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The purpose of this paper is to explore and expand the role of strategic ambiguity (SA) in the field of organizational communication. It treats the triple bottom line (TBL) as indicative of an emerging coalition. This coalition brings together three loosely coupled discourse communities each attempting to advance the notion of green business, corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

This case directs attention to how SA and equivocation built into TBL aids three loosely networked discourse communities – formulated around “profits”, “people” and “planet” – emerge, coalesce and diffuse despite being rooted in imprecise and loosely formulated measures.

The findings indicate that despite its imprecision, lack of specificity and operational indices the TBL provides its members with the belief that they are far better off joining the coalition than going it alone. TBL's openness to multiple interpretations enables each of the discourse communities in the emerging network to expect to win concessions from others and to protect its values from encroachment.

This treatment of TBL suggests that SA can be expanded beyond an intra‐organizational focus to one encompassing emergent coalitions. The expanded notion of SA helps explain the stickiness of knowledge transfer in the early stage of coalition formation and the propensity of critics to view new imprecise but inspiring ideas like TBL as nothing but a fad or passing enthusiasm.

The paper problematizes previous research on accountingisation, where the role of accounting in determining the scope of professional work is understood in relation to a professional/economic dichotomy and a model of episodic change. The purpose of this paper is to investigate everyday professional work in established new public management (NPM) settings, and proposes a new conceptual framework to analyze the role of accounting therein. The aim is to enable future investigations into how, when and where a situated “bottom line” emerges, by conceptualizing professional work as a process of calculation.

Qualitative data from case studies of two tertiary level geriatric organizations using observations of 33 employees and four interviews. Data related to patient discharge, and the management of the discharge processes, were analyzed.

Few visible trade-offs between distinctly professional or economic considerations were observed. Rather, the qualification of patients’ status and evaluation of their dischargeability centered on debates over treatment time. Time therefore operated as a situated “bottom line,” to which various other concerns were emergently linked in a process of calculation. Professional practitioners seldom explicitly evoke accounting concepts and technologies, but these were implicated in the ongoing translation of each patient into something temporarily stable, calculable and thus actionable for the professionals involved in their care. The study’s findings have implications for the conceptual understanding of professional work in established NPM settings.

Case study research is context-specific and the role of accounting in professional work will vary due to the professional groups and accounting technologies involved.

The study’s findings have implications for how to influence professional behavior through interventions in the existing landscape of accounting technologies. The possibility to change behavior through the introduction or removal of individual accounting technologies is questioned.

To date, research on the role of accounting in determining the scope of professional work has assumed a professional/economic dichotomy and studied episodic change linked to accounting-oriented reforms. This paper analyses the role of accounting as an on-going process with emergent boundaries between professional and economic considerations.

This paper aims to explore Canadian in/exclusion of Aboriginal groups to/from access to mainstream business resources and opportunities. The focus is one prominent non-governmental program, the Canadian Aboriginal Prosperity and Entrepreneurship (CAPE) Fund, designed to provide equity to Aboriginal businesses. Do programs such as CAPE Fund promote Aboriginal entrepreneurship that liberates “others” on their own terms? or are they “civilizing missions” that attempt to impose Euro-centric practices and values?

The authors critically analyze the “promises” of entrepreneurship through CAPE Fund using TribalCrit, a framework rooted in critical race theory (CRT) and postcolonialism. The authors used a CRT research method highlighting two organizational narratives, describing CAPE Fund financing in two separate ventures. The research allowed to test the theory’s use in practical situations.

This paper develops a postcolonial conception of entrepreneurship to address the realities and needs of Aboriginal communities. Analysis of Canada’s CAPE Fund within two organizational narratives identified aspects of promise (active Aboriginal business ownership) and shortcomings (practices that attempted to erase inequity in ways that led to neocolonial subjugation).

This paper attempts to build theory while engaging in CRT research that relies on organizational narratives. Narrative approaches offer depth of understanding but are not generalizable because of the limited scope of organizations studied.

The research methods used and framework developed offer researchers new approaches to better understand Indigenous and Aboriginal entrepreneurship outcomes. The findings point to specific Aboriginal funding issues that can be addressed by other funding agencies who wish to create more inclusive structures.

Financial programs that might improve the possibility of self-determination of Aboriginal peoples within the postcolonial ideal must “hold both economic and non-economic objectives in tension” (Overall et al., 2010 p. 157) in ways that typically disadvantage Aboriginal entrepreneurs.

This is the first, fully articulated framework for postcolonial entrepreneurship, grounded in CRT and applied to analyze Canada’s CAPE Fund.

In the early part of the twenty‐first century, the term sustainability has become a buzzword. Although featuring strongly in the popular media, trade, professional and academic journals, the very concept of sustainability is elusive for businesses. There is, however, a little empirical research on the perceptions of the UK industrial sectors on the concept of sustainability – which is the core raison d'être of this paper. The purpose of this paper is to capture the general perceptions of the UK industrial sectors on the concept of sustainability.

The aim of this paper is to capture the general perceptions of the UK industrial sectors on the concept of sustainability using a qualitative approach. Four industry sectors: energy and utility, transportation, construction and not‐for‐profit organisations (NPOs) were considered based on the environmental, social and economic impact on the UK society. Semi‐structured interviews were used to collect industry perception which was then analysed using content analysis for inference and conclusion.

The data analysis revealed that the perceptions of the UK industrial sectors on the concept of sustainability vary significantly across the four industry sectors. Four core categories were identified: environmental, economic, corporate social responsibility and triple bottom line dimension.

The paper concludes that the concept of sustainability is multifaceted and diverse. Although the importance of sustainability is broadly acknowledged across the four industry sectors, there is a significant lack of a common and operationalised understanding on the concept of sustainability. Therefore, it is recommended that there is an urgent need to develop and deploy an industry‐wide awareness‐raising programme on the concept of sustainability.

The paper provides a richer insight into the understanding and awareness of the meaning of sustainability at a conceptual level.

The purpose of this paper is to share the findings of a comparative study of the TQM elements deployment model and the universal business excellence model (UBEM) Vedic matrix. Comparative research of the essence of BEMs incorporated in the TQM elements deployment model and additional points identified in UBEM Vedic matrix will facilitate multi‐dimensional business growth.

The TQM elements deployment model unveils the reasons of enactment and social influence of BEM through review of four major quality awards namely Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, European Quality Award, Japan Quality Award, and Deming Prize. UBEM integrates the Vedic philosophy with synthesis of BEMs and emphasizes that the ultimate goal of business is Universal well‐being. The study involved inputs from the essence of Vedic hymns incorporated in the Vedic matrix of UBEM and the synthesis of major quality awards incorporated in the TQM elements deployment model using principal component analysis.

The UBEM Vedic matrix is constructed based on a broad understanding of the Vedic philosophy. The TQM elements deployment model is constructed based on TQM concepts, quality assurance aystem and quality management system. The former can be called a management concept thinking model and the latter can be called a management system thinking model. It is concluded that the sustenance and growth of an enterprise lies in harmonization with global society.

Comparative research is an attempt to integrate the best practices of the West incorporated in the BEM with the Vedic philosophy of the East, which derives infinite creativity, actions and power from the universal laws of Nature. It is an example for researchers to explore several other areas to integrate the best of both worlds (East and West) and provide a new direction for the mankind.

The comparative research provides additional inputs, which may be used during review of the BEMs and national quality awards in the various regions of the world and hence are of relevance to all BEM custodians. The study is expected to help in a review of the national business excellence strategies worldwide.

The paper is one of the first to focus on integration of BEMs and the Vedic philosophy. The UBEM Vedic matrix identifies practicing values and measuring multiple bottom‐lines as key to sustainable growth. Its integration with the TQM elements deployment matrix is useful to enhance the effectiveness of BEMs. Principal component analysis methodology used in this paper for comparative study is also useful for comparative studies of the quality award criteria.

To debate some of the commonly;held assumptions about social enterprises.

The three main assumptions that are commonly applied to the development and characteristics of social enterprises are discussed, namely: that social enterprise must be a collective or democratic pursuit; that social enterprise is institutionally different from earlier mechanisms designed to usher in a “third way”; and that social enterprise is better than doing nothing. Analyses the development of these three assumptions through the framework offered by DiMaggio and Powell (1983) on institutional isomorphism.

