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This paper aims to introduce a supply chain strategy for supply chain sustainability performance and explain why it is different to normal business/operations strategy.

A survey of supply chain managers and detailed case studies of three successful supply chain sustainability organisations identified four components of a supply chain sustainability strategy, the mechanisms behind them and how they interacted.

Sustainability leadership, supply chain member involvement in organisational sustainability initiatives, supply chain member involvement in supply chain sustainability strategy planning and technical competency were identified as the four components of a sustainable supply chain strategy. Sustainability leadership legitimises the objectives and involvement of the staff in supply chain-oriented sustainability initiatives and planning. Technical competency provides the capability and language necessary for the development of a supply chain sustainability strategy. This is different to business/operations strategy, however, parallels to other forms of strategy constructs support its ability to achieve performance improvement.

The research is based on data from developed countries; the findings may be different for emerging economies. Potential hypotheses for future research are suggested.

The supply chain sustainability strategy will enable organisations to improve the sustainability of their supply chains. Its application is described in the paper.

The paper develops a strategy framework different to the approach taken in business/operational strategy. It indicates how the sustainability performance of supply chains external to the organisation is increased through their interconnectedness with the organisation.

The purpose of this paper is to explore environmental sustainability (eco-sustainability) policy and strategy adoption and implementation in Australian companies. Specifically, it assesses what influences the extent of organizational eco-sustainability strategy implementation.

This research used semi-structured interviews with senior executive from a list of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) 200 companies in banking, materials, real estate and transportation industry groups. A purposive sampling method was used to select the most appropriate participants. The “elite” interviewing method was adopted with persons who are recognized as the expert in the topic under investigation. Finally, an interpretative approach to data analysis was used.

The paper shows the importance of eco-sustainability strategy alignment with the overall business strategy. Similarly, organizational structure and systems are recognized to be equally important. The senior executives also agreed that shared values, passionate skilled and experienced staff, the Board and senior management, as well as governance, are critical in ensuring a successful adoption and implementation of organizational eco-sustainability policy and strategy.

This research provides some understanding of how organizations implement their eco-sustainability policy and strategy and what influences the extent of their eco-sustainability strategy implementation, and answers to why each dimension is important for a particular organization was gained through interviews with the senior executives. This paper also facilitates a better understanding of the relative importance placed on each dimension as a factor influencing eco-sustainability adoption and implementation.

Drawing on theories from various disciplines and the McKinsey Seven S’s framework, this paper strengthens the foundation for industry practitioners to understand what influences the success of the eco-sustainability strategy adoption and implementation.

This study examines the impact of environmental activity management (EAM) on triple bottom line (TBL) performance and the role that sustainability strategies play in mediating these relationships. Data were collected using a survey of Australian managers and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings indicate that each of the three levels of EAM – Environmental Activity Analysis, Environmental Activity Cost Analysis, and Environmental Activity Based Costing – influence-specific aspects of performance, either directly and/or indirectly through environmental and social sustainability strategies. The findings suggest that managers could enhance their use of EAM practices through the use of sustainability strategies in order to enhance performance. This study provides empirical insight into the impact that EAM practices and environmental and social sustainability strategies have on all three aspects of TBL performance.

This paper empirically addresses the effect of coercive, normative and mimetic pressures on sustainability results, focussing on the three dimensions of the triple bottom line approach: environmental, economic and social. The mediating role of compliance, analyser or proactive corporate strategies towards sustainability is also considered.

The hypotheses developed in this study were tested using data from a sample of private companies from two industries: manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, and manufacture of basic metals.

The results confirm the role played by institutional pressures for sustainability in explaining the involvement of organisations in economic, social and environmental aspects. The mediating effect of corporate strategy is also confirmed, although only for environmental aspects.

Research into sustainability development is evolving rapidly; however, few studies have explored its diffusion amongst organisations from a triple bottom line perspective by considering the role of different current external pressures, the corporate strategy and the diverse results.

本研究擬對強制壓力、規範壓力和模仿壓力對可持續性成果的影響進行實證研究。研究的焦點放在三重底線法的三個層面上,即是環境層面、經濟層面和社會層面。研究人員亦探討尋求可持續性的承諾、分析儀和積極主動的公司戰略的中介作用。

研究人員測試其建立的各項假設; 使用的數據取自兩個企業的私人公司的樣本,它們是製造化學品和化學產品的企業,以及製造基本金屬的企業。

研究結果確認了尋求可持續性所帶來的制度壓力,在解說企業於經濟、社會和環境三方面的參與上所扮演的角色。研究結果亦確認了公司戰略的中介作用,唯這只見於環境的層面上。

探討可持續性發展的學術研究發展迅速,唯當中較少從三個基本的角度去探討可持續性發展在組織內的傳播; 本研究考慮了目前各種外來壓力、公司戰略和不同的結果所扮演的角色,以彌補這研究差距。

This chapter reviews empirical studies into the relationship between management control, strategy and sustainability.

