Search results

The triple bottom line (TBL) is still commonly explored in research without joint consideration of economic, social and environmental elements of business sustainability (BS). The purpose of this paper is to re-test and validate a BS framework based on the TBL approach.

This study is based on a questionnaire survey consisting of the largest firms in corporate Sweden. A total of 107 usable questionnaires were ultimately received, for a response rate of 36.5 percent.

The findings validate and extend a framework of a TBL-dominant logic for BS. A total of 19 dimensions indicating satisfactory validity and reliability of the BS framework were identified.

The BS framework offers relevant insights to monitor and assess a TBL-dominant logic for BS. It also provides opportunities for further research.

Managers can use the BS framework as a tool to map firm priorities in connection with BS. Each dimension of the BS framework offers insights into how to monitor and assess firms’ efforts in the TBL.

This study contributes to validate and extend the TBL-dominant logic for BS. The BS framework also offers a timely and relevant contribution to both scholars and practitioners engaging in business sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to validate or refute the previous empirical findings of a TBL dominant logic for business sustainability and to expand the TBL dominant logic for business sustainability with additional dimensions and items. The study aims to provide bottom-up-based multi-dimensional framework in relation to the sustainable development goals (SDG) of the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

Key corporate informants in top Spanish companies were requested to participate in the study. A total of 89 usable questionnaires were returned, generating an initial response rate of 42.4%.

A framework for a TBL-dominant logic in the context of business sustainability has been empirically tested successfully across contexts and through time, thus providing substantiation for universal applicability.

This study provides a relevant and important substantiation for validity and reliability across contexts and through time. It is important in research to establish a theoretical framework at the corporate level for business sustainability in connection with SDGs. This study is not without its limitations, but offers opportunities for further research.

The framework provides practitioners with a foundation to assess their efforts at business sustainability, taking into account a broad selection of aspects across environmental, social and economic elements that contribute to SDGs.

This study makes two relevant and valuable contributions to developing a framework of TBL dominant logic for business sustainability, namely, validation and expansion. It offers also multiple opportunities for both research and practice to assess business sustainability efforts across environmental, social and economic aspects in relation to SDGs.

In the final quarter of the twentieth century, organizational management had been rocked by a theory more powerful than anything since the days of Taylor's theory of scientific management. The new theory was called Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM has largely been eclipsed by other management fads since such as Sigma 6 but none had such an explosive effect on business, schools, and government agencies as TQM (Juran, 1995). The gurus of TQM included J. M. Juran (2003), P. B. Crosby (1995), and even the sage of organizational theory, Peter Drucker (2008). No one, however, stood as tall among this class of gurus as did the notable W. E. Deming (1982). TQM has often been criticized over the years for failing in practice. Deming and his followers retort that it is because organizations seldom incorporated the entire 13 point program. The part so often left out were points that implicitly reflected moral commitments Deming thought organizations ought to have. What Deming relegated to matters of team spirit and other psychological commitments are accommodated in the most scientific sense by recent developments in biology and economics showing that there is an instinct driving evolution among herd animals such as humans to cooperate. This focus on instinct is captured in the most practical sense for organizational analysis in the present author's work on moral architecture. The concept of moral architecture will be sketched as a means for understanding and strengthening, schools, law enforcement agencies and prisons, and other correctional facilities.

Germany has become one of the major destination countries for labour migration within the European Union. The German government introduced temporary restrictions on labour migration after the eastern enlargement rounds of 2004 and 2007. These barriers had little impact on the overall volume of labour mobility. Rather they were accompanied by new “atypical” forms of mobility through the posting of workers, self-employment and seasonal workers, which according to EU rules are covered only by a minimum of host country regulations. The combination of temporary restrictions on regular migration and the opportunities through atypical mobility created strong incentives for companies to engage in ‘regime shopping’ strategies. This contributed to a considerable growth in outsourcing, subcontracting and flexible use of external labour added to pre-existing dynamics of low-wage competition, segmentation and fragmentation in the German labour market. Using data on the different forms of intra-EU migration to Germany, the article analyses the different paths that labour migration has frequently used since the fall of the Iron Curtain. First, it maps the changes in magnitude, character and direction of intra-EU labour mobility to Germany and the relative weight of the different channels through which such movements occurred from 2000 to 2015. Second, the article discusses the various responses by the government by the extension of collective agreements and the statutory minimum wage.

The literature on supplier development (SD) is mostly fragmented, and very little research offers insights on the interrelations of the critical elements of SD. This research aims to evaluate the significance of SD and reconceptualise it by identifying and linking the key constructs and items of SD.

A structured literature review of SD literature was performed, and it was followed by conducting a contingency analysis of defined constructs and the items of SD. Applying a literature review and contingency analysis allows assessing the degree to which core constructs and their operational items are addressed in the SD literature.

Our findings show that a high degree of interrelations exists among enablers, relationships and supplier development strategies (SDS), of which, only indirect SDS drives the performance outcomes. However, interrelations between the individual items of the main categories of SD remain unexplored.

The proposed revised framework reveals significant research gaps in SD and calls for a thorough examination of the topic.

The key contribution of the paper is reconceptualising SD and contributing to the theoretical development of SD.

This paper aims to investigate the concept of inter‐organisational supplier development programs and to stress the importance of considering suppliers' interest and motivation when implementing development initiatives.

This paper's theoretical framework is based on an in‐depth literature review that analyses how extant supplier development literature considers an inter‐organisational approach. A single case study of eight inter‐organisational relationships is also included.

