4 in A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon, D. S. Siegel (Eds.). The Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199211593.003.0004

Labuschagne, C.; Brent, A. C.; van Erck, R. P. G. 2005. Assessing the sustainability performances of industries, Journal of Cleaner Production 13(4): 373–385. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2003.10.007

Lamberton, G. 2005. Sustainable sufficiency – an internally consistent version of sustainability, Sustainable Development 13(1): 53–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sd.245

Lee, S.; Geum, Y.; Lee, H.; Park, Y. 2012. Dynamic and multidimensional measurement of product-service system (PSS) sustainability: a triple bottom line (TBL)-based system dynamics approach, Journal of Cleaner Production 32: 173–182. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.03.032

Lee, S.; Singal, M.; Kang, K. H. 2013. The corporate social responsibility–financial performance link in the U.S. restaurant industry: do economic conditions matter?, International Journal of Hospitality Management 32: 2–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2012.03.007

Lenox, M.; King, A. 2004. Prospects for developing absorptive capacity through internal information provision, Strategic Management Journal 25(4): 331–345. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smj.379

Linnenluecke, M. K.; Griffiths, A. 2010. Corporate sustainability and organizational culture, Journal of World Business 45(4): 357–366. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2009.08.006

Loorbach, D. A.; Lijnis Huffenreuter, R. 2013. Exploring the economic crisis from a transition manage¬ment perspective, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 6: 35–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2013.01.003

Loorbach, D.; Rotmans, J. 2010. The practice of transition management: examples and lessons from four distinct cases, Futures 42(3): 237–246. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2009.11.009

López, M. V.; Garcia, A.; Rodriguez, L. 2007. Sustainable development and corporate performance: a study based on the Dow Jones sustainability index, Journal of Business Ethics 75(3): 285–300. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9253-8

Lozano, R.; Carpenter, A.; Huisingh, D. 2014. A review of “theories of the firm” and their contributions to Corporate Sustainability, Journal of Cleaner Production, 1–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.05.007

Mackenzie, C. 2007. Boards, incentives and corporate social responsibility: the case for a change of emphasis, Corporate Governance: an International Review 15(5): 935–943. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8683.2007.00623.x

Mahoney, L. S.; Thorne, L.; Cecil, L.; LaGore, W. 2013. A research note on standalone corporate social responsibility reports: signaling or greenwashing?, Critical Perspectives on Accounting 24(4–5): 350–359. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2012.09.008

McWilliams, A.; Siegel, D. S.; Wright, P. M. 2006. Corporate social responsibility: strategic implications, Journal of Management Studies 43(1): 1–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00580.x

Moneva, J. M.; Archel, P.; Correa, C. 2006. GRI and the camouflaging of corporate unsustainability, Accounting Forum 30(2): 121–137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2006.02.001

Moore, S. B.; Manring, S. L. 2009. Strategy development in small and medium sized enterprises for sustainability and increased value creation, Journal of Cleaner Production 17(2): 276–282. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.06.004

Mu, J.; Zhang, G.; MacLachlan, D. L. 2011. Social competency and new product development perfor¬mance, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 58(2): 363–376. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2010.2099231

Neumayer, E. 2010. Weak versus strong sustainability: exploring the limits of two opposing paradigms. UK Northampton, MA, USA. http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781849805438

O’Connor, M.; Spangenberg, J. H. 2008. A methodology for CSR reporting: assuring a representative diversity of indicators across stakeholders, scales, sites and performance issues, Journal of Cleaner Production 16(13): 1399–1415. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2007.08.005

Parmar, B. L.; Freeman, R. E.; Harrison, J. S.; Wicks, A. C.; Purnell, L.; Colle, S. D. 2010. Stakeholder theory: the state of the art, The Academy of Management Annals 4(1): 403–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2010.495581

Porter, M. E.; Kramer, M. R. 2006. Strategy and society: The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility, Harvard Business Review 84(12): 78–92.