The review explores the theoretical frameworks and models used in previous empirical research as well as the research questions and methods applied to empirically explore this emerging research area.

Even if a growing body of empirical research has emerged over the last decade, our knowledge of how companies design or use management control to support sustainability strategy appears to be limited, providing considerable scope for further research.

This review structures the state of our empirical knowledge in the area of management control, strategy and sustainability and makes suggestions for future research paths.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of monitoring and mentoring strategies on sustainability diffusion within supply networks through focal companies and how suppliers engage in implementing these strategies.

The paper reports on three in-depth case studies conducted with focal companies and their suppliers. An interaction approach was adopted to guide the analysis of focal companies’ strategies for implementing and diffusing sustainability in supply networks.

The monitoring strategy impacts sustainability diffusion at the dyadic level, while the mentoring strategy is a prerequisite for the diffusion of sustainability at the supply network level. The findings suggest that coupling monitoring with mentoring can lead to diffusion beyond first-tier suppliers. Interaction intensity, supplier proactiveness and mindset change facilitate sustainability diffusion in supply networks.

The authors suggest more research be conducted on specific practices within monitoring and mentoring, as some of these imply very different levels of commitment and interaction.

The paper suggests that in the future, companies will be increasingly called upon to adopt cooperative initiatives to enable the diffusion of sustainability in supply networks.

The contribution of the paper lies in its identification of the impacts of monitoring and mentoring strategies on the diffusion of sustainability in networks, revealing different supplier engagement in these strategies, which may foster or hinder sustainability diffusion.

Nowadays, companies abandon their traditional rent-gaining strategies. They pursue triple bottom-line results by implementing economic, environmental and social sustainability strategies. This paper aims to link the main sustainability strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in emerging and developing markets (EDMs) to the strategic, industrial, market and institutional antecedents of sustainability development.

Positivism and a deductive research approach are used to test propositions through a multiple case study strategy, to identify the sustainability strategies of five MNEs belonging in five different industries, and the antecedents of these strategies.

Strategic leadership and strategic behavior/orientation are among the most important antecedents of sustainability strategies development in EDMs. The sustainability strategies are partially industry specific. However, all companies had undertaken activities that go beyond the mitigation of their negative impact, acting as regulators of the EDMs.

Previous literature has explained sustainability as an attempt of the MNEs to cover institutional voids and the absence/failings of the state. This paper contributes to the exploration of sustainability strategies of MNEs in EDMs, by identifying the strategic and market influences driving sustainability and by linking this strategic behavior to industrial and institutional idiosyncrasies.

Sustainable development goals and the climate change agenda are becoming widely promoted topics of research for the 21st century. The role of cities is increasingly recognised as central to investigating these topics. Yet, the field of informal sector entrepreneurship which so many urban entrepreneurs in developing countries depend upon is seldom considered. To redress this imbalance, this study aims to develop a decision model in accordance with institutional theory (IT) and resource dependency theory (RDT) for city managers to deploy. The model identifies and prioritises optimal strategies to address the three areas of sustainability requirements environment society and economy within the study context of Bangladesh.

This study used a mixed methods research design. In the qualitative part, the authors identified the three areas of sustainability requirements (i.e. environment, society and economy) and their corresponding strategies involving the informal sector that operates within the urban environment. In the quantitative part, the authors applied fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) integrated with the 0-1 non-linear optimisation technique to identify optimal strategies.

The findings show that strategies such as legitimate frameworks, waste management, allocation of urban public space and training programs contribute in important ways to the three areas of sustainability requirements.

The proposed decision model will assist policy-makers and city managers to prioritise sustainability requirements and implement optimal strategies to address those requirements.

Through the integration of IT and RDT, the decision model developed in this study is unique in its application to urban-based informal entrepreneurship in the context of developing countries. The effective application of the fuzzy QFD approach and the optimisation model in the context of urban-based informal entrepreneurship also offers unique contributions to the field of study.