The literature review reveals a lack of focus on inter‐organisational approaches to supplier development, even though the literature mentions it as a missing theme. Customer attractiveness is presented as one approach that takes supplier view and motivation into consideration. This idea is supported by the case study, which indicates that supplier performance is influenced by perceived customer attractiveness.

This paper is based on only a single case study and does not provide the basis for statistical generalisation. A theory on customer attractiveness is under development, and the analysis presented here is based on the theoretical findings.

Because suppliers can have their own strategic agendas, such as prioritising developments with the most attractive customers, buyers should consider suppliers' perspectives and motivations when analysing and implementing supplier development programs.

This paper is among the first to focus on the importance of viewing both parties' interest in a buyer‐supplier relationship when implementing supplier development initiatives. The concept of customer attractiveness as an inter‐organisational approach represents a valuable addition to supplier development literature.

Companies and their business networks impact on Earth's life and ecosystems must be seriously addressed and minimized. The purpose of this paper therefore proposes and describes a generic model as well as a network model of business sustainability.

“Business sustainability” is defined as a company's or an organization's efforts to manage its impact on Earth's life‐ and eco‐systems and its whole business network. The work concentrates on one research question, namely: how can business sustainability and E‐footprints be conceptualised?

The model introduced emphasises not only the importance of business networks adopting an E‐footprint and an Earth‐to‐Earth (EE) cradle‐to‐cradle approach, but also a transformative Earth (E) footprint‐model derived and inspired from a causal framework in complexity sciences.

Research is rare that simultaneously focuses on EE‐approaches, E‐footprint stakeholders and zero‐sum cycles. The authors have striven to address this gap by introducing a business sustainability model in an EE‐approach and with an interconnecting transformative E‐footprint‐model.

It is crucial to embed appropriate routines and processes within the company in the first instance with the aim of business sustainability. This may cause a ripple effect in the company's business network as raw material producers, value‐adding suppliers and customers become drawn into make appropriate strategic, tactical and operative adaptations in their own business dealings. This stresses the importance of E‐footprint stakeholders fostering networks of both interdependent and collaborative corporate efforts aimed at business sustainability.

The main contribution should be a business sustainability model of life and ecosystems from an EE‐approach with a transformative E‐footprint.model. Each company within a business network must endeavour to minimise its E‐footprint through its zero‐sum cycles. These should be seen as interdependent and interconnected thereby contributing to the total E‐footprint of the business network.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the concept of “transformative business sustainability”. “Business sustainability” refers the total effort of a company – including its demand and supply chain network – to reduce the impact on the Earth's life‐ and eco‐systems –, i.e. the total e‐footprint. “Transformative” highlights the need for an open minded, dynamic and flexible approach to “business sustainability” not governed by blinkers.

This paper discusses a conceptual development of transformative business sustainability, derived from a frame of reference. 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 a “recovery pool and redistribution buffer” at the interface.

Transformative business sustainability is both a theoretical and managerial concept. It could also be seen as a roadmap to plan, implement and evaluate business sustainability.

Transformative business sustainability provides opportunities for development. Suggestions for further research are presented.

E‐footprint sources in business, applying an Earth‐to‐Earth approach, are described. The concept of transformative business sustainability contributes by achieving genuine and continuous business sustainability and awareness at strategic, tactical and operative levels of business, avoiding use of buzzwords and window dressing.

Well‐being of the planet Earth has to be at the core of business sustainability. The authors contend that the “recovery pool and redistribution buffer” is crucial in the planning, implementation and evaluation of transformative business sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a transformative business sustainability (TBS) model of stakeholders and sources in sustainable business practices with an interface and exchange node of resource residuals.

The research is based upon a grounded methodology drawn from four in-depth case studies, spanning over six years in different countries and industries. Data were gathered from multiple sources, and interview transcriptions were returned to interviewees for clarification, accuracy, final proofreading and approval.

The TBS model complements existing research by emphasising the importance of commitment to an overarching vision through corporate leadership assigning areas of strategic priority that respond to current and future environmental regulation and social needs.

Efforts aimed towards business sustainability and application of sustainable business practices in business networks include interfaces and interactions between involved stakeholders and sources. We argue that stakeholders and sources should be recognised as intertwined, where resources used in activities in a business network causing resource residuals may be recovered and reused by other actors in the business network.

The TBS model can be used by managers to plan, implement and assess practices to provide a holistic view of sustainable business activities that supports the development of a company and its network. It may also be used to map and navigate interactions between elements within and external to the company.

The principal contribution of the current research is twofold, a TBS model and a tool to map and navigate corporate sustainability efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to address the perceptions of managers in large companies located in Brazil regarding the long-term and short-term benefits of adopting strategic actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Based on an empirical analytical method, this paper examines interviews conducted with senior managers of leading companies located in Brazil to identify their perceptions of adopting strategic actions toward mitigating and adapting to climate change.

The key results are as follows: the most commonly perceived long-term benefit was operational improvement, based on the improved energy efficiency of operations; strategic management of aspects affected by climate change can make managers more aware of the benefits derived from the decisions taken; and a short-term view and aversion to uncertainty can lead to failures in strategic management, limiting the effectiveness of actions for mitigating and adapting to climate change.

This paper contributes to the literature on the topic of climate change by presenting evidence that adaptation and mitigation measures can increase organizational managers’ perception of long-term benefits, and that climate change management structures guide managers to make the transition to a low-carbon economy.