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Summary Articles BSI
Business sustainability and innovation (Universiteit Utrecht)
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Lecture 1: Business & sustainability
Schaltegger, S., Hansen, E.G., & Spitzeck, H. (2016). Corporate sustainability
management. In H. Heinrichs, P. Martens, G. Michelsen, & A. Wiek (Eds.),
Sustainability Science (pp. 85-97). Springer, Dordrecht.
https://doiorg.proxy.library.uu.nl/10.1007/978-94-017-7242-6_78
1.Basic questions
To achieve improved sustainability performance, it is necessary to reduce negative
environmental and social impacts, to create positive social and environmental impacts, and
to do this in a way which supports the economic success of the company.
2. When Did Companies Start to Deal Explicitly with Sustainability? A Brief History of
Sustainability Management.
• Begin 20th century -> Anthroposophical (branch of philosophy founded by Rudolf
Steiner) and life reform movements with their related business activities.
• Rudolf Steiner’s theory focused on overcoming social and environmental problems
long before sustainability was a term
• 1970’s & 1980’s, sustainability was promoted due to oil crisis, mainly family owned
businesses began to strive to success by incorporating social, ecological and marked
principles. (Also improving the social situation of their employees).
• In the 1990s, business received further encouragement to be aware of environmental
and later also social impacts through the introduction of environmental and social
management systems and standards for organizations
- Efforts to improve the sustainability of companies are furthermore supported
by awards, rankings and media coverage.
- Management has realized that social acceptance and legitimacy are part of
sustainability management and that the consideration of stakeholder expectations is
key to good strategic management.
- Furthermore, operational management has not only understood that reducing
energy consumption and pollution can go along with cost reductions but that
sustainability considerations can be a basis for innovation.
- Research shows that the main reasons for dealing with sustainability issues
are to secure legitimacy (i.e., social acceptance) and to improve internal organization
of the company, whereas the market forces are of clearly lower relevance than
societal issues. However marked forces are increasing
3. What Do Sustainability-Oriented Companies Do Differently? Conceptualizing
SustainabilityManagement.
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1. Eco – effectiveness: reflects how successful environmental management as part of
sustainability management has been in reducing its impacts on the natural
environment. This is usually expressed in terms of the absolute amounts of physical
quantities, such as CO 2 emissions
2. Socio-effectiveness: reflects how a company has performed with regard to social
and cultural demands and to legitimate its activities. Therefore, topics such as
stakeholder management and how to respond to societal demand become important
and can be measured, e.g., by reputation indexes, positive and negative media
reporting, and the capacity of companies to create trusting relationships with
stakeholders.
The Sustainability Triangle is designed both to help explain the three generally recognized
components of corporate sustainability. And to identify where a contribution is needed from
sustainability management in order to support management with relevant information as to
where performance contributions can and should be made.
The corners therefore represent the company’s effectiveness in achieving each
component individually and are measured in absolute terms, whereas the lines represent
different ways in which eco- and socio-efficiency, as well as eco-justice, can be defined by
taking different combinations of the three perspectives and expressing the results as relative
indicators. Effectiveness, measured in absolute terms, is the goal whenever management
strives for the improvement of a single dimension (e.g., tons of waste avoided, additional
income in poor regions), whereas efficiency, measured in relative terms, describes the
relationship between different dimensions, e.g., socio-efficiency for the relationship between
the social and economic dimensions.
The conventional aim of business management is economic effectiveness. The
challenge for sustainability management is to support business leaders on the other
aspects.
The main challenge for sustainability management is to integrate all these different aspects.
Several studies point out that sustainability leaders have a better reputation, counting on
brand value, client fidelity, and preference, and better stakeholder relations, and therefore
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fewer risks, as well as positive and free media reporting. In addition, customers are prepared
to pay a higher price, costs are mostly reduced (using less energy), and attractiveness for
the employer.
4. Collaboration as Key to Advance Sustainability Management
Developing solutions to sustainability-related problems, whether environmental or social,
requires not only interdisciplinary but usually transdisciplinary efforts, i.e., collaboration within
firms, between firms, and across sectors.
4.1 Collaboration Within the Firm: Integrative Approach to Sustainability
Sustainability management is a multifunctional activity stretching right across the company.
In fact, its success often depends on cooperation between different functions. Management
demonstrate that no single answer to the question about how to organize sustainability
management exists. At worst, sustainability management can become an isolated and poorly
funded function.
4.2 Collaboration with Value Chain Partners and Other Societal Actors
Once the company has a clear sustainability strategy, it can leverage results by engaging
with partners along the value chain (suppliers and customers).
4.3 Towards Transdisciplinary Collaboration
In fact, sustainability-related challenges are often transdisciplinary in nature, meaning that
not a single sector nor a single discipline or business function can solve them alone.
Zadek S. (2007). The Path to Corporate Responsibility. In W.C. Zimmerli, M. Holzinger,
& K. