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The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of environmental management initiatives in the furniture retail area. The specific aim is to present reflections of participants implementing environmental initiatives in an Australian furniture retailer, Living Edge, in alignment with a secondary snapshot of environmental initiatives from other furniture retailers.

Primary reflections from the retailer’s manager and external consultant, both involved in the implementation of environmental initiatives, are enriched with secondary review of environmental management system trends and examples from regions active in the designer furniture sector, including Europe, Southeast Asia and North America.

An integrated view has been distilled around environmental impact in the furniture supply chain and consumer pressure to minimise the impact. Stakeholders require furniture retailers to improve efficiency and profitability amid the countervailing market demand for environmental sustainability. Retailers may seek competitive advantage through effectively applied and communicated environmental management. The voluntary adoption of systems, international standards and innovative practices that conserve natural resources are amongst the key to success. A live case example of Australian experience is added to the knowledge base for the global retail furniture industry.

One Australian retailer is exemplified to highlight the lived experiences of implementing environmental initiatives. The secondary global review presents a cross-section rather than an in-depth analysis of furniture sector retailers.

There are limited Australian perspectives of designer furniture and its intersection with environmental issues, thus, the paper addresses this gap in the literature and adds to informed practice in a global industry.

The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for environmental management system (EMS) adoption which can be used by managers to enable them to achieve a faster, smoother, effective and sustainable EMS implementation. This is termed by the authors as “successful” EMS implementation.

The framework presented is based on an extensive field study conducted in Australia that included a questionnaire survey and in‐depth interviews conducted with practitioners, the results of which have been reported in this and other journals.

The framework presented covers three distinct phases, namely development, certification and maintenance and continuous improvement. Preliminary assessment of this framework by a group of Australian experts that included four senior managers, one academic and one consultant suggests that this framework is a useful tool for implementing an effective EMS.

Each of the three phases of the framework provides a step‐by‐step approach and a sequential map towards a successful EMS implementation.

The framework has been developed from extensive fieldwork and has been validated by a group of “experts” which comprised of four industry practitioners, one management academic, and one EMS consultant. The framework provides a detailed understanding of the steps involved in the implementation, certification, and maintenance of EMS.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the understanding of the term corporate social responsibility (CSR) by Sri Lankan immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia. It also seeks to investigate the importance the entrepreneurs place on CSR, their understanding of stakeholders, the types of CSR activities undertaken by them, and the issue of social capital.

Data were collected through in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with Sri Lankan entrepreneurs based in Victoria, Australia.

The interviewees were aware of the term CSR but, nevertheless, had different interpretations of its meaning. However, CSR was considered important and all the interviewees were, in some way, involved in CSR activities and also had a good understanding of the importance of their stakeholders. Findings also highlighted the significance attached to social capital by the entrepreneurs such as informal relationships and trustworthiness which build the intangible attributes of CSR. The present findings can be attributed to immigrant entrepreneurs behaving partly to adapt to the host country, by changing their beliefs, values, traditions and partly by being influenced by their home country culture as found in the extended part of this current study.

This paper addresses gaps in the fields of both CSR and immigrant entrepreneurship literature. However, the small sample size is a limitation and further research is required in order to generalize the findings.

It is important to have an understanding of the interpretation of social responsibility amongst immigrant entrepreneurs. Despite the steadily growing number of Sri Lankan immigrant entrepreneurs and their potential impact on the Victorian and Australian socio‐economic context, this area remains under‐researched. This paper addresses this gap in the literature and makes an attempt to provide insight into this area that can be used as a catalyst for future research.

This paper focuses on various aspects of internal and external audits carried out to obtain and maintain ISO 14001 (the International Standard for the Environment released in September 1996) certification. The paper is based on the findings of a questionnaire survey mailed to ISO 14001 certified companies and examined the importance of auditing, its drivers and person(s) responsible for reviewing of the audit results. A response rate of almost 50 per cent was achieved. The findings show that the main reasons for conducting environmental audits go beyond merely satisfying the mandatory requirements of the standard. The responsibility for reviewing of the results and making changes in environmental management programs/plans rests primarily with the top management of the company. Furthermore, the involvement of suppliers in environmental audits needs to be nurtured and developed so that both parties can benefit from the ISO 14001 certification.

The paper aims to discuss the need to balance selflessness and self‐interest issues in outsourcing decisions. This discussion is timely given the tensions that currently exist between those who want off‐shore outsourcing to continue as a means for increasing international trade, and those who only want to conduct business on‐shore.

A conceptual approach has been taken in this paper in order to highlight key considerations for ethical decision‐making with respect to off‐shore outsourcing.