This paper aims to highlight a model of industry drivers (industries’ environmental reputation and competitive intensity) that affect the sustainability marketing strategy segmentation, targeting and positioning based on customers’ environmental concern and explore the circumstances under which such a strategy affects performance.

The authors examined 64 Iranian export companies, which adopted sustainability marketing strategies across seven different industries. Achieved data are analyzed using a structural equation model methodology.

The results indicate that industries’ environmental reputation is positively related to the sustainability marketing strategies based on customers’ environmental concern and leads to superior financial and market performance. They also posit that competitive intensity has no significant effect on sustainability marketing strategies.

This study specifically examines the impact of industry drivers on sustainability marketing strategy and performance. Logically, there might be other factors affecting the sustainability or other value dimensions that are not addressed in this study.

This paper provides some understanding of how organizations strength their sustainability marketing strategy, and they have to consider what factors to adopt such strategy. This paper also facilitates a better understanding of the customers’ needs and concern as a factor influencing sustainability marketing strategy adoption and implementation. Identifying the customer segmentation and market targeting based on the industry’s environmental can lead to the business will normally tailor the marketing mix (4Ps) with the needs and expectations of the target in mind.

This paper strengthens the effect of environmental concern of customer to understand what influences the success of the sustainability marketing adoption and implementation by investigating the most influential factors such as industries’ environmental reputation and competitive intensity.

Este artículo pretende poner de manifiesto un modelo de impulsores de la industria (reputación ambiental e intensidad competitiva de las industrias) que afecta a la segmentación, orientación y posicionamiento de la estrategia de marketing de sostenibilidad basada en la preocupación ambiental de los clientes y explora las circunstancias en las que dicha estrategia afecta al rendimiento.

Se han examinado 64 empresas exportadoras iraníes que adoptaron estrategias de marketing sostenible en siete industrias diferentes. Los datos obtenidos se analizan utilizando SEM.

Los resultados indican que la reputación ambiental de las industrias se relaciona positivamente con las estrategias de marketing sostenibles basadas en la preocupación ambiental de los clientes y conlleva un rendimiento financiero y de mercado superior. También se afirma que la intensidad competitiva no tiene un efecto significativo en las estrategias de marketing sostenible.

Este estudio examina específicamente el impacto de los impulsores de la industria en la estrategia y el rendimiento de marketing sostenible. Lógicamente, podría haber otros factores que afecten a la sostenibilidad u otras dimensiones de valor que no se abordan en este estudio.

Se analiza cómo las organizaciones fortalecen su estrategia de marketing sostenible y tienen que considerar qué factores adoptar en dicha estrategia. Este artículo facilita también una mejor comprensión de las necesidades y preocupaciones de los clientes como un factor que influye en la adopción e implementación de la estrategia de marketing sostenible. La identificación de la segmentación de clientes y el mercado basado en el entorno ambiental de la industria puede llevar a que el negocio adapte su marketing mix (4Ps) teniendo en cuenta las necesidades y expectativas del público objetivo.

Esta investigación refuerza el efecto de la preocupación ambiental del cliente para comprender qué influye en el éxito de la adopción e implementación del marketing sostenible al investigar los factores más influyentes, como la reputación ambiental y la intensidad competitiva de las industrias.

Sostenibilidad, Estrategia de marketing, Industria, Impacto medioambiental, Clientes, Preocupación ambiental, Intensidad de la competencia, Exportación, Rendimiento financiero, Rendimiento de mercado.

Estudio de caso

This study explores the relations among corporate sustainability strategies, the intense use of sustainability control systems (SCSs) to implement these strategies and the emergence of organizational capabilities for sustainability.

Using survey data from a sample of 157 European firms across different industries, the authors explore differences between reactive and proactive sustainability strategies in their impact on the intense use of SCSs. The authors analyze the joint impact of a proactive sustainability strategy and an intense use of SCSs on the emergence of the organizational capabilities of sustainable market orientation, sustainable organizational learning and sustainable innovation. Furthermore, we explore the relevance of single levers of control for these capabilities.

The results show that a proactive sustainability strategy is associated with an intense use of SCSs and with the development of the three organizational capabilities. The authors provide evidence that the intensity of use of SCSs mediates the association between proactive sustainability strategy and the emergence of the three organizational capabilities. An interactive use of controls is constantly more important than a diagnostic use of controls in the emergence of the three capabilities.

The findings provide novel empirical evidence on the mechanisms through which corporate sustainability strategy is implemented in European organizations. The results contribute to an improved understanding of the organizational determinants underlying the development of organizational capabilities for sustainability.