Business Commons^™

A Critical Discourse Analysis To Explain The Failure Of Bop Strategies, Nancy E. Landrum

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose – This paper aims to highlight differences between business and non-business literature regarding base of the pyramid (BoP) and subsistence contexts and reveal discourse’s powerful role in influencing goals, solutions and outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses critical discourse analysis to review a convenience sample of business versus non-business literature on the BoP and subsistence contexts.

Findings – Discourse used in business literature on the BoP is oriented toward hegemonic Western capitalist approaches that result in the depletion of resources, resource inequalities, poverty and increased consumption, dependence and environmental degradation and, therefore, cannot alleviate poverty.

Research limitations/implications – There …

The Global Goals: Bringing Education For Sustainable Development Into U.S. Business Schools, Nancy E. Landrum

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose – This paper aims to learn how sustainability and the circular economy were being integrated into the curriculum of a Dutch university and to transfer that knowledge back to a US university business school curriculum. Given the resistance toward integrating sustainability into the US business school curriculum, the Dutch university served as a role model for education for sustainable development.

Design/methodology/approach – This case study used ethnographic methods of participant observation over a four-month residency at the Dutch university.

Findings – Themes observed are as follows: success in the current context relied upon sustainability being integrated into the culture …

Stages Of Corporate Sustainability: Integrating The Strong Sustainability Worldview, Nancy E. Landrum

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Businesses are increasingly adopting sustainability, yet the environment continues to decline. This research responds to Dyllick and Muff’s assertion that this paradox is caused by a constricted understanding of the meaning of corporate sustainability, lack of inclusion of constructs from related streams of literature, and failure to integrate micro and macro perspectives of sustainability. The current research addresses these concerns through an integration of 22 microand macro-level models of stages of development from literature in corporate sustainability, corporate social responsibility, environmental management, and sustainable development. This integration results in a new unified model of stages of corporate sustainability that broadens …

Identifying Worldviews On Corporate Sustainability: A Content Analysis Of Corporate Sustainability Reports, Nancy E. Landrum, Brian M. Ohsowski

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Companies commonly issue sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. This study seeks to understand worldviews of corporate sustainability, or the corporate message conveyed regarding what sustainability or CSR is and how to enact it. Content analysis of corporate sustainability reports is used to position each company report within stages of corporate sustainability. Results reveal that there are multiple coexisting worldviews of corporate sustainability, but the most dominant worldview is focused on the business case for sustainability, a position anchored in the weak sustainability paradigm. We contend that the business case and weak sustainability advanced in corporate sustainability reports and …

Content Trends In Sustainable Business Education: An Analysis Of Introductory Courses In The U.S., Nancy E. Landrum, Brian M. Ohsowski

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Purpose – This study aims to identify the content in introductory business sustainability courses in the USA to determine the most frequently assigned reading material and its sustainability orientation. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 81 introductory sustainable business course syllabi reading lists were analyzed from 51 US colleges and universities. The study utilized frequency counts for authors and readings and R analysis of key words to classify readings along the sustainability spectrum. Findings – The study reveals the most frequently assigned authors and readings in US sustainable business courses (by program type) and places them along the sustainability spectrum from weak …

Analyzing The Religious War Of Words Over Climate Change, Nancy E. Landrum, Connor Tomaka, John Mccarthy

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This study examines the websites of two religious organizations representing opposing sides of the religious response toward environmentalism and climate change. This research seeks to understand how each side communicates with followers. Using rhetorical framing analysis, it is shown the religious right advocates a dominion stance and uses a romance genre filled with stories, contrast, spin, appeals to logic, and rhetoric of hope and fear. The religious left advocates a stewardship stance and uses a romance genre filled with stories, appeals to logic, and rhetoric of hope. Cultural cognition theory of risk perception reveals each side subscribes to opposing cultural …

Managing For Resilience: Lessons From Ecology, Nancy E. Landrum, Ray Dybzinski, Amina Smajlovic, Brian M. Ohsowski

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Understanding and developing resilience is becoming increasingly important in business for both leaders and organizations. Resilient organizations can successfully navigate uncertainty and change. Resilience, however, is a poorly understood attribute. We thus turn to ecosystem resilience theory to understand the concept of resilience. We identify four lessons that can be adapted from management for ecological resilience to management for business resilience: 1) resilience can be positive or negative depending on the nature of the function it supports, 2) diversity of individuals, departments, flows of information, perspective, and other attributes contributes to resilience, 3) because we have imperfect knowledge about the …