Considerations of selflessness and self‐interest are embedded in outsourcing decisions. It is recommended that a balance between making profits and fulfilling social responsibilities is required, ideally, at each stage of decision‐making. Hence, managers should think critically about the reasons behind off‐shore outsourcing decisions, the process of arriving at decisions, and the impact of their decisions on stakeholders.

This is a conceptual paper and further empirical data to validate the stages of decision‐making framework are required.

Failure to take into account the selflessness and self‐interest outcomes of off‐shore outsourcing could potentially off‐set strategic gains by leading to negative media publicity for a company.

Ethical considerations as part of outsourcing decisions should result in a transparent, fair and more humane working environment for both the host and the home country representatives involved in the process.

This paper presents an original framework of selflessness and self‐interest considerations when making off‐shore outsourcing decisions. Both Eastern and Western business perspectives have been incorporated as part of the decision‐making framework.

This paper seeks to examine the adoption of an environmental management system (EMS) in government departments involved in one Australian state and identify the key factors that contribute to successful adoption.

Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews conducted with environmental coordinators involved in the EMS adoption. The external consultant appointed by the Environmental Protection Authority who provided the training on behalf of the government departments was also interviewed.

The results from the analysis shows that environmental coordinators valued the training as it enhanced their knowledge and skills. They experienced a combination of both tangible and intangible benefits. The lack of contribution and support from top management; difficulty in accessing resources; and resistance from employees were the main challenges experienced during EMS implementation. Recommendations made by the interviewees included: providing training to top management to increase their understanding of the EMS process and its benefits; selection of the right champion; provision of adequate resources; and, training of employees.

The findings are based on interviews conducted in only one Australian state and no follow up interviews could be undertaken to track the progress made by various departments.

The findings of this paper are original as no other similar study has been undertaken in this Australian state documenting the experiences of environmental coordinators when implementing an EMS. Our findings have practical implications for public sector organisations and government departments implementing EMS.

This paper summarises the findings of the qualitative part of a large study aimed at exploring the extent of involvement of organisational stakeholders (employees and suppliers) during the environmental management system (EMS) adoption process. Interviews with nine senior/middle managers from Australian manufacturing and service organisations revealed the growing awareness of the impact of their products and processes on the ecological and social environments. Moreover, implementation of an EMS or waste management system (WMS) is accepted as a learning curve by both the organisation and its stakeholders, including its employees. Organisations at the same time are also contemplating the need for certifying their existing EMS against international standards such as ISO 14001 based on the cost‐benefits resulting from the certification.

This paper seeks to describe an integrated management systems (IMS) approach for the integration of corporate sustainability into business processes.

An extensive review of published literature was conducted. Building on existing research, the paper presents an original framework for structuring the integration of corporate sustainability with existing business infrastructure. The framework is supported by a detailed set of diagnostic questions to help guide the process. Both the framework and the diagnostic questions are based on the “Plan‐Do‐Check‐Act” cycle of continuous improvement.

The paper highlights the need for a systematic means to integrate sustainability into business processes. Building on that point, the paper illustrates how an IMS approach can be used to structure the entire process of managing, measuring, and assessing progress towards corporate sustainability.

The paper should be of interest to both practitioners and researchers. The framework and diagnostic questions will help guide decision makers through the process of building sustainability into their core business infrastructure. Since the framework and diagnostic questions provide the flexibility to accommodate specific organizational contexts, it is anticipated that they will have wide applicability.

The paper makes several contributions. The framework provides a systematic approach to corporate sustainability that has not been elaborated on in previous publications. The unique set of diagnostic questions provides a means to evaluate the extent to which corporate sustainability has been integrated into an organization.

The aim of this paper is to report on an exploratory, qualitative study of how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) describe their firm’s relationships with or impact on stakeholders when communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR) on their websites.

Qualitative content analysis was conducted on 22 Australian SME websites from the information media and telecommunications sector. Stakeholder theory was used as the basis for analysis.

An important aspect of CSR communication is reporting the firm’s relationships with stakeholders such as society/communities, ecological environment, employees, customers and suppliers. This paper provides insights into how these relationships are manifested in SME website communications. For example, three-way relationships between the firm and stakeholders were described on some websites, but few explained the impact of their CSR on stakeholders.

This study concentrated on identifying the CSR communication on websites from one industry sector in Australia. These limitations provide the basis for future research to explore and compare CSR communication on websites by SMEs from other industry sectors and countries.

The findings offer SME owner-managers ideas on different ways they can incorporate details of stakeholder relationships in CSR website communications.

There has been little research on how SMEs use channels such as websites to communicate CSR. This paper addresses this gap in knowledge by providing insights into how SMEs describe stakeholder relationships in CSR website communications.