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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 address two research questions: which are the key factors that stimulate entrepreneurs to invest in ecopreneurship, and how ecopreneurhsip contributes to environmental sustainability.

To answer these questions, a framework has been developed to identify the incentives that lead entrepreneurs to invest in firms in the ecopreneurship through institutional and resource-based thinking.

From a survey of 91 Greek firms from the green service sector, it is shown that some specific institutional and resource-based view factors play a critical role in green entrepreneurs’ decisions, as well as some certain environmental practices that are frequently used by entrepreneurs to address environmental issues.

First, the answer of the second research question through data collected by a questionnaire survey may be faced with skepticism by some authors, as it could be seen that entrepreneurs and managers of firms could have overstated their company's environmental activities. Second, although the sample selection of 91 firms is a representative sample (response rate 12.35 percent) of the total population of Greek green firms (761) and equal to other relative studies, a higher number of firms and a wider variety of green entrepreneurship ventures is necessary in future research.

The findings are useful for scholars, practitioners and policy makers since it provide information regarding the behavior of green entrepreneurs.

The paper analyze the types of green entrepreneurs in relation to the different features and strategies which are emerged from two theories, such as institutional and resource-based theory.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between proactive environmental strategies (PES) and economic performance from a resource-based view. The authors determine the nature of this relationship and the processes and conditions that are involved. The mediating role of natural competences is a major focus, particularly the effect of their simultaneous development on economic performance.

The authors use structural equation modeling on a sample of 188 companies from the food-processing and household products industries in France.

The results confirm the positive impact of PES on economic performance. Unlike the natural competences individually, the simultaneous development of these competences mediates the relationship. The results also highlight the influence of conventional competences on economic performance and the impact of organizational and procedural competences on the level of simultaneously developed competences.

The study demonstrates the economic benefits of PES to practitioners. Moreover, it provides them the information on the key role of natural competences and how they can be developed to make PES profitable.

The findings support a “win-win” view of the PES-economic performance relationship, whereas prior studies showed contrasting evidence. The main contribution lies in the consideration of natural competences in this relationship and in their operationalization.

This paper aims to develop frameworks to support implementation and competitive leveraging of distinct sustainable supply chain operations. This derives from conceptual definition of the dynamic capabilities required to support Hart’s (1995) natural-resource-based view resources in the supply chain.

This conceptual study uses qualitative content analysis to extract capabilities from review and analysis of literature related to natural-resource-based view (NRBV) and sustainable supply chain management. Intercoder reliability assessments support conceptual development of such capabilities into dynamic capability frameworks.

Specific interrelations between each NRBV resource and corresponding supply chain strategies are conceptualised. From this, capabilities are categorised to corresponding resources, dynamic capabilities activities and internal–external focus. This results in definition of 107 dynamic NRBV capabilities.

Contributions are threefold: distinct frameworks for competitive sustainable supply chain management is offered; the NRBV benefits from enhanced practical guidance via the definition of its dynamic capabilities, addressing the theory-practice gap; and understandings of dynamic capabilities and their role in both the NRBV sustainable supply chain management is advanced.

This paper offers four frameworks to allow firms to tailor sustainability strategies to suit their needs and guide competitive leveraging. Definition of capabilities offers practical guidance to operationalise NRBV resources.

This is the first holistic interpretation of NRBV capabilities and explicit application of dynamic capabilities. This forms the basis of a broader research agenda for the NRBV in sustainable supply chain management.

The aim of this paper is to conceptualise a structural model of natural resource based green supply chain management (GSCM), and its relationship, with an indication of cause and effect, to relevant performance measures and drivers.

The literature, describing GSCM from a natural resource based view (NRBV), along with performance measures and institutional drivers, is critically evaluated and used to develop the model.

Constructs are identified in terms of intra‐ and inter‐organisational environmental practices, performance measures and institutional drivers. Causal relationships, within and between the constructs, are also proposed in the form of hypotheses.

At this stage the model is purely conceptual and the causal relationships are only proposed. Empirical tests of the model and hypotheses are required.

On empirical verification, this work can furnish managers with validated measurement scales to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in their GSCM implementation and determine how firms can successfully implement GSCM to promote sustainable industrial development.

GSCM from within the NRBV perspective, and incorporating performance measures and institutional drivers, has yet to be comprehensively synthesised in a coherent model. This conceptual work is the first step in that direction.

The aim of this paper is to review the firm's resources, as identified by the researcher in previous environmental studies, from the theoretical lens of a resource‐based view (RBV). This will help to identify the firm's resources for the future Green IT studies.

The objective was first achieved by reviewing the environmental resources for the firm's performance. The approach uses literature reviews of environmental studies having related keywords in literature databases. Using content analysis approach, the authors selected ten empirical environmental studies and developed the typology of the firm's environmental resources. The frequently highlighted constructs are then discussed in the context of Green IT.

