Business Commons^™

Worker's Rights, Vijay Pereira, Daicy Vaz, Arup Varma

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This chapter discusses the rights of workers. It focuses on Bangladesh, China, India, and Vietnam.

Leadership And Environmental Sustainability: An Integrative Conceptual Model Of Multilevel Antecedents And Consequences Of Leader Green Behavior, Hannes Zacher, Clara Kühner, Ian M. Katz, Cort W. Rudolph

Psychology Faculty Publications

Environmental sustainability is a strategic and ethical imperative for organizations, and numerous studies have investigated associations between leadership and employee pro-environmental or “green” behavior. However, these studies have typically focused on leadership styles that conflate leader behavior with its assumed antecedents or consequences. Moreover, the literature on relations between leadership and environmental sustainability constructs is fragmented and in need of systematic integration to effectively guide future research and practice. Accordingly, we pursue three goals in this conceptual paper. First, after a brief review of key insights from extant theoretical and empirical research, we define leadership in the context of environmental …

Organisational Drivers And Sustainability Implementation In The Mining Industry: A Holistic Theoretical Framework, Prince Amoah, Gabriel Eweje

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

While few studies have examined the role of institutional pressures on sustainable business practices, there is a dearth of empirical research regarding the influence of internal organisational characteristics on sustainability implementation in developing countries. This paper examines internal organisational features and how they influence multinational companies (MNCs) operating in a resource-rich developing country to embrace and embed sustainability into corporate policies and practices. The findings show that the history of past sustainable practices, the level of internationalisation and managerial cognition internally drive MNCs to implement sustainability in their host countries. We discuss that managerial cognition drives MNCs to embrace sustainability …

Sustainability Transformation: The Role Of Accountancy And Finance Professionals In The Singapore Manufacturing Sector, Jiwei Wang, Holly I. Yang, Liandong Zhang, Sanli Pinar Darendeli, Ying-Chi Huang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Sustainability is already reshaping the Singapore manufacturing sector. The majority of companies surveyed (70%) have started their sustainability transformation in one form or another, and many have initiated discussions. However, on the whole, only 37% of companies have implemented sustainability initiatives, and 21% have reported on sustainability. On the bright side, these percentages are slated to double within 1-3 years. The infusion of sustainability into the manufacturing sector has led to accountancy and finance professionals potentially playing a bigger role in their organisations, particularly in aligning the sustainability objectives with business strategies. The study notes that manufacturing companies are mostly …

The Culture & Practice Convergence: Looking For Ways Towards Sustainability, Miguel Paolo Paredes

Center for Business Research and Development

Thirty years ago, the Earth Summit gathering in Rio de Janeiro held host to world leaders, setting a blueprint for a more secure future by balancing economic growth and ecological necessity. Created for member states to cooperate in response to worldwide development issues, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) sought to address these challenges and achieved a global consensus on the priorities for a new development agenda (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Earth Summit, n.d.) As sustainability issues encompassed the whole of the planet, the summit provided a platform for member states to collaborate …

Intelligent Automation Implementation And Corporate Sustainability Performance: The Enabling Role Of Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, Morteza Ghobakhloo, Shahla Asadi, Mohammad Iranmanesh, Behzad Foroughi, Muhammad F. Mubarak, Elaheh Yadegaridehkordi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Although Intelligent Automation (IA) represents the future of business automation, the organizational implementation and sustainability performance of this emerging technological innovation is vastly understudied. Understanding the implications of IA for sustainability is critical since leveraging these technologies shapes operations and policies that can promote sustainable digitalization and automation practices. We study how firms' technological, organizational, environmental, and human resource contexts impact IA implementation. The study further explains how IA may associate with the firm's triple bottom line while accounting for the moderating role of corporate social responsibility strategy. The study surveyed 207 multinational firms in 2022 and used partial least …

Why Employees Accept Lower Pay At Mission-Oriented Companies, Insiya Hussain, Marko Pitesa, Stefan Thau, Michael Schaerer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Today’s companies are likely to tout how their work benefits human welfare or “makes the world a better place.” Recent research suggests that this may come with a potential financial drawback for workers, as it can inhibit them from negotiating for higher pay. Over five studies, job candidates consistently reported that they worried asking for higher pay from these companies would be seen as greedy or inappropriate. This suggests they are aware of a common bias, known as motivation purity bias, where managers believe employees interested in material rewards of work (such as pay) are less motivated than those motivated …

Ecosystem Social Responsibility In International Digital Commerce, Jingtao Yi, Jiatao Li, Liang Chen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Despite the surge of interest in digital globalization, its social dimensions have received far less attention than deserved. The lack of conversation between the two prominent areas of IB research, digitalization, and corporate social responsibility, presents a valuable opportunity for extending the agenda Ioannou and Serafeim (J Int Bus Stud 43(9):834-864, 2012) pioneered a decade earlier. We briefly depict the organizational differences between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and multinational platforms (MNPs), followed by a closer look at how social responsibility of digital platforms might depart from our conventional understanding derived from MNEs. We then propose the notion of ecosystem social responsibility …

International Business Is Contributing To Environmental Crises, Haitao Yu Dr, Pratima (Tima) Bansal Dr., Diane-Laure Arjaliès

Business Publications

All business contributes to environmental crises because of its focus on profit. We argue that international business (IB) contributes more than its fair share. IB's focus on cross-border arbitrage has led to the over-extraction of natural resources and the accumulation of waste. This is a problem, because natural resources are limited in quantity and embedded in their local environment. It is time for IB researchers to step up and substantially and meaningfully address IB’s contribution to environmental crises by embracing the principles of natural systems processes within its core assumptions and improving its theorizing of natural resources. In this paper, …

Introduction To The Business Of Sustainability: An Organizing Framework For Theory, Practice And Impact, Gerard George, Martine R. Haas, Havovi Heerjee Joshi, Anita M. Mcgahan, Paul Tracey

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Human activity needs to become sustainable, and businesses have a massive role to play in it. Important progress has occurred. The Coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the importance of sustainability and resilience. Businesses have become champions of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both by integrating them into their core activities and by developing strategies and metrics to achieve them. Despite this progress, more must be done to achieve sustainability targets on a timetable that is relevant. While the narratives of businesses are often exciting, their follow-through with implementation remains limited. So too is information on successful practices, conceptual knowledge …

Stakeholderism, Corporate Purpose, And Credible Commitment, Lisa Fairfax

All Faculty Scholarship

One of the most significant recent phenomena in corporate governance is the embrace, by some of the most influential actors in the corporate community, of the view that corporations should be focused on furthering the interests of all corporate stakeholders as well as the broader society. This stakeholder vision of corporate purpose is not new. Instead, it has emerged in cycles throughout corporate law history. However, for much of that history—including recent history—the consensus has been that stakeholderism has not achieved dominance or otherwise significantly influenced corporate behavior. That honor is reserved for the corporate purpose theory that focuses on …

Accounting For A Hopeful World, Themin Suwardy

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

In a commentary, SMU Associate Provost for Postgraduate Professional Education and Associate Professor of Accounting (Practice) Themin Suwardy noted that environmental reporting has become more common in the last 10 years and that companies are embracing sustainability reporting despite the challenging myriad of seemingly different models, frameworks and regulations. He opined that the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards to be issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) will enable companies to provide comprehensive sustainability information for the global financial markets. He urged accounting professionals to embrace the development wholeheartedly and to help organisations do and report good.

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 …

Caremark And Esg, Perfect Together: A Practical Approach To Implementing An Integrated, Efficient, And Effective Caremark And Eesg Strategy, Leo E. Strine Jr., Kirby M. Smith, Reilly S. Steel

All Faculty Scholarship

With increased calls from investors, legislators, and academics for corporations to consider employee, environmental, social, and governance factors (“EESG”) when making decisions, boards and managers are struggling to situate EESG within their existing reporting and organizational structures. Building on an emerging literature connecting EESG with corporate compliance, this Essay argues that EESG is best understood as an extension of the board’s duty to implement and monitor a compliance program under Caremark. If a company decides to do more than the legal minimum, it will simultaneously satisfy legitimate demands for strong EESG programs and promote compliance with the law. Building …

