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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework which sheds new light on how sustainability control systems (SCS) can be used in proactive strategic responses to corporate sustainability pressures.

Design/Methodology/Approach – Corporate sustainability pressures are identified using insights from institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm.

Findings – The paper presents an integrated framework showing the corporate sustainability pressures, proactive strategic responses to these pressures, and how organizations might use SCS in their responses to the corporate sustainability pressures they face.

Practical Implications – The proposed framework shows how organizations can use SCS in proactive strategic responses to corporate sustainability pressures.

Originality/Value – The paper suggests that instead of using traditional financial-oriented management control systems, organizations need more focus on emerging SCS as a means of achieving sustainability objectives. In particular, the paper proposes different SCS tools that can be used in proactive strategic responses to sustainability pressures in terms of (i) specifying and communicating sustainability objectives, (ii) monitoring sustainability performance, and (iii) providing motivation by linking sustainability rewards to performance.

The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of global “strategic sustainability”, represented by a conceptual framework, the “spheres of strategic sustainability”. The paper examines routes, solutions and a vision for corporate strategic sustainability in the macro context of the global physical environment and the planet. This builds on previous research identifying key drivers and strategies for corporate sustainability.

The paper is conceptual in nature and underpinned by Gaia theory, ecosystems theory and the laws of thermodynamics. These three offer specific foci for sustainability research including holism, integration and synthesis: without which, sustainability research would be difficult to achieve.

The paper identifies two major domains – “corporate” and “consumer” strategic sustainability. It examines the corporate domain in which routes are identified through responses to existing globalisation, corporate strategy and corporate culture.

The paper provides insight and preliminary conceptual development towards a full theoretical model of corporate and consumer strategic sustainability. The framework will guide future conceptual and empirical investigations and broaden and deepen our understanding of how firm's can construct strategic business models that incorporate sustainability.

The paper offers a conceptual framework that develops the concept of “corporate strategic sustainability” and provides positive, practical solutions to incorporating sustainability into business models. It also challenges the current dominant socio‐economic paradigm and sets the scene for a more positive eco‐paradigm that serves the present and future needs of the planet, environment, businesses and human society.

The purpose of the paper is to present a conceptual framework and a set of conditions within which nations and business can strive to embed sustainability in corporate/national strategy. The objective is to motivate business and national leaders to do so with sustainability mindsets and strategic leadership. The pre‐conditions that will accelerate the “motivation” to do so are identified, as are interventions identified. The sphere of influence business and national leaders have to impact sustainable globalization is identified.

The approach is to focus on information in the public domain that outlines the “real” challenges faced by nations and business as they consider the need for sustainability and key issues such as “poverty and climate change”, which if not addressed could have detrimental strategic implications for the planet, business and nations. The changes that have taken place since 1982 when global leaders signed up to Agenda 21 and the relatively insignificant movement that has occurred to date is outlined to strengthen the case for quantum leaps in the short to medium term. The strategic framework recommended is one that combines the need for organizations to set a new gold standard for “corporate responsibility”, which is a “commitment to sustainable business” followed by a commitment to differentiating the business or nation on a sustainability paradigm. This is presented as means to embedding sustainability in strategy in the form of the concept of “strategic corporate sustainability”. The concept of strategic corporate sustainability is presented as a two‐step approach that initially requires both national and corporate leaders to commit to the need for sustainability by developing triple bottom line strategies. This is followed by the need to embed sustainability strategy as the corporate strategy that differentiates the nation and the business, strategically setting it apart from those that have not done so. This is presented as one of the ways to move forward to achieve the goal of sustainable globalization.

The key findings from information in the public domain of nations and business that have embedded a sustainability policy and are demonstrating that enlightened leaders who have sustainability mindsets as a primary requirement for the future are presented with the examples of General Electric and Unilever. The process of nations embedding sustainability policy, which in turn motivates business to strive for sustainable business, which finally leads to sustainable consumption, is presented in a sequential manner.

