Evolving corporate sustainable development: a case study of Mysore Paper Mills Limited

In 1987, the World Commission on Economic Development (WCED) popularized the term “sustainable development” in its well-cited report, Our Common Future. According to this report, sustainable development is defined as “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The WCED asserted that sustainable development required simultaneous adoption of environmental, economical, and equity principles. Bansal (Strategic Management Journal, 26(3), 197–218, 2005) has conducted a study of Canadian firms in the oil and gas, mining, and forestry industries from 1986 to 1995. The study found that both resources based and institutional factors influence corporate sustainable development. This paper studied the corporate sustainable development of Mysore Paper Mills Ltd. from 1995 to 2011 using the same model. The study found that independent variables with significant impact on environmental integrity and overall sustainability were fines, penalties, court cases (total) involved by the company, and log of total assets. On economic prosperity, the independent variable with significant impact is log of total assets. For social equity, the independent variable with significant impact is foreign sales as percentage of total sales, number of fines/penalties/court cases (total), number of fines/penalties/court cases (environmental), log(total assets), and return on equity.