This review shows the importance of continuous innovation, stakeholder integration, shared visions and early adoption which were frequently highlighted in RBV studies. The literature studies concerning Green IT also point out the importance of these resources for Green IT performance. Drawing upon this, it is also believed that these firm resources identified from environmental literature are also applicable in Green IT context.

Some limitations of this study have been encountered and are as follows: First, the search was performed within a limited time frame. Second, different search terms might have yielded more results. Third, the classification of the firm's resources might be different from the point of view of others. Nonetheless, the authors believe this review can be used as a guide for future integrative resource‐based Green IT studies. Future confirmatory studies could empirically validate these relationships. The role of mediating and moderating variables that could enhance Green IT practice can also be further investigated. This could contribute to the knowledge concerning the application of RBV in the Green IT context.

The paper helps to shed light on a firm's resources for environmental capability coming from different industries, which contributes towards an understanding of these theories from wider perspectives, including environmental sustainability, in the IT context.

This paper aims to reflect on recent closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) practices using a natural resource-based view (NRBV) and dynamic capabilities (DC) perspective.

Two empirical case studies of CLSC exemplars are used to discuss the theoretical relevance of these views.

The paper shows how strategic resources help companies in two sectors achieve successful CLSC designs. Strategic supply chain collaboration is an important success factor but also presents a number of challenges. The NRBV is used to explain the importance of new resources in technology, knowledge and relationships and stresses the role of DCs to constantly address changes in the business environment to renew these strategic resources.

This research elaborates on NRBV theory related to CLSCs and reinforces the inclusion of DCs. It specifies the application of NRBV in the context of textiles and carpet manufacture and highlights the inherent conflicts in seeking value while moving towards sustainable development.

Investments in technical and operational resources are required to create CLSCs. Pure closed-loop applications are impractical, requiring relationships with multiple external partners to obtain supply and demand for recycled products.

CLSCs may provide opportunities for social enterprises or third sector organizations collaborating with manufacturers.

This paper provides insights into the constituent resources needed for successful CLSCs. It also helps move CLSC research from a tactical logistics problem to a problem of strategic resources and relational capabilities: what we term “dynamic supply chain execution”. This paper develops a framework for transitioning towards CLSCs, underlining the importance of co-development and forging new relationships through commitment to supply chain redesign, co-evolution with customers and suppliers and control of supply chain activities.

This study examines green absorptive capacity as an important intervening variable that elucidates the relationship between green supply chain management (GSCM) practices (specifically, green purchasing, customer cooperation and investment recovery) and firm performance.

Drawing from the theoretical underpinnings of the natural-resource-based view theory and information processing theory, a research model is developed and tested using data obtained from 368 manufacturing firms in Ghana. Data analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that green purchasing, customer cooperation and investment recovery have a direct positive and significant effect on firm performance. Additionally, green purchasing and customer cooperation have a positive and significant effect on green absorptive capacity but investment recovery does not. Further, the results show that the paths from green purchasing and customer cooperation to firm performance are positively mediated by green absorptive capacity.

The study reveals to supply chain managers that green absorptive capacity is an important conduit through which firms can achieve enhanced firm performance from GSCM initiatives.

This study makes a contribution by integrating the absorptive capacity literature and green management literature and establishes green absorptive capacity as a mechanism through which GSCM practices enhance firm performance.

Following the natural resource based view of the firm, this paper seeks to analyse the influence of a green marketing strategy on the performance of business‐to‐business organisations. Also, it aims to explore the role of organisational resources as drivers of proactive environmental management.

A model based on structural equations with partial least squares analysis is used to test the hypotheses. This model was tested on a sample of 181 industrial organisations.

The findings confirm that managers indirectly play a key role in the design and development of green marketing strategies through the integration of environmental values into the organisational culture. They also reveal that, while market‐oriented practices directly determine economic performance, internally oriented activities indirectly influence financial results through the improvement of the firm's environmental performance.

This research partially integrates organisational resources as drivers of environmental behaviour, and does not explore the role of capabilities. The article proposes different implications considering the competitive consequences of a green marketing strategy.

The article includes different practical implications about the effect of different environmental practices on different dimensions of organisational performance. It sheds light on the controversial link between environmental proactivity and performance.

This research tests empirically some of the theoretical underpinnings of the natural resource based view of the company in an under‐researched context like the business‐to‐business context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between individuals’ discursive practices and organizational-level strategic change with respect to sustainability strategy.

The approach taken integrates Hart’s natural resource-based view of the firm with discourse theory.

A conceptual model of the relationship between discursive practices and strategic change is proposed.

The paper’s model serves as a foundation on which future empirical research on the effectiveness of specific discursive practices can be conducted.

Much of strategy research is notable for the absence of discussion on human actors and actions. The paper helps to fill this gap, contributing to existing scholarship by examining the micro-foundations of sustainability strategy through the fundamental role of individuals’ discursive practices.