The originality of the paper is in the form of the concept of strategic corporate sustainability, which was first mooted in 2008 at Cambridge University and has since been accepted as a key subject and elective for MBA and AMP programs between 2008 and 2012 at many business schools, confirming both its validity and its originality.

This paper aims to develop a spirituality mode of firm strategic planning processes that incorporate four basic firm spirituality elements, namely, transcendence, an inexhaustible source of will, a basic and supreme power and interconnectedness and oneness, used for promoting corporate and community sustainability.

A conceptual analysis was performed.

Drawing upon prior research, this paper suggests that there are four major spiritual elements of the firm, namely, transcendence, an inexhaustible source of will, a basic and supreme power and interconnectedness and oneness. Additionally, this paper proposes that to promote long-term sustainability and survival of the firm and community, firms can place strong emphasis on firm transcendence when establishing the vision and mission statements. Moreover, firms may need to assess environmental conditions based upon an inexhaustible source of will. Furthermore, when formulating and selecting strategic alternatives, firms can utilize a basic and supreme power. Finally, firms may implement selected strategic alternatives and strategic controls with interconnectedness and oneness mentality.

This paper is one of the first studies that develop a spirituality mode of strategic planning processes focusing on both corporate and community sustainability.

Despite the scholarly attention for the integration of sustainability within business strategy and processes, little is known about how strategic orientations of companies influence this integration. Drawing on stewardship theory, this paper aims to analyse the influence of strategic orientation of companies on their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance and the moderating effect of three different political models of economy (Rhine, British and American).

This paper creates a measurement for strategic orientations by using a coding scheme with a five-category evaluation matrix. The main empirical analysis is done by a fixed-effect model with a panel data set covering 179 publicly traded companies over the 2009-2016 period.

The conclusions of this paper present that – consistent over time – a stronger orientation on stewardship positively associates with higher ESG performance. Additionally, the political model of economy significantly alters the relationship indicating the effect of strategic orientation on ESG performance. The relationship is significantly stronger in the Rhine model and significantly weaker in the British model, when both compared to the American model.

The implications of this paper are vital to understanding corporate strategic orientation and its relationship to actual corporate behaviour and long-term performance. Implementing the elements of focus, motivation, commitment, support and communication linked to a stewardship orientation is fundamental to achieve higher levels of sustainability performance.

This chapter discusses the evolvement of the sustainability concept and its importance in the strategic management context. First, the authors review the development of the concept over the last century and presents the most commonly used sustainability definitions. Then, the three pillars of sustainability (economic, natural and social) are reviewed, highlighting the sustainability aspect of each pillar individually and the problems of their non-substitutability, irreversibility and non-linearity. Based on the literature review, this chapter discusses the main motives for integration of sustainability concept into the overall strategy of the company, namely compliance with regulation, response to public concern, expected competitive advantage and top management commitment. Furthermore, important distinctions between reactive and proactive approaches are presented, and the results and benefits (such as cost reductions, differentiation and added value) of proactive approaches to corporate sustainability are analyzed. Nevertheless, such benefits can only be achieved if corporate sustainability is understood and treated as a holistic concept, which is deeply embedded in the company’s strategy and is approached proactively from the interdisciplinary viewpoint, looking at all three dimensions simultaneously.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a comprehensive methodology and a problem-specific model for the configuration of the optimal strategic supplier portfolio in terms of traditional, performance-related objectives and sustainability targets.

To bridge the research gap, i.e., to align strategic supplier portfolio selection with corporate sustainability targets, a hybrid model of the analytic network process (ANP) and goal programming (GP) is developed. To validate the model, a case example is presented and managerial feedback is collected.

By enabling the integration of sustainability targets into strategic supplier portfolio configuration, the hybrid ANP-GP model contributes to research in the area of sustainable supply chain management. Results indicate that simplifying the model by omitting one or more details may lead to unfortunate actions.

