A Cognitive Perspective on the Business Case for Corporate Sustainability

This paper proposes that a cognitive perspective on corporate sustainability and competitiveness might allow new insights into the question of the business case. The paper explores how respondents from 12 firms make sense of their firm's investments in corporate sustainability activities by analyzing the mental models evoked. The interviews showed that a business case perspective emerged as the dominant logic. A subsequent analysis of the content of the knowledge schemas that were elicited surfaced four dimensions of corporate sustainability induced competitive advantages: risk reduction, efficiency gains, brand building and new market creation. An analysis of the structure of these knowledge schemas revealed that respondents from firms with lower perceived sustainability performance drew on less differentiated and less integrated cognitive frameworks (focusing on risk and efficiency). Respondents from firms with higher perceived performance drew on more complex mental models to represent the links between corporate sustainability and competitiveness. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Explanatory Factors of Integrated Sustainability and Financial Reporting

The complexity of the business world has led to growing demands being made of companies regarding the information provided on their financial performance, corporate governance and contribution to developing sustainability. In response, some leading companies have begun to publish integrated reporting, in the form of a document providing a coherent summary of this information, thus facilitating stakeholder engagement. This paper examines the validity of the hypotheses of the theories of agency and of signalling, and analyses the political costs and those borne by owners in voluntarily developing this new type of business document. More specifically, in order to determine their prevalence among the suggested reasons for these paradigms, we analyse the effect of industry concentration, together with other factors, in the development of integrated reporting. The analysis of a non‐balanced sample of 1590 international companies for the years 2008–2010, in which a logistic regression methodology is applied to panel data, reveals the negative impact of industry concentration on the development of a more pluralist report, simultaneously taking into account stakeholders, sustainability and the long‐term viewpoint, as well as questions of responsible investment, business ethics and transparency. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

A Transdisciplinary Exploratory Model of Corporate Responses to the Challenges of Environmental Sustainability

Global surveys of business leaders identify the environment as a major issue of concern, but uncertainties about how to address the challenges of environmental sustainability are cited as a significant inhibitor to business responses. Persistent levels of corporate uncertainty in this domain may be due to the complexity of issues and difficulties in meaningfully capturing this complexity. Calls have been made for new ways to produce knowledge about complex societal challenges, including environmental sustainability. This paper aims to reduce business uncertainties and to stimulate business and research initiatives. The paper describes a field study of a global corporation's pioneering responses to environmental sustainability. The study highlights academic and practitioner collaboration to generate, transfer and implement new knowledge through an innovative research approach. The outcome is a transdisciplinary, exploratory model, presenting a progression of integrated activities and processes within eight categories of corporate responses. Implications for research and practice are considered. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Reflexive Evaluation of an Academic–Industry Research Collaboration: Can Mode 2 Management Research be Achieved?

We present a reflexive retrospective account of a UK government research council funded project deploying knowledge management software to support environmental sustainability in the construction industry. This project was set up in a form typical of a Mode 2 research programme involving several academic institutions and industrial partners, and aspiring to fulfil the Mode 2 criteria seen as transdisciplinarity and business relevance. The multidisciplinary nature is analysed through retrospectively reflecting upon the research process and activities we carried out, and is found to be problematic. No real consensus was reached between the partners on the ‘context of application’. Difficulties between industry and academia, within industry and within academia led to diverging agendas and different alignments for participants. The context of application does not (pre‐)exist independently of institutional influences, and in itself cannot drive transdisciplinarity since it is subject to competing claims and negotiations. There were unresolved tensions in terms of private vs. public construction companies and their expectations of ICT‐based knowledge management, and in terms of the sustainable construction agenda. This post hoc reflexive account, enables us to critique our own roles in having developed a managerial technology for technically sophisticated and powerful private industrial actors to the detriment of public sector construction partners, having bypassed sustainability issues, and not reached transdisciplinarity. We argue that this is due to institutional pressures and instrumentalization from academia, industry and government and a restricted notion of business relevance. There exists a politically motivated tendency to oppose Mode 1 academic research to practitioner‐oriented Mode 2 approaches to management research. We argue that valuing the links between co‐existing Mode 1 and 2 research activities would support a more genuine and fuller exploration of the context of application.     

