Business Commons^™

Attaining Sustainability: The American Evolution Of Socially Responsible Business Practices, Lauren M. Beatty

Alumni Scholarship

The focus of this thesis is on the evolution of socially responsible business practices (SRBPs); the historical progression of commercial philanthropy; the current market trends that drive corporate actions; and the projected rise of social responsibility integration within organizational cultures. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence for how SRBPs contribute to, rather than detract from, the strength and success of American consumer goods companies because of their strategic integration in organizational cultures. In addition to providing a brief historical overview of the evolution of SRBPs, the thesis will highlight how the objectives of SRBPs have continuously advanced …

Eco-Friendly Or Eco-Frenzy? A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Companies’ Environmental Decisions, Sandria S. Stephenson, Natalie Rodriquez

Faculty and Research Publications

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and analyze the incremental costs of businesses becoming “green.” It answers the overarching question: are businesses becoming eco-friendly or eco-frenzy? For the purposes of this paper, eco-friendly is defined as companies that strive to be environmentally conscious. Conversely, companies that are eco-frenzy become environmentally conscious for the wrong reasons, such as gaining an environmental reputation. With the increase in popularity of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the legal requirements related to environmental laws, more businesses have been incorporating the ideas of sustainability into their strategic positioning. At the start of the 21st …

Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study On Carlsberg, Anne Sofie Brusendorff

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In today’s business environment corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability are extremely influential in a firm’s competitiveness. A literature review will provide an analysis of past cases illustrating the importance of CSR, considering both positive and negative impacts CSR strategy can have on business success. Furthermore, important definitions and terminology critical to understanding CSR will be highlighted. This paper explores the evolution of CSR and provides a general overview of the effects CSR can have on a company’s reputation. The way a company can effectively utilize a CSR-strategy as a competitive advantage is also examined, along with scholarly views both …

Rebranding The Wku Office Of Sustainability, Mary Boothe

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Since its inception in 2008, the WKU Office of Sustainability has struggled with general program and initiative awareness as well as student engagement in university sponsored sustainability activities. Attempts to target and capture an audience have been inconsistent due to lack of budget and staff, resulting in varying levels of success. The purpose of this project is to identify, through a population survey, a student market that is interested but unaware of the information, services, and initiatives provided by the WKU Office of Sustainability. Once identified, the market was assessed using statistical data and focus groups to determine the most …

Assortment Planning Of Automotive Products: Considerations For Economic And Environmental Impacts Of Technology Selection, Ali Taghavi, Ratna Babu Chinnam

Industrial and Systems Engineering Faculty Research Publications

A manufacturer’s assortment is the set of products that the company offers to its customers. Assortment planning considerably affects both the sales revenue and product offering costs for the company and it had experienced growing attention across different industries over recent decades. In this study, we propose a modeling framework that seeks to identify the optimal assortment for a manufacturer of configurable products (in particular, automobiles). Our model accounts for environmental considerations (Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements, tail-pipe emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions related to the production of the fuel used to power the vehicle) during assortment planning. We formulate …

Difference In Degrees: Ceo Characteristics And Firm Environmental Disclosure, Ben W. Lewis, Judith L. Walls, Glen W. S. Dowell

Faculty Publications

We contribute to the literature on firms’ responses to institutional pressures and environmental information disclosure. We hypothesize that CEO characteristics such as education and tenure will influence firms’ likelihood to voluntarily disclose environmental information. We test our hypotheses by examining firms’ responses to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and find that firms led by newly appointed CEOs and CEOs with MBA degrees are more likely to respond to the CDP, while those led by lawyers are less likely to respond. Our results have implications for research on strategic responses to institutional pressures and corporate environmental performance.

Corporate Sociability: Analysing Motivations For Collaborative Regulation, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The article explores the features and charts the principle theorizing of regulatory sociability from collaboration rather than intervention, whatever the interest-based motivation behind transforming crisis, toward orderliness. A key theme is the role played by corporations in facilitating and benefiting from sociability. A particular explanatory focus on the way in which corporate culture can change from predatory jurisdiction shopping to embracing mutuality of interests in the context of environmental sustainability is employed. The article concludes with a discussion of how, as compulsory discipline increases, it may produce compliance but at costs for regulatory sociability. The alternative regulatory paradigm is one …

Optimization Of A Small Business's Sustainability Using Life-Cycle Analysis Software And Benefit Corporation Assessment Tools, Zachary Paul Angelini

Student Research Projects

American Bench Craft produces hand-crafted American-made goods that include leather wallets, cardholders, belts, bracelets, etc. Their unique designs have a very specific focus on simplicity, which is the key to making their mission work.

Mission: Quality & Durability

Simple products are more durable. Less parts equals less susceptibility to failure. Simple designs and premium materials make their products truly built to last.

Mission: American Jobs

Their simple design concept allows them to manufacture right here in the USA, manufacture locally and utilize chronically underemployed populations. They are creating American jobs where they are needed the most.

Mission: Environmental Sustainability

The …

Blue And Orange Lunch Line, Donald Riger

College of Business and Economics Presentations

The fall 2013 section of Supply Chain Management 420-Creating Sustainable Goods and Services, taught by Dr. Tom Gattiker, completed a group project using the Green Breakthrough process which is based on Design Thinking. The assignment for this portion of the course was a written proposal for a product or service that:

– Is highly innovative, not incremental

– Meets a customer (e.g. student, faculty) need

– Has a significant environmental benefit

– Related to the BSU / our campus

– Customer facing

– Could be implemented at BSU (or nearby) within one year

I was a member of team 2 …

Speaking Of Corporate Social Responsibility, Hao Liang, Christopher Marquis, Luc Renneboog, Sunny Li Sun

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We argue that the language spoken by corporate decision makers influences their firms’ social responsibility and sustainability practices. Linguists suggest that obligatory future-time-reference (FTR) in a language reduces the psychological importance of the future. Prior research has shown that speakers of strong FTR languages (such as English, French, and Spanish) exhibit less future-oriented behavior (Chen, 2013). Yet, research has not established how this mechanism may affect the future-oriented activities of corporations. We theorize that companies with strong-FTR languages as their official/working language would have less of a future orientation and so perform worse in future-oriented activities such as corporate social …

Investigating The Portrayal And Influence Of Sustainability Claims In An Environmental Advertising Context, Shannon Cummins, Timothy M. Reilly, Les Carlson, Stephen J. Grove, Michael J. Dorsch

Marketing & Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications

The ability of consumer judges to identify sustainable messages in environmental advertising and the effect of these messages is explored. A content analysis provides insight into these judges’ perceptions of the depth of environmental advertising messages. An experiment investigates the influence of sustainable messages and includes collection of cognitive response data to evaluate the cognitive dimension of sustainability messages. Content analysis results suggest that sustainability messages may influence how environmental advertisements are perceived. These findings are supported by the cognitive response data, which shows cognitive differences across advertisements, and the experimental manipulation that suggests sustainable ads may be more involving …

Sustainability Fellowships: The Potential For Collective Stakeholder Influence, Kent Walker Dr., Andre Laplume

Odette School of Business Publications

Purpose –Given the current ecological state of the planet organizations now need to develop their sustainability to a significantly greater extent and at a faster pace. This paper proposes stakeholder collectives as a means for rapid and comprehensive sustainability, while also examining the moderating influence of firm size and change potential.

Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical analysis leads to the development of multiple propositions. The work concentrates on one research question: How can we bring about rapid and comprehensive organizational sustainability?

Findings – Arguments for the inability of individual stakeholders to drive the level of sustainability now required are presented. Propositions …

The Motivating Role Of Dissociative Outgroups In Encouraging Positive Consumer Behaviors, Katherine White, Bonnie Simpson, Jennifer Argo

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Previous research has found that people tend to avoid products or behaviors that are linked to dissociative reference groups. The present research demonstrates conditions under which consumers exhibit similar behaviors to dissociative out-group members in the domain of positive consumption behaviors. In particular, when a consumer learns that a dissociative out-group performs comparatively well on a positive behavior, the consumer is more likely to respond with positive intentions and actions when the setting is public (vs. private). The authors suggest that this occurs because learning of the successful performance of a dissociative out-group under public conditions threatens the consumer’s group …

Situational Variables And Sustainability In Multi-Attribute Decision-Making, Bonnie Simpson, Scott Radford

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to examine whether consumers demonstrate a multi-dimensional understanding of sustainability in their decision-making and addresses the situational influence of confidence and compromise on sustainable product choices.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using three choice-based conjoint experiments the authors examined the importance of sustainability, compromise and confidence to consumers across two contexts. Two-step cluster analyses were used to segment consumers based on the importance scores.