Stewardship 2021: The Centrality Of Institutional Investor Regulation To Restoring A Fair And Sustainable American Economy, Leo E. Strine Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

In this essay, which formed the basis for the luncheon keynote speech at the Rethinking Stewardship online conference presented by the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School and ECGI, the European Corporate Governance Institute, the essential, but not sufficient, role of regulation to promote more effective stewardship by institutional investors is discussed. To frame specific policy recommendations that align the responsibilities of institutional investors with the best interests of their human investors in sustainable wealth creation, environmental responsibility, the respectful treatment of stakeholders, and, in particular, the fair pay and treatment of …

Sustainability In Business: Developing An Undergraduate Business Course, Julie Nelsen, Mary Henderson, Sarah Rand

Business Administration Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the rationale and process of creating a new course focused on business sustainability in the University’s Department of Business Administration. Currently, the University offers just one business sustainability course, delivered once every two years as a January study-abroad course in Chile. While an outstanding experience, a limited number of students can take advantage of the opportunity. After identifying this gap in our business programs, we created a stand-alone course that focuses on business sustainability. This paper addresses the following questions: What is the business case for adding the course? What should the …

Toward Fair And Sustainable Capitalism: A Comprehensive Proposal To Help American Workers, Restore Fair Gainsharing Between Employees And Shareholders, And Increase American Competitiveness By Reorienting Our Corporate Governance System Toward Sustainable Long-Term Growth And Encouraging Investments In America’S Future, Leo E. Strine Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

To promote fair and sustainable capitalism and help business and labor work together to build an American economy that works for all, this paper presents a comprehensive proposal to reform the American corporate governance system by aligning the incentives of those who control large U.S. corporations with the interests of working Americans who must put their hard-earned savings in mutual funds in their 401(k) and 529 plans. The proposal would achieve this through a series of measured, coherent changes to current laws and regulations, including: requiring not just operating companies, but institutional investors, to give appropriate consideration to and make …

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 …

Does Persistence Explain Esg Disclosure Decisions?, Garret A. Mcbrayer

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

Advocates of an increased focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives have argued that increased ESG disclosure is a necessary first step. Given the limited regulatory requirements on ESG disclosure, manager preferences serve as a primary determinant of ESG transparency. Using data on ESG disclosure from Bloomberg, I examine the extent to which disclosure persistence on the behalf of firm management, as proxied by managerial tenure, affects firms’ ESG disclosure strategies. Overall, I find that ESG disclosure quality and ESG disclosure variability are reduced as management tenure increases. Further, I find that the replacement of a firm’s CEO interrupts …

The Internal Effects Of Corporate Social Responsibility On Firm Performance, Lindsay Harris

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the internal effects of corporate social responsibility on firm performance. It also examines the definition of corporate social responsibility and two varying theories about the topic. This thesis explores the human resource, quality and financial aspects of firm performance and how those aspects of a company are affected by adopting significant corporate social responsibility programs. This research seeks to answer the claim that corporate social responsibility programs do not have a positive effect on the actual performance of an organization. It will examine the effect of CSR on employee attitudes, moral and …

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 …

New Belgium Brewing Company And B Corporation Certification, Kent Walker Dr., Taylor Laporte

Odette School of Business Publications

This case discusses the American craft-brewing company New Belgium Brewing (NBB), where the director of sustainability, Katie Wallace, must decide whether to invest significant company resources into becoming a B Corp certified company. More specifically, she must present her recommendation to the board of directors and to employees who are also shareholders. B Corporation is part of a non-profit organization encouraging sustainable business similar to LEED certification for construction or Fair Trade certification for coffee and chocolate. The idea behind B Corp certification is to use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.

