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For more than three decades, researchers have been searching for evidence of corporate economic, social and environmental sustainability, the holy grail of corporate success in a socially and environmentally conscious world of the future. The vast majority of entities that researchers have investigated have focussed on the primary goal of profit maximisation, with only vaguely articulated (if any) social and environmental targets. Very little research has been undertaken to expose the inner workings of organisations that are striving primarily to improve environmental outcomes within a commercial setting. The purpose of this paper is to expose the inside details of an organisation that tried but failed, and highlights the role of power and politics in its demise.

The “processual” or “contextualist” (Burns, 2000, p. 568) methodology adopted in this investigation has facilitated the interpretation and understanding of complex inter-relationships existing amongst key management personnel. The method steps undertaken included observation and documentation of organisational strategic and operational decision-making practices over a period of 22 months and the examination and analysis of over 800 documents prepared either by or about the organisation.

Examining the inter-relationships of power and politics amongst key players during a period of significant change revealed an intense struggle for corporate survival between two management groups: the original “environmentalist” managers who prepared the entity for listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX); and, the introduced “economic rationalist” managers who guided it through the post listing phase. A failure to effectively transition the power held over resources, decision-making and meanings from the old to the new managers proved to significantly challenge the organisation and possibly contributed to its ultimate demise. Some important lessons were highlighted, particularly the need to develop and establish shared understandings. It is suggested that for a business to move closer to being sustainable, rather than allowing one of the existing paradigms to dominate, a new business model needs to emerge.

The practical implementation of conservation activities on a large commercial scale is a controversial notion. The investigation of this unique case through a period of significant change represents an important experiment in the quest for sustainability and reveals valuable lessons that may guide other organisations that follow in its wake.

The threshold for the disclosure of environmental events in corporate reports is of fundamental importance. Recent government and professional reports (ICAA, 1998; and Victoria Parliament, 1999) have suggested that perhaps environmental events should be disclosed by entities at lower threshold levels than those suggested for the disclosure of economic events. The materiality research reveals that, from the perspective of stakeholders, economic events with thresholds of 5% should be disclosed. In this study the nature of thresholds pertinent to environmental events are considered. Stakeholder groups, shareholders, shareholder/environmentalists and environmentalists, indicate, through stated and revealed research methods, that the threshold level for disclosing an environmental event is significantly less than the regulated threshold for economic events.

The recent impasse over federal forest management in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States has been a living laboratory of conflict and its management, and provides the context for this case study. While most of the media attention has been focused on regional or national events such as President Clinton's Forest Conference of April 1993, a larger number of localized conflicts have shaped the controversy at the grassroots level. This case study focuses on a pivotal meeting in one such conflict: the Shasta Costa planning process. Outside intervenors mediated the meeting, and USDA Forest Service personnel, timber industry representatives, and environmentalists participated Participant observation and a supplemental survey led to the following conclusions: (1) measures of standing (the legal and social basis for legitimate participation) differed between the industry and environmental representatives, (2) reliance on science differed between groups, and (3) the process was not able to overcome a power imbalance. These findings suggest that there may be little hope for local dispute efforts if there is substantial policy uncertainty at the national level. Implications for managing forestry conflict in the region are discussed.

Existing research indicates that collective identity is critical in sustaining social movements, especially in the face of significant opposition. We extend this literature by analyzing the ways collective identity evolves and develops over time to combat external barriers and obstacles. Drawing from a unique dataset on activists in the post-communist Czech environmental movement, we analyze how women rallied around their gendered identity to protest against nuclear power. Our analysis focuses on the case of the South Bohemian Mothers (Jihočeské matky), an organization that rallied specifically around the protection of children and healthy communities. The activists faced extensive obstacles including: post-communist patriarchal institutions and sexism; the South Bohemian Daddies, a male-dominated pro-nuclear countermovement; and pervasive anti-environmentalist sentiments. Our results highlight the complex and evolutionary nature of collective identity and the role it can play in sustaining activism in the face of external challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how different community groups differ in the extent to which environmentally friendly behaviours are performed, as well as how they differ across a host of other psychologically relevant variables.