Findings

– Data indicates that the environmental dimension of sustainability is the most influential followed by economic and social. The responses suggest three distinct segments identified as self-focused, trend motivated and …

Sustainability Dilemmas In Emerging Economies, Rama K. Jayanti, M.V. Rajeev Gowda

Business Faculty Publications

Increasing evidence of climate change is forcing businesses to play an active role in reducing sustainability burdens and preserving resources for future generations. Extant research on sustainability has an exclusive focus on developed countries with stringent environmental regulations and activist scrutiny. Emerging markets present interesting dilemmas since rapid mass urbanisation aimed at raising standards of living poses concomitant threats to environmental health. This round table aimed to showcase best practices in sustainability within the Indian business context. Insights from the discussion regarding sustainability dilemmas provide a fertile ground for bench marking global sustainability best practices.

The Great Sustainability Challenge, Isidor Wallimann

Sociology - All Scholarship

"The balance between society and nature is askew. The age of industrialization and the subsequent era of consumerism are large culprits for pollution and the degradation of the environment. Human activity on Earth has undeniably affected the planet and has contributed colossal levels of carbon emissions that are pushing global temperatures to keep rising. Significant ecological risks to human survival may result from not taking more pressing action. Governments have a role to play in moving more rapidly and effectively towards more sustainable practices – “how to be more sustainable?” is a question that must be integrated in all decision-making …

Educating The Future Of Sustainability, Gillian Bowser, Ulrike Gretzel, Elizabeth Davis, Mark Brown

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The future of global environmental sustainability is contingent upon educating the next generation of environmental stewards. Critical elements of training such an interdisciplinary workforce include mentoring and experiential learning in the areas of science, communication, and leadership. To keep pace with the ever changing and increasingly complex issues of global environmental sustainability, environmental educators must encourage and support the participation and training of a diverse body of students in the environmental sciences. The Rocky Mountain Sustainability and Science Network (RMSSN) is a partnership of over two dozen universities, federal agencies and other organizations designed to help train the next diverse …

Sustainability As A Business Strategy, Nancy E. Landrum

School of Environmental Sustainability: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Courses For Horses, The In-Side Track, Part Ii, Diane Vitale Mba, Pauline Sutcliffe Msw, Ma

Faculty Works: Business (1973-2022)

At the 2013 NBEA conference we introduced and presented our paper “Courses for Horses, Making Change Stick in the Workplace” and we laid out the framework for our systemic cybernetically informed process model to enable organizations to achieve second order change (Alanson, 1971) or “change that sticks”. We also addressed issues of language (Koestler, 1979) and currency (Llopis, 2012).

Strategic Marketing Sustainability: From A Marketing Mix To A Marketing Matrix, Alan Pomering

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper proposes a marketing planning framework that will assist managers to address sustainability challenges in their decision making, in line with the American Marketing Association's (AMA) revised (2007) definition of marketing, which calls for a responsibility to society at large, not just individual consumers. At present, marketing's conceptual frameworks lag behind what is a fundamental and significant shift in marketing philosophy. We propose a Sustainability Marketing Model, a simple yet systematic framework that ensures sustainability cascades through the marketing planning process. In developing this, the marketing mix is replaced with a matrix that adds four critical decision fields to …

Building An Innovation Strategy, Elizabeth Cruickshank, Perry Haan

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2014

This non-empirical paper describes the innovation strategy for Aetna, Inc. This company is a national managed care organization, and although it is already large in scope, it operates more like a government agency rather than an innovative organization (Schack, 2000). This paper will highlight the theories, or ingredients, of innovation strategy, followed by an explanation of how the theories support and help in the creation and application of the recommended innovation strategy for Aetna. This paper also describes the organizational design model that drives innovation, the processes that enable innovation, and the success factors necessary for people to develop and …

Understanding The Competitive Environment Of Nonprofit Organizations: A Resource-Advantage Theory Approach, Omer Topaloglu, Robert E. Mcdonald

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2014

Competition in the nonprofit sector has dramatically intensified in the past two decades as a result of the increased number of nonprofit organizations (NPOs), decreased and diffused governmental support, and entry of for-profit companies into markets that are traditionally the domain of nonprofits. In an attempt to enhance the understanding of the nonprofit competition, the authors adapt a general theory of competition to commercial nonprofits, those that generate external benefits by commercial activities. Applying resource-advantage (R-A) theory, a dynamic theory of competition adapted from the business literature, we discuss how these entities can leverage their various resources in order to …