New Belgium Brewing has …

Governance Interactions In Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Errol Meidinger

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

“Supply chains” are a major site of transnational business governance, and yet their dynamics and effectiveness are usually more assumed than interrogated in regulatory governance discourse. The very term “chain” implies a more determinist and simplistic understanding of supply relationships than is empirically supportable. Supply chains in practice are complex, dynamic, and highly variable networks. Based on peer-group presentations by over 60 supply chain professionals, this paper analyzes sustainable supply chain management practices in terms of the interactions conceptions of the Transnational Business Governance Interactions framework. It discusses possible refinements of the framework and suggests that sustainable supply chain management …

Csr Reporting And The University, Corbin Wilson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

There is currently no mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting standards for institutions of higher learning (universities) in the U.S. There is also no established governing or regulatory body designated with the responsibility of developing CSR reporting standards for universities. In recent years some universities have prepared and released self-reported CSR reports. However these reports may not be complete, much of the information included in the reports could be outdated, and all of it is subject to bias. Without commonly accepted CSR reporting standards, common reporting format, or metrics, it is difficult to compare the CSR efforts of various universities. …

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 …

The Volkswagen Scandal, Britt Blackwelder, Katerine Coleman, Sara Colunga-Santoyo, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Danielle Wozniak

Robins Case Network

Volkswagen is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. For years the company has focused on producing attractive and environmentally friendly automobiles, and recent initiatives have included a project to reduce CO² production, along with advertisements claiming lower emission of greenhouse gases. The world was shocked to hear that Volkswagen had been producing diesel engines for its cars that were able to trick emissions testing equipment. The engines were producing many times the EPA standards for emissions, yet they passed emission tests. This case provides detailed information about the scandal as well as information about the history, …

Corporate Social Responsibility/Sustainability Reporting Among The Fortune Global 250: Greenwashing Or Green Supply Chain?, John K. Lewis

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

The sustainability reporting efforts of MNCs who are members of the Fortune Global 250 (FG250) was investigated. The focus was on sustainability reporting by MNCs of supply chain impacts. The reporting of FG250 MNCs was examined to determine if greenwashing was occurring or whether MNCs had committed to operating a green supply chain. A mixed methodology was used consisting of quantitative analysis of twenty-five MNC CSR/sustainability reports which were randomly selected from the FG250 listing. Qualitative analysis using content analysis was also conducted on the reports. Both methodologies concentrated on the sustainability reporting of the selected MNCs in regard to …

A Content Analysis Of Sustainability Dimensions In Annual Reports, Sayed Mr. Afjei

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the triple bottom line of sustainability, in the context of both profit-oriented and non-profit oriented organizations. Sustainability is a compound result of interaction between economic, environmental, and social dimensions. Sustainability cannot be achieved without balance between all three dimensions, which has implications for measuring sustainability and prioritizing goals. This study demonstrates a method for measuring organizational sustainability achievement in these three dimensions of sustainability.

Content analysis of the annual reports of corporations from the United States, Continental Europe (and Scandinavia), and Asia reveals that the economic dimension remains the preeminent aspect, and corporations still have a long …

Agenda: Seeds Of Change: Responding To Global Change In A Bottom-Up World, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law, Posner Center For International Development, Resolve (Firm), Newmont Mining Corporation

Seeds of Change: Responding to Global Change in a Bottom-Up World (Martz Winter Symposium, February 12-13)

Sponsors: Posner Center for International Development, RESOLVE, Inc., Newmont Mining Corporation, and Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment.

Conference moderators, panelists and speakers included University of Colorado Law School professors Phil Weiser, Sarah Krakoff, Britt Banks, and Lakshman Guruswamy.

This conference is made possible through the generous support of donors who sponsored this year’s Martz Sustainability Symposium (including Newmont Mining Corporation) and those who have invested in our Clyde O. Martz Endowed Fund for Natural Resources Management (including Brian Dolan and Davis Graham and Stubbs LLP). The Martz Natural Resources Management Fund was established in the memory …

Sustainable Innovation At Rei, Joe Lawless

MICCSR Case Studies

Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) was founded in the 1930’s as a co-op for climbers to acquire quality gear. As a major (US) retailer of outdoor equipment and gear, REI has been a leader in sustainability with everything from their products and packaging design, retail building efficiency and contributions to environmental conservation and outdoor recreation. This mini-case offers students an opportunity to explore the “Catalyzing Experiences” section of REI’s new sustainability integration initiative. Looking at the new sharing economy and innovative business models will challenge students to develop creative solutions to the consumption-based economic model of traditional retailers.