Managing Risks in Complex Projects

Dealing effectively with risks in complex projects is difficult and requires management interventions that go beyond simple analytical approaches. This is one finding of a major field study into risk management practices and business processes of 35 major product developments in 17 high‐technology companies. Almost one‐half of the contingencies that occur are not being detected before they impact project performance. Yet, the risk‐impact model presented in this article shows that risk does not affect all projects equally but depends on the effectiveness of collective managerial actions dealing with specific contingencies. The results of this study discuss why some organizations are more successful in detecting risks early in the project life cycle, and in decoupling risk factors from work processes before they impact project performance. The field data suggest that effective project risk management involves an intricately linked set of variables, related to work process, organizational environment, and people. Some of the best success scenarios point to the critical importance of recognizing and dealing with risks early in their development. This requires broad involvement and collaboration across all segments of the project team and its environment, and sophisticated methods for assessing feasibilities and usability early and frequently during the project life cycle. Specific managerial actions, organizational conditions, and work processes are suggested for fostering a project environment most conducive to effective cross‐functional communication and collaboration among all stakeholders, a condition important to early risk detection and effective risk management in complex project situations.     

Prioritizing Sustainability Indicators: Using Materiality Analysis to Guide Sustainability Assessment and Strategy

Despite the growing awareness of complexity in sustainable development, the practical implementation of sustainability assessment through the use of sustainability indicators requires prioritizing the myriad indicators available. This study identifies the highest priority sustainability indicators for the New Zealand wine industry using materiality analysis. Thirteen information sources representative of different stakeholder perspectives considered to drive the need for sustainability assessment are analysed to provide a measure of sustainability issue salience and risk. Based on a meta‐analysis of relevant information, it is found that environmental issues make up the highest priority issues, followed by social issues relating primarily to worker wellbeing. Significantly, economic and governance issues were not found to be high priorities. These findings are discussed in the context of the common bias in agricultural sustainability assessment towards environmental issues, and the broader business implications for sustainability assessment, strategy and policy. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The Impact of Business Strategies on Online Sustainability Disclosures

With increasing attention being paid to corporate sustainability, pressure from stakeholders, especially customers, is forcing companies to implement sustainability strategies and practices that express their commitment to sustainable development, and engage with stakeholders through voluntary sustainability disclosure. To better understand the sustainability disclosure mechanisms from a business strategy perspective, this study investigates the influence of business strategy, formulated by customer groups, on online sustainability disclosure. It provides empirical observation of Malaysian public‐listed companies based on the combined lens of stakeholder and legitimacy theory. Despite the comparatively low level of corporate sustainability disclosure in Malaysia, this content analysis of online sustainability information disclosure reveals that the companies with more diversified product lines disclose more sustainability information, and that the corporate sustainability effort is significantly related to brand name. Hence, companies should be encouraged to proactively improve their sustainability performance and disclose more sustainability information in order to strengthen their brand names. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Planetary Boundaries: Ecological Foundations for Corporate Sustainability

Management studies on corporate sustainability practices have grown considerably. The field now has significant knowledge of sustainability issues that are firm and industry focused. However, complex ecological problems are increasing, not decreasing. In this paper, we argue that it is time for corporate sustainability scholars to reconsider the ecological and systemic foundations for sustainability, and to integrate our work more closely with the natural sciences. To address this, our paper introduces a new development in the natural sciences – the delineation of nine ‘Planetary Boundaries’ which govern life as we know it. We call for more systemic research that measures the impact of companies on boundary processes that are at, or possibly beyond, three threshold points – climate change, the global nitrogen cycle, and rate of biodiversity loss – and closing in on others. We also discuss practical implications of the Planetary Boundaries framework for corporate sustainability, including governance and institutional challenges.     

企业金融化、内部控制与审计质量

企业金融化在资本市场与金融市场领域的研究比较深入,但学者对企业金融化在审计领域的研究关注较少。以2010—2018年我国A股上市公司为研究样本,实证检验企业金融化对审计质量的影响以及内部控制对两者关系的调节作用。研究发现,企业金融化与审计质量显著负相关,内部控制能显著抑制企业金融化对审计质量的负向影响。进一步研究发现:审计业务复杂程度和审计风险在企业金融化对审计质量的影响中发挥显著的中介效应,即企业金融化通过增加业务复杂程度和审计风险,从而降低审计质量;来自四大的审计师具有更强的专业胜任能力和独立性,且连续审计中,其能更好地利用内部控制以应对企业金融化带来的风险;内部控制五要素中内部监督能显著抑制企业金融化对审计质量的负向影响,而内部环境、风险评价、信息沟通、控制活动均未能显著抑制企业金融化对审计质量的负向影响。研究结论丰富了企业金融化与审计质量领域的相关文献,拓展了企业金融化经济后果的理论边界,同时也为推行建立健全良好的内部控制制度提供了经验证据。     

Sustainability practices: trends in New Zealand businesses

This paper reports on the sustainability practices of New Zealand businesses based on two national surveys and a series of focus groups and interviews. There was an average increase of 10% in the number of companies adopting environmental practices from 2003 to 2006. There was less of an increase for social practices, although still more commonly adopted by companies than environmental practices. Values and beliefs of management were the overwhelming driver for the adoption of sustainability practices with reputation and brand also significant drivers. Costs, management time, and knowledge/skills were the three most commonly reported barriers to adoption of sustainability initiatives. The implications of the study are that for New Zealand business, there is a strong link with the business case for sustainability. For policymakers interested in achieving sustainability goals, the results suggest that a ‘soft’ approach to business practices may be in order in New Zealand. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Corporate sustainability and innovation in SMEs: Evidence of themes and activities in practice

Recently, innovation processes towards sustainable development have received increasing attention in academic literature. This research introduces the combination of insights from innovation theory, sustainable development practice and small business characteristics to unlock new knowledge on factors that influence the translation of sustainable innovation within small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) into practice. The sustainability themes and activities as described for large companies (i.e. in the sustainability reporting and management literature) were used as starting point in this study. It presents empiric results of the PRIMA Project conducted within the rubber and plastics industry (RPI) on sustainable innovation activities. It will show that many sustainable innovations are directed at the improvement of technological processes (eco‐efficiency) and to lower costs of production. These innovations can be seen as incremental. Companies with sustainability integrated in their orientation and innovation processes show value creation: the development of products new to the market (radical innovations) and cooperation with stakeholders. The PRIMA project shows that more insight in SME innovative characteristics and (e)valuation of sustainable innovation efforts provides opportunities to improve the sustainability performance of SMEs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

IT服务企业跨项目知识转移的影响因素研究

跨项目知识转移是许多企业内部知识积累和创造的重要途径。以一般知识转移相关研究为基础，本文构建了跨项目知识转移影响因素的初步理论模型；然后以K公司房地产事业部为案例研究对象，通过案例分析进一步修正和完善了该理论模型。研究发现，与一般知识转移相比，项目任务特征（任务相似性、任务紧迫性）和知识的嵌入性特征会影响到跨项目知识转...     

浅谈信托风险成因与种类——《以吉林泛亚信托破产为视角》

随着近几年庆泰、金新、金信、泛亚等信托公司纷遭查办,特别是"新两规"的颁布修订,一时间风生水起,一场信托业的大变革的讨论再次拉开了序幕。可以说,信托业曲折坎坷的发展证明着中国社会对信托的认知、认同有待深化,同时也体现着信托业内部制度治理存在着严重不利的坏境,以及在这种生存坏境下,信托公司自身存在的发育不足,主营业务缺乏和风险控制水平低下的尴尬现实。从这个意义上说,信托公司风险控制的深入研究就显得十分重要和紧迫。     

“共享基础设施”电子商务模式在我国的发展对策

本文首先对“共享基础设施”电子商务模式的基本特征进行了概括,其次进一步分析了“共享基础设施”能给企业带来哪些竞争优势,接着以我国家电制造行业实践“共享基础设施”为案例,在实地调查的基础上指出这种电子商务模式目前在我国实践中存在的问题.最后指出“共享基础设施”在我国的发展对策,以促进这种商务模式在我国家电制造业中得到更好的发展,同时为更多企业成功实施这种电子商务模式提供参考。     

Sustainabilty integration in product portfolio for sustainable development: Findings from the industry

Many companies decide which services, products, and technologies to include in their product portfolio using evaluation criteria, which often consider cost, quality, risk, revenue, time, and market position. Incorporating sustainability in the portfolio evaluation criteria could ensure the development of sustainable solutions from the early stages of the product development process, where there is more room for innovation. The aim of this paper is to understand how sustainability can be integrated in the company portfolio development. Semi-structured interviews were performed with experts in the field and representatives from multinational manufacturing companies with operations in Sweden. Main findings from this study include a proposed definition of a sustainability product portfolio concept and suggested portfolio evaluation criteria from an industry perspective. Future research will develop a method to guide manufacturing companies in sustainability integration and implementation in product portfolios.     

The Role of Corporate Sustainability in a Low‐Cost Business Model – A Case Study in the Scandinavian Fashion Industry

This multi‐level case study illustrates how corporate sustainability contributes to the low‐cost business model of a Scandinavian fashion company. Contrary to parts of the extant literature, we do not find that corporate sustainability directly adds measurable value (e.g. a better brand image); neither does it exert coercive control over critical supplier relationships. However, corporate sustainability minimizes the downside risk of the business model. It does so by (1) creating implicit contracts that reach beyond traditional ‘shareholder value’, (2) transferring risk to suppliers and (3) improving leadership by motivating management and employees, and by directing their attention to critical issues. For companies, we offer the insight that corporate sustainability is a necessary complement to shareholder value, even if the relationship is not obvious at first sight. We also suggest that concerted actions of companies or a positive connotation of certification create effective control over suppliers. As to public policy, we conclude that regulators could introduce mandatory disclosure of suppliers to facilitate controls through stakeholders, or alternatively an industry‐wide comply‐or‐explain code of conduct. We also address how regulators can take direct actions against countries with unsustainable labor policies. Last, we suggest future research topics, e.g. expanding the notion of a business model by interpreting ‘adding value’ as prevention of losses. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

关于建筑工程施工投标报价的策略试析

由于我国建筑行业的竞争日益激烈,对于企业而言要想中标则需要对投标报价策略进行优化。尤其是需要加强投标工程成本的计算,另外还要根据建筑企业内部的施工管理、财务管理、成本核算等多种变化因素进行综合调整,只有这样才能够实现科学的投标报价,为企业的发展带来稳定的经济效益。本文简单论述了建筑工程的投标报价的意义,分析了投标报价的类型并提出相关投标报价策略,希望对建筑行业的良性发展有所帮助。     

Environmental soundness: a pragmatic alternative to expectations of sustainable development in business strategy

In recent years, many companies have responded publicly to pressure to improve their environmental performance. The paradigm within which these responses have been made, however, appears to be confused. This paper proposes the role that companies are best able to play in the societal progression towards sustainable development. We argue that the concept of sustainable development may only be properly applied at the global level; it follows that a ‘sustainably developed’ company or industry sector is not a practical objective. Nevertheless, the contribution which business can make within a sustainable development framework is recognized as being of the highest importance. We suggest that the nature of this contribution pivots around a distinction between environmental soundness (which concerns the interaction between the environment and economics) and sustainability (which adds a broad social element to the environmental and economic, and requires the consideration of time horizons). It is proposed that companies are well positioned to pursue effective environmentally sound corporate strategies. It is also argued that such strategies offer great potential to advance social justice, as environmental improvements are often disproportionately beneficial to poorer groups in society. In contrast, arguments are presented against companies attempting to move beyond environmental soundness to address those broad social elements demanded by sustainable development. A broad allocation of those responsibilities inherent in sustainable development to societal institutions is presented, placing the suggested role of business into context. In advocating the adoption of corporate strategies based on environmental soundness we do not seek to derogate the concept of sustainable development; we do aim to stem the apparent continuing erosion of its fundamental tenets and to identify responsibilities that are appropriate to business. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Different dimensions of knowledge in cooperative R&D projects of university scientists

An increasing speed of new knowledge generation and a growing specialization of individuals in specific fields make cooperative R&D projects indispensable to stay abreast of the latest technological developments. However, studies targeting this field of research have almost exclusively focused on industrial cooperation projects, neglecting the importance of academic R&D collaboration.We attempt to address this research gap by investigating completed R&D cooperation projects of 376 German professors of the chemical and biological sciences. Based on their evaluation, we can distinguish between successful and less successful projects mainly involving explicit or tacit knowledge. We further characterize these groups by identifying significant group differences regarding trust, the interdependency between partners, the frequency of communication and the closeness of partners. Overall, our study presents new empirical evidence that the codification of knowledge plays an important role for the success of cooperative R&D projects.