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This chapter discusses how businesses can create alignment between their corporate sustainability (CS) efforts that focus on the triple bottom line of the financial, environmental, and social, and the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact in the four core areas of environment, human rights, labor standards, and anticorruption.

Based on the literature review, the relationship between CS and corporate responsibility is presented. Creating alignment between CS management and Global Compact initiatives requires knowledge of the Global Reporting Initiative (G4-GRI), third-party CS rankings, green supply chain management, and anticorruption strategies.

UN Global Compact is an international forum to promote and self-report CS and corporate social responsibility [Bitanga & Bridwell, 2010. CS is achieved through a triple bottom line – financial, environmental, and social (Hutchins & Sutherland, 2008). For CS management, businesses use four strategies including defensive, cost-benefit, strategic, and innovation/learning [Buchholtz & Carroll, 2008; Egbeleke, Journal of Management and Sustainability, 4(2), 92–105 (2014); Epstein, 2008; Epstein, Buhovac, & Yuthas, 2010]. The UN G4-GRI is the most widely used comprehensive sustainability reporting standard in the world (G4-GRI, 2013). Third-party, industry sector-specific CS ratings reinforce the self-reported sustainability reports. Each firm has to conduct their own CS cost-benefit analysis to determine how CS practices can lead to value creation for sustained competitive advantage. Creating alignment with Global Compact initiatives offers firms a marketing advantage. Conducting business in accordance with the Global Compact is a value-increasing business strategy [Kaspereit & Lopatta, 2011; Lopatta & Kaspereit, 2014; Michelon, Corporate Reputation Review, 14(2), 79–96 (2011)]. Green supply chain management is essential for CS (Penfield, 2014). Four prevailing anticorruption frameworks or intervention policy approaches include law enforcement, economics, moralism, and cultural relativism (Bellows, 2013). There is little sustainability reporting in the government and public-sector organizations (Adams, Muir, & Hoque, 2014).

It is difficult to quantify the financial and social benefits of aligning the CS efforts with the 10 principles of UN Global Compact [Parisi, Journal of Management and Governance, 17(1), 71–97 (2013); Nilipour & Nilipour, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(9), 1084–1092 (2012)]. The environmental impact can be easily quantified.

As the primary driver of globalization, businesses and other organizations can help ensure that markets, commerce, technology, and finance advance in ways that benefit environment, economies, and societies in both developed and developing countries leading to sustained development.

The role of green supply chain management and anticorruption strategies in CS management is explored.

In recent years, growing concerns about the environment and climate change, poverty problems, growing inequality among societies, and tensions brought about by social injustice have increased the popularity of sustainability, which is considered a multidimensional concept, among scientists, decision-makers, academics, and companies. The perception of these different groups of sustainability issues and the tools they suggest/use for corporate sustainability implementations differ from each other. It can be difficult to look for and understand sustainability tools that are handled with different perspectives in many sources. In this chapter, the tools used in sustainability implementation are discussed with certain classifications – environmental management tools, sustainability reporting, and corporate social performance – and their relations with each other. In short, this study aims to present a holistic perspective to the sustainability (or of corporate sustainability) implementations carried out by companies trying to survive in a dynamic and complex economic environment. Accordingly, the literature was reviewed, and the concept of sustainability was explained, the reasons that push companies to sustainability implementations were evaluated, and sustainability implementations were detailed under environmental management tools, sustainability reporting, and corporate social performance.

This study aims to investigate the relationships between big data analytics, management accounting practices and corporate sustainability and, more precisely, the impact of the integration between big data analytics and management accounting on corporate sustainability performance development.

A qualitative case study approach is used in this study with multiple collecting data tools as in-depth interviews and observations, in addition to the content analysis used of the annual reports for the year 2021, of Almarai manufacturing corporate (one of the leaders of food and beverage manufacturing corporates in Saudi Arabia and other countries).

Research findings provide good insights about the significant impact of the effective integration between big data analytics and management accounting on corporate sustainability performance development, big data can assist management accounting to form corporate value-added strategies and activities.

The study is limitedly applied to one manufacturing corporate as a study case; therefore, the findings cannot be generalized. Thus, future research can examine the association between the current study variables with wide-scale applications and with different approaches and in different contexts to enrich the findings. Moreover, future research may focus on the integration between big data analytics and management accounting reports in the meta-verse environment to explore the benefits that corporates could gain from the features and capabilities of meta-verse technology.

There is a research gap regarding the impact of the integration between big data analytics and management accounting practices on corporate sustainability development, as most of the previous studies focused on two variables only of the current study variables; therefore, this study tries to investigate and give important insights about it.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an empirical analysis among large German companies to enhance the understanding of whether and which institutional factors influence the application of sustainability management tools. Stepping from corporate sustainability visions to implementation requires the application of management tools. A multitude of sustainability management tools have been proposed in literature. Research on their application in corporate practice is, however, scarce.

Based on a survey of large German companies and publicly available data, this paper tests the influence of corporate sustainability networks, indices, standards and the awareness of sustainability management tools on their application in corporate practice.

A particularly strong positive relation exists between awareness and application of sustainability management tools. Standards are also found to have a positive influence, while the influence of networks and indices is less strong. Our findings suggest that the application of sustainability management tools can be fostered through the promotion and increasing awareness of tools.

The analysis is based on a survey of large German companies. Factors of institutional isomorphism are tested. Further research is needed for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the influence of further aspects such as competitive and psychological factors.

The findings of this paper suggest that the application of sustainability management tools can be fostered particularly well through increasing awareness and the active promotion of tools. Networks, indices and standard help increase awareness.

The analysis unveils the role of institutional factors influencing the application sustainability management tools in corporate practice.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate sustainability performance and earnings management in emerging East Asian economies.

The authors base on the triple bottom line approach to measure corporate sustainability performance. In terms of earnings management, two models are applied to detect real activities manipulation and discretionary accruals. The authors use panel data analysis of 410 listed non-financial firms in emerging East Asian economies from 2016 to 2020 that are collected from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database.

The authors find a negative influence of corporate sustainability performance on real activities manipulation and discretionary accruals. The findings highlight the long-term perspective of sustainable development strategies in relation to earnings management. The authors conclude that sustainable firms in emerging East Asia are less likely to engage in earnings management.

The study would be of interest to investors who need more detailed assessments of financial reporting quality to facilitate their investment decision-making and to policymakers who need more understanding of business practices and reporting behaviors of East Asian firms.

The study has shed light on the role of corporate sustainability performance in constraining earnings management and the role of corporate ethics in providing transparent and reliable financial reporting in emerging East Asian economies.

This paper aims to explore how environmental management practices impact different dimensions of corporate sustainability. It also explores the mediating impact of environmental regulation and reports on the relationship between environmental management practice and corporate sustainability.

A brief focus group discussion and a preliminary test were conducted through a focused group meeting with industry experts before data were collected from senior management of 116 registered operations in the hospitality and tourism industry in the Maldives. To analyse the data, a mediation model is proposed and tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

Results showed that environmental management practices have a direct and positive effect on corporate sustainability. Furthermore, environmental regulation and reporting positively mediate the effect of environmental management practices on corporate sustainability. Among the sustainability dimensions, it is important to note that the social sustainability aspect has the highest impact, followed by the economic and environmental aspects of corporate sustainability.

Findings provide empirical evidence in understanding achieving corporate sustainability through environmental management practices. The study is practical for stakeholders and policymakers to follow through with the environmental regulations and be transparent on environmental reporting measures that impact overall sustainability.

This study serves as noteworthy research for stakeholders to evaluate against regulatory and reporting requirements for businesses they invest in the future. It adds value to the literature and attempts to advance environmental management and sustainability research in the context of small island developing states.

Business collective action (BCA) is often necessary to address sustainability issues, which are generally complex and multi-layered issues that cannot always be properly addressed by individual businesses. Firms participating in BCA for corporate sustainability have access to clearer rules and guidelines for managing sustainability issues, are more efficient in managing multiple stakeholder demands due to enhanced opportunities for learning, benefit from individual and joint reputation management, and are better able to capture weak signals about opportunities and threats in the external environment. Despite these benefits, our understanding of BCA for corporate sustainability is still limited. Most of the existing work in this area has examined different forms of BCA for corporate sustainability – for example, multi-stakeholder initiatives, trade associations, and other forms of business membership organizations – individually. In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of BCA for corporate sustainability. The authors start the chapter by discussing the importance of BCA in general and BCA for corporate sustainability, in particular to research and practice, and its benefits to firms and society. The authors then present a typology of the different forms of BCA for corporate sustainability, discussing their differences and similarities from an issues management perspective. The authors conclude the chapter with a brief discussion of future research in this area.

This paper seeks to describe an integrated management systems (IMS) approach for the integration of corporate sustainability into business processes.

An extensive review of published literature was conducted. Building on existing research, the paper presents an original framework for structuring the integration of corporate sustainability with existing business infrastructure. The framework is supported by a detailed set of diagnostic questions to help guide the process. Both the framework and the diagnostic questions are based on the “Plan‐Do‐Check‐Act” cycle of continuous improvement.

The paper highlights the need for a systematic means to integrate sustainability into business processes. Building on that point, the paper illustrates how an IMS approach can be used to structure the entire process of managing, measuring, and assessing progress towards corporate sustainability.

The paper should be of interest to both practitioners and researchers. The framework and diagnostic questions will help guide decision makers through the process of building sustainability into their core business infrastructure. Since the framework and diagnostic questions provide the flexibility to accommodate specific organizational contexts, it is anticipated that they will have wide applicability.

The paper makes several contributions. The framework provides a systematic approach to corporate sustainability that has not been elaborated on in previous publications. The unique set of diagnostic questions provides a means to evaluate the extent to which corporate sustainability has been integrated into an organization.

This research aims to empirically investigate the influence of stakeholders on the corporate decision of ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 certifications and how that influence differs across different certification types.

The paper utilizes a survey of 1,268 industrial enterprises in China, using logistic regressions to analyze corporate decision towards management standards use.

The results show that stakeholder influence varies across different management standard certifications. Foreign customers and neighboring community are significant drivers for ISO 9001 certification. Foreign investors, being publicly listed, and neighboring community each demonstrate a significant impact on ISO 14001 certification. Only being publicly listed shows significant explanatory power for certifying with OHSAS 18001.

This study does not touch upon performance issues. The relationship between stakeholder pressure, certifications, and performance would be interesting to explore.

Information disclosure may be an effective tool to motivate firms to be more responsible for environment and society. Furthermore, measures should be taken to raise stakeholder awareness of corporate occupational health and safety (OH&S).

Although sustainability management demands attention to the three pillars of sustainability, empirical research tends to focus on only one aspect of it when studying standardized management practices use. This study investigates all three pillars using a unified framework. Furthermore, existing studies have focused predominantly on developed countries. The paper conducts research in China, one of the major developing economies. Lastly, the paper utilizes firm-level data on corporate sustainability management, which is hard to obtain in China.

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.