Business sustainability: frameworks and cases

Citation

Svensson, G. and Wagner, B. (2011), "Business sustainability: frameworks and cases", European Business Review, Vol. 23 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebr.2011.05423daa.001

Business sustainability: frameworks and cases

Article Type: Guest editorial From: European Business Review, Volume 23, Issue 4

This special issue focus on business sustainability. Many companies have begun to realise that it is necessary to achieve long-term sustainability in business operations. This is needed not only in their own business, but also in the case of value-adding suppliers and raw materials producers. Rather than being regarded as costly inconveniences, business sustainability is now a competitive imperative.

Recent developments of predicated climate change as presented in the UN-report IPCC WGI Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 points to the urgent need for business sustainability. The scientific evidence regarding progressive climate change is becoming an essential aspect that may influence the ongoing discourse across subject areas in business research as well as business operations. The evidence presented in the above-mentioned UN-report provides useful knowledge and valuable foresight that may speed up development of sustainable business models, in both practice and theory.

Research in the field of business is far from addressing core requirements and the multiple aspects of business sustainability. Subsequently, the aim of this special issue was to present different frameworks and cases focusing on business sustainability.

This special issue consists of a selection of contributions as follows.

The first article entitled Transformative business sustainability – multi-layer model and network of e-footprint sources” co-authored by Göran Svensson of Oslo School of Management, Norway and Beverly Wagner, University of Strathclyde, UK. It describes the concept of transformative business sustainability”. The essence is the introduction of a multi-layer model of units (i.e. different businesses or other stakeholders), a network of e-footprint sources and an interface of recovery pool and redistribution buffer”.

The second article entitled An integrated management systems approach to corporate sustainability” is co-authored by Muhammad Asif of University of Twente, The Netherlands; Cory Searcy of Ryerson University, Canada; Ambika Zutshi of Deakin University, Australia; and Niaz Ahmad of National Textile University, Pakistan. It describes an integrated management systems approach for the integration of corporate sustainability into business processes based upon a literature review.

The third article entitled Climate change regulation: implications for business executives” is co-authored by Michael Jay Polonsky of Deakin University, Australia; Morgan P. Miles of University of Tasmania, Australia; and Stacy Landreth Grau of Texas Christian University, USA. It provides an overarching conceptual decision model that delineates the major issues and decisions associated with carbon regulations that will allow executives to better understand the potential regulatory schemes and implications that may be imposed in the near future.

The fourth article entitled Minimizing the business impact on the natural environment: a case study of Woolworths South Africa” authored by Maria A.O. Dos Santos of University of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is based upon a content analysis of Woolworths’ comprehensive annual reports and press releases were done in order to identify and describe the different sustainable business practices of Woolworths itself.

The fifth article entitled A corporate effort towards a sustainable business model: a case study from the Norwegian furniture industry” authored by Nils M. Høgevold of Oslo School of Management, Norway. It describes a corporate effort to implement a sustainable business model based upon a Norwegian producer of office chairs.

The last article entitled Sustainable business practices in Spain: a two-case study” is co-authored by Jesús Cambra-Fierro and Rocío Ruiz-Benítez of University Pablo de Olavide. It describes sustainable business practices of two Spanish SME’s belonging to different sectors: a winery and a paint company.

We wish that you – the reader of European Business Review – will find the six contributions of this special issue of great intellectual interest and stimulation. We also hope that both scholars and practitioners will find them valuable.

Welcome to the thought-provoking and challenging world of European Business Review!

Göran Svensson, Beverly WagnerGuest Editors