There are indications that the social enterprises sector would benefit from more co‐ops taking an ever‐greater market share in an ever‐increasing range of industries, but that this should be the outcome of decisions freely made by individual, autonomous organizations that are free to choose social enterprises over other available options. Concludes that the practical danger posed by the wrong kind of isomorphic tendencies is to the potential flourishing of alternative organizational forms, alternative business models, and alternative ways of seeing the economic world.

Clarifies some of the commonly‐held views concerning social enterprises.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the engagement with integrated reporting (IR) of the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), as one of the banks that pioneered IR. Banking industry members face critical sector-specific issues regarding the use of capitals, especially the disclosure of relational and natural capital-related information, and reporting of the outcomes of capitals. This study examines an innovative approach to accounting for multiple capitals adopted by DBS during its journey toward IR.

This empirical research follows the case study method, using semi-structured interviews with DBS’s managers, and analyzing reports and other documentation.

The authors find that DBS re-conceptualizes, re-categorizes and measures multiple capitals as a form of non-financial value using the balance sheet approach to make visible the interactions and potential tensions (trade-offs) among capitals.

Case studies are best used to understand a specific context, so the findings of this study cannot be generalized statistically. However, the study does provide insights into the banking industry that may be applicable to other organizations.

The categorization and reporting of multiple capitals using the balance sheet approach and the integration of the balanced scorecard are innovative operationalizations of the International <IR> Framework.

This study provides an innovative approach to the categorization and measurement of multiple capitals. It represents a step toward reducing the gap between research and practice on IR.

Social entrepreneurship education (SEE) is gaining increasing attention globally. This paper aims to focus on how SEE may be better understood and reconfigured from a Bourdieusian capital perspective with an emphasis on the process of mobilising and transforming social entrepreneurs’ cultural, social, economic and symbolic resources.

Drawing on qualitative research with a sample of social entrepreneurship educators and mentors, the authors generate insights into the significance of challenging assumptions and establishing values and principles and hence that of developing a range of capitals (using the Bourdieusian notion of capital) for SEE.

The findings highlight the significance of developing a range of capitals and their transformative power for SEE. In this way, learners can develop dispositions for certain forms of capitals over others and transform them to each other in becoming reflexive social agents.

The authors respond to the calls for critical thinking in entrepreneurship education and contribute to the field by developing a reflexive approach to SEE. The authors also make recommendations to educators, who are tasked with implementing such an approach in pursuit of raising the next generations of social entrepreneurs.

The purpose of this paper is to evolve the Universal Business Excellence Model (UBEM) with the integration of common features of business excellence models (BEMs) with universal laws of nature to facilitate multi‐dimensional business growth.

Business has focused on accumulation of wealth at the cost of society for decades. It has resulted in socio‐economic, political and environmental problems and led to the evolution of quality, environmental, HSE systems and BEMs, etc. Vedic philosophy emphasizes that a core function of business is to create wealth for “Well being of society”. To evolve UBEM, synthesis of BEM, e.g. the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), the European Quality Award (EQA) and the Deming Prize has been undertaken to identify the common and unique issues. In addition, certain issues not adequately addressed in BEM but emphasized in Vedic hymns have been empirically tested to check their applicability in the current business scenario.

The paper finds that UBEM stresses that profit is not the ultimate objective of the business, but a means to achieve the sustainable success. Interestingly, professionals of various age groups, different countries and backgrounds have overwhelmingly supported the concept in empirical study.

Hymn from Rig‐Veda explains that physical as well as moral laws govern the entire universe. Vedic philosophy derives infinite creativity, actions and power from the universal laws of Nature. This paper is an attempt to integrate philosophy of the East with modern practices of the West. It is an example for researchers to explore several new areas to integrate the best of the both (East and West) and provide a new direction to the mankind.

The use of the UBEM will make it easier for practicing managers to reach the right decisions for sustainable success.

The UBEM identifies the “values and process flow” and measurement of “multiple bottom‐lines” as the key to success. Integration of “organization vision” with “universal wellbeing” leads to sustainable success and provides an access to the infinite power of “cosmic energy” to ensure multi‐dimensional growth.