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This article was developed to provide a viewpoint for the 10th Annual EABIS Colloquium on Strategic Innovation for Sustainability held at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland on 3-4 July 2012.

The authors present a framework of three practices that must be applied to an ever-increasing degree along the spectrum of strategic innovation for sustainability.

To reap the benefits of innovation for sustainability, businesses need to adapt the type of innovation they aim for to their particular context. Three practices are crucial to the innovation process – i.e. an integrated approach, multiple partnerships and visionary leadership from the top. These practices address two of the main challenges companies face in innovating for sustainability, namely actively engaging with the wider dynamic context in which they operate, and spanning boundaries they are not used to crossing.

By analysing the specific context in which a business operates, it is possible to form a better idea of where on the spectrum a particular company may focus its efforts in order to have the greatest chances of success.

The analyses in this paper contribute to the debate and practical realisation of sustainable development.

While many studies distinguish between continuous versus discontinuous change as the two ends on a spectrum, the authors extend the spectrum to include three major points from incremental to radical to game-changing systemic innovation for sustainability. The three critical practices must be applied to an ever-increasing degree along the spectrum.

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Innovation and sustainability. Two of the biggest buzzwords in business today. For many companies, focusing on one of these areas helps secure growth and a competitive edge. It thus stands to reason that combining innovation with sustainability might prove a real match-winner in the longer-term. A common perception equates sustainability with compliance. Small changes here and there to tick the right boxes. Corporate image receives a welcome tonic. But the impact can be much greater than that. Boosting both profits and market share are realistic goals when sustainability is used to drive innovation. Talent becomes easier to attract and retain too. Conventional wisdom has it that an innovation continuum prevails. Incremental change lies at one end with the more disruptive type at the other. Throwing sustainability into the equation demands a more systemic approach that extends the spectrum even further to reflect the scale of transformation such innovation brings. True innovation for sustainability should enhance performance in economic, environmental and societal terms.

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to share a personal perspective on the 2011 Academy of Management meeting held in San Antonio, Texas. It explores the author's experience of the conference theme of “West meets East: Enlightening, Balancing and Transcending” as well as providing a doctoral student's overall reflections of a major conference.

The paper uses a constructivist perspective in order to reflect upon conference experiences. Observations and the gathering of conference materials helped inform the approach.

This paper argued that the Academy of Management Annual meeting is likely to have a lasting impact on the author. The author was inspired to continue to discover how to become an engaged scholar and practitioner, as well as broadening her understanding of East‐West management practices and cultures.

This paper has value as it presents a personal perspective of a first‐year doctoral student attending her first large, international conference.

This study investigates if and how the board size, the board independence, the CEO duality and the board-specific skills are associated with higher-quality Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) disclosure in European State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).

We measured SDGs disclosure through a content analysis of SOE's reports from 2017 to 2022. The characteristics of the boards analyzed are board size, board independence, CEO duality and board-specific skills. We performed multiple regression models to test the association between the SDGs disclosure and the characteristics of the boards.

The results show that board size, independent directors and board-specific skills are positively associated with higher-quality SDGs disclosure, while CEO duality is negatively associated with higher-quality SDGs disclosure.

This study provides several practical implications. Shareholders could equip their firms with larger boards, more independent and highly skilled directors, while avoiding a CEO duality for improving the SDGs disclosure; capital providers could examine the characteristics of a firm's board before allocating financial resources to verify which firms are accountable in reaching the SDGs. Also, standard-setters and policymakers could use the results of this research to define new standards or regulatory pathways to push firms to put more efforts in preparing a comprehensive and high-quality SDGs disclosure.

While prior studies mostly focused on sustainability reporting overall, this study adds a specific insight about SDGs disclosure employing an investigation which has not been previously analyzed.

This study aims to analyse the role of persistence in the assessments carried out by sustainability agencies in the interaction between sustainability committee characteristics, sustainability strategies and performance.

The authors accessed a sample of European sustainable multinational and transnational companies (EMNs) for the period 2008–2017 from RobecoSAM universe. Using a set of simultaneous equation models, the authors test the effect of the sustainability committee on sustainability performance considering the sustainability strategy as a mediating element. Moreover, the authors analysed if the persistent assessment of sustainability agencies conditions the previous interaction.

Persistence of the sustainability assessment performed by an external agency is necessary to support the sustainability strategy and the sustainability committee, legitimating an organization in its institutional context.

This study provides practitioners with relevant insights into the identification of the sustainability strategy followed by an EMN and the effects associated with it can be useful for social and economic agents in decision-making processes.

A persistent assessment could be a signal over time of the evolution of organizations, reinforcing the monitoring mechanisms. It is a stimulus to EMNs as they obtain both an indicator of their levels of performance and public recognition.

The lack of similarity in the levels of sustainable performance observed among companies can be explained by the persistence, which is an omitted variable in previous studies.

The purpose of this study is to examine the existence of greenwashing and sustainable development goal (SDG)-washing processes by comparing ex ante (SDG Compass) and ex post (SDG Compliance) indicators and investigating whether the limitations associated with these indicators encourage companies to engage in washing processes.

The authors use a sample of 1,154 companies included in the S&P Sustainability Yearbook (formerly the RobecoSAM Yearbook). The authors test for the presence of greenwashing by comparing ex ante and ex post indicators for each SDG, whereas to test for SDG-washing, the authors compare the two ex ante and ex post approaches considering the full set of SDGs.

The results show that there is no consistency between the two types of indicators to measure the level of SDG implementation in organisations. This lack of consistency may facilitate both greenwashing and SDG-washing processes, which is due to the design and limitations of these measurement tools.

Companies may choose those indicators that paint their commitment to the SDGs in the best light, but they may also select indicators based on the SDGs they want to report on. These two options would combine greenwashing and SDG-washing.

The shift towards improved standards and regulations for measuring SDG achievement is the result of several social factors such as investor scrutiny, regulatory reform, consumer awareness and increased corporate accountability.

Few previous studies have analysed in detail the interaction between greenwashing and SDG-washing. They focus on the use of ex ante or ex post indicators separately, with samples composed of local companies, and without considering the whole set of SDGs.

Offers a number of insights into the nature of spirituality in organizations and how employees can gain greater spirituality and purpose in their work. Specifically, proposes that a recent leadership theory, thought self‐leadership, can assist employees in influencing or leading themselves towards experiencing more spirituality in their organizational life.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how past experiences in implementing disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities can be harnessed to conceptualise effective and appropriate climate change adaptation (CCA) programs in Indonesia. The authors propose a conceptual framework for integrating DRR and CCA in managing climate‐related risks and explain the need for joint implementation.

The study is conducted through review and analysis of academic, government and non‐government literature to determine the Indonesian experience in integrating DRR and CCA. Interviews were conducted with 26 DRR and CCA stakeholders in Indonesia.

The authors make three propositions in this paper. First, there needs to be a re‐orientation of the institutional arrangements for DRR and CCA, to increase the effectiveness of planning and implementation. Second, DRR and CCA activities needed to be stronger supported at the local level, with a specific aim to reduce the underlying causes of vulnerability of communities at risk. Third, non‐government organisations play a very important role in integrating DRR and CCA through community‐based initiatives.

While this paper focuses specifically on Indonesia, the findings are relevant to other countries with similar geographical and socio‐economic conditions, as they are likely to face similar challenges.

The paper provides practical suggestions on what steps government actors, at all political levels, can do to support the integration of DRR and CCA planning and implementation activities in Indonesia.

The paper is one of the first to document progress in integrating DRR and CCA in Indonesia.