The study was conducted via a self‐report questionnaire delivered to four community samples (environmentalists; performance car enthusiasts; young and older people; n=124) assessing demographic information, ecological behaviour, and the psychological variables.

Results showed that environmentalists engage in more ecological behaviour, are more cooperative, have stronger social and personal norms, a more internal locus of control, feel more collective guilt, and identify less with Australia than performance car enthusiasts. Differences in younger and older populations revealed that young people engage in less ecological behaviour, cooperate less, have a more external locus of control, and identify less with Australia.

The study may provide a starting‐point for future research and behaviour change campaigns aiming to develop methods for increasing ecological behaviour in specific segments of the community.

The paper is important in understanding factors contributing to ecological behaviour, and differs from previous research in that it identifies that certain variables are represented differently in different community samples.

Grid‐group analysis is grounded in a humanistic conception of social science but, it is argued, it has flaws when applied to the analysis of the environmental movement. Environmentalism is not “border” country particularly as existing only in opposition to a “centre”. Grid‐group analysis loses clarity when forced into a “border versus centre” format. And the grid‐group analysis of sub‐cultures is not sufficiently well developed; the lack of a clear holistic frame plays havoc with efforts to derive solid policy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate environmental event materiality and user decision making, providing an empirical basis for reporting entities disclosures regarding material environmental events that further users' ability to make decisions.

A vignette describing an environmental event facing a company was provided to participants who were asked whether the event was deemed to be material and, second, whether the event would initiate an action or no action decision. The use of an experimental approach reveals results regarding the decision‐making process of users rather than relying on respondents stating preferences.

Results indicate that user groups consider the environmental event to be material at a threshold of 6 percent. The determination of the event as material results in a “no action” decision that suggests isolated events of this size may not result in “action” decisions. The study has implications for policy makers and entities disclosing environmental events.

The experimental research approach adopted is primarily limited by the specific contextual nature of the event.

Entity reporting of environmental events is receiving unprecedented levels of interest and this paper contributes to the materiality research and practice in this area.

Environmental policies are rarely set by environmentalists, whatever they may think to the contrary. Macro‐level policies relating to land, water, atmosphere and other prime environmental resources are generally set by departments of agriculture, industry, settlement and the like, and especially by those departments of economic planning that establish the fiscal framework. Alternatively, policies are set by major business concerns, banks and investment bodies. These dominant agents in a nation′s economy then pass on to environmentalists whatever “policy space” is left over, whereupon environmentalists find themselves spending much time and energy in countering the environmental problems set up (all too unwittingly) by the others. A more productive approach for environmentalists would be to tackle some of these problems at source; and the first step in that direction is to better understand the sources in question.

The temporary closure of Maya Bay – located at Phi Phi Le Island in Thailand’s Krabi province – was an executive decision made to overcome problems of “over-tourism” and degradation of the marine ecosystems. The purpose of this paper is to assess the process of stakeholder engagement by the Thai authorities before they arrived at decisions on the closure of Maya Bay.

A multi-method qualitative research through in-depth interviews and netnography was designed to examine opinions of participants within the context of investigation.

The key findings revolve around the central research question of “how are stakeholders managed and consulted to overcome ‘over-tourism’ in Maya Bay?”. The research question can be sub-divided into three parts – the identification of “over-tourism,” the process of engaging and consulting with stakeholders on solutions to deal with “over-tourism,” and the final decision on selected approaches to overcome “over-tourism.”

The researchers draw upon the views from the five groups of stakeholders to propose recommendations on tackling “over-tourism” issues that local governments and destination management agencies might face. A business, residents, authorities, visitors and environmentalists (BRAVE) stakeholders framework is proposed by integrating five main stakeholder categories – businesses (B), residents (R), authorities (A), visitors (V) and environmentalists (E). This “BRAVE” stakeholders model is then used to assess the various stakeholders’ positions on the issue of “over-tourism” in Maya Bay, including a cost-benefit analysis in an “over-tourism” situation. Particular attention is placed on how different stakeholders work together and converge on a decision accepted by all.