Porter, M. E.; Kramer, M. R. 2011. Creating Shared Value – how to reinvent capitalism and unleash a wave of innovation and growth, Harvard Business Review: 1–17.

Ramanathan, R.; Black, A.; Nath, P.; Muyldermans, L. 2010. Impact of environmental regulations on innovation and performance in the UK industrial sector, Management Decision 48(10): 1493–1513. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00251741011090298

Rivera-Camino, J. 2007. Re-evaluating green marketing strategy: a stakeholder perspective, European Journal of Marketing 41(11/12): 1328–1358. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090560710821206

Roca, L. C.; Searcy, C. 2012. An analysis of indicators disclosed in corporate sustainability reports, Journal of Cleaner Production 20(1): 103–118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.08.002

Rodrigo, L. 2012. Towards better embedding sustainability into companies’ systems: an analysis of voluntary corporate initiatives, Journal of Cleaner Production 25: 14–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.11.060

Ruckelshaus, W. 1989. Toward a sustainable world, Scientific American 261(3): 166–175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0989-166

Sakalauskas, L. 2010. Editorial: sustainability models and indicators, Technological and Economic Development of Economy 16(4): 567–577. http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/tede.2010.35

Santos, F. M.; Eisenhardt, K. M. 2005. Organizational boundaries and theories of organization, Organization Science 16(5): 491–508. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0152

Searcy, C.; Elkhawas, D. 2012. Corporate sustainability ratings: an investigation into how corporations use the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Journal of Cleaner Production 35: 79–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.05.022

Sheate, W. R. 2012. Purposes, paradigms and pressure groups: accountability and sustainability in EU environmental assessment, 1985–2010, Environmental Impact Assessment Review 33(1): 91–102. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2011.11.001

Singh, R. K.; Murty, H. R.; Gupta, S. K.; Dikshit, A. K. 2007. Development of composite sustainability performance index for steel industry, Ecological Indicators 7(3): 565–588. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.01.007

Singh, R. K.; Murty, H. R.; Gupta, S. K.; Dikshit, A. K. 2009. An overview of sustainability assessment methodologies, Ecological Indicators 9(2): 189–212. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2008.05.011

Smith, N. C. 2003. Corporate social responsibility: whether or how?, California Management Review 45(4): 52–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/41166188

Stuart, L. H.; Mark, B. M.; Joseph, C. 2003. Creating sustainable value, The Academy of Management Executive 17(2): 56–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/AME.2003.10025194

UN. 2008. International standard industrial classification of all economic activities. Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division United Nations Series M No. 4/Rev.4: 291.

UNEP. 2012. The emissions gap report 2012, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) [online], [cited 10 April 2014]. Nairobi. Available from Internet: http://www.uneporg/publications/ebooks/emissionsgap2012/

Urban, B.; Nikolov, K. 2013. Sustainable corporate entrepreneurship initiatives: a risk and reward analysis, Technological and Economic Development of Economy 19(Sup 1): S383–S408.

Van Passel, S.; Nevens, F.; Mathijs, E.; Van Huylenbroeck, G. 2007. Measuring farm sustainability and explaining differences in sustainable efficiency, Ecological Economics 62(1): 149–161. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.06.008

Vitaliano, D. F. 2010. Corporate social responsibility and labor turnover, Corporate Governance 10(5): 563–573. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14720701011085544

Waddock, S. A.; Graves, S. B. 1997. The Corporate Social Performance – financial performance link, Strategic Management Journal 18(4): 303–319. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199704)18:4<303::AID-SMJ869>3.0.CO;2-G

Walker, B. H.; Salt, D. 2006. Resilience thinking: sustaining ecosystems and people in a changing world. USA, DC, Washington: Island Press, 192.

WBCSD. 2010. Vision 2050 – the new agenda for business. Geneve, 80.

Wood, D. J. 2010. Measuring corporate social performance: a review, International Journal of Management Reviews 12(1): 50–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2009.00274.x