The model has been applied using a case example in the automotive industry. To strengthen the findings, it should be examined under other terms as well.

Integrating economic, environmental, and social targets into strategic supplier portfolio configuration reduces supply risks and promotes the achievement of the sustainability goals of the purchasing company.

Strategic supplier selection counts among the decisions that have an impact on the environment and society for several years. Configuring economically rational, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible supplier bases supports worldwide efforts towards sustainable development.

Although sustainable supplier selection has gained importance in recent years, this is the first time that a comprehensive model for the determination of the optimal strategic supplier portfolio in terms of performance-related objectives and sustainability targets has been proposed.

The purpose of this paper is to provide managers with suitable strategic KPIs in decision-making processes, which aim to integrate the environmental dimension of sustainability at a business level in manufacturing organisations.

In view of the research proposal addressed, semi-structured interviews were conducted, based on theoretical milestones of the performance management system (PMS), with 48 managers that work in Italian manufacturing firms and specialise in green practices.

The authors developed a novel environmentally performed framework to adequately integrate environmental value drivers at a strategic level.

The resulting issues addressed in this paper, and their integration in the business strategy for managing environmental complexity, allows contributing, firstly, to the existing literature by suggesting the relevant key value drivers that need to be mostly studied from an accounting point of view. In addition, from these results, though their experience managers will have up-to-date key measures that could, in the future, help the integration process between the environmental aspect of the sustainability dimension and the PMS.

The results generate a robust roadmap for future analysis in this research field. Accordingly, the paper engenders a strategic alignment in the green transition process, providing scholars and practitioners with a clear view of the key sustainable drivers, metrics and potential solutions that have not been addressed to date.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) must take on a leadership role in building a sustainable world, given their responsibility for preparing future professionals and leaders worldwide and considering the role they provide to society. To accomplish this goal, HEIs need to holistically embody sustainability in everything they develop. This study aims to help HEIs in this purpose by developing a method to integrate sustainability into the strategic planning process in these institutions.

In the first stage, the method was developed based on papers selected through a systematic literature review. The proposed method was then applied in a Brazilian HEI to validate and adjust it.

A method that adopts a participatory process to integrate sustainability into HEIs’ strategic planning was proposed.

This study provides university leaders with a simple and practical method to aid with elaborating on strategic plans for holistic sustainability integration.

This study uniquely applied a framework called “HEIs sustainability action archetypes” as the foundation for selecting sustainable objectives, goals and actions to be integrated into these institutions’ strategic planning.

Two years on from the launch of the United Nations 2030 agenda, this study aims to approach just how and why large Portuguese companies are incorporating the sustainable development goals (SDGs) into their strategies. This sets out a theoretical framework for priority levels of management and the key rationales and motivations towards the adoption of the SDGs by companies within the scope of identifying logical and mutual connections.

The proposed theoretical framework applied an empirical, qualitative study approach, deploying content analysis of the semi-structured interviews carried out.

The results convey how the responding companies are using the different management models identified for integrating the SDGs, with the strategic and operational facets of greatest relevance. There are various key reasons put forward in justification of this involvement, in particular highlighting the understanding of the 2030 agenda as an ethical and social contract followed by concerns over managing stakeholders. The results demonstrate that these main motivations influence the management level at which the SGDs undergo integration, yet they do not determine the type of integration.

The analysis of a limited number of companies and the fact that the semi-structured interviews were made with a single representative, which correspondingly reflects how the responses received convey the understandings, visions, values and responsibilities of these interlocutors.

This provides one of the first studies contributing towards understanding how and why businesses are aligning with the SDGs. At the conceptual level, this proposes a theoretical framework for analysing the underlying logics and the levels of integration into business management and how both can be interconnected. In practical terms, this clarifies how business management strategies may leverage the integration of the 2030 agenda as a mechanism for implementing corporate sustainability.