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The economic foundations of corporate sustainability

Ulrich Steger (IMD – International Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland.)
Aileen Ionescu‐Somers (IMD – International Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland.)
Oliver Salzmann (IMD – International Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland.)

Corporate Governance

ISSN: 1472-0701

Article publication date: 17 April 2007

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to fill the void of empirical cross‐industry research in the area of corporate sustainability management and its business case.

Design/methodology/approach

Nine industries (oil and gas, utility, aviation, automotive, chemical, pharmaceutical, technology, financial services and food and beverage) are compared in terms of their environmental and social issues, the pressure they face from their stakeholders, and the resulting business case for corporate sustainability. For this approach, a mixed methods design was employed featuring semi‐structured interviews with managers (sustainability experts, business managers from various functions) and external stakeholders); and self‐completion questionnaires (also targeting sustainability experts and business managers) to collect complementary quantitative data. It was possible to draw upon more than 400 interviews and 1,100 questionnaires.

Findings

It was ascertained that the business case is clearly sector‐specific and difficult for companies to build for several reasons: limited relevance of social and environmental risks and opportunities to companies' core business; numerous and highly‐fragmented stakeholder demands; and lack of basic organizational capacities to collect and process relevant data.

Originality/value

This paper is primarily relevant to practitioners. It looks beyond the usual “sustainability rhetoric”, as it provides a much differentiated (since cross‐industry) view on the drivers and barriers to corporate sustainability.

Keywords

Citation

Steger, U., Ionescu‐Somers, A. and Salzmann, O. (2007), "The economic foundations of corporate sustainability", Corporate Governance, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 162-177. https://doi.org/10.1108/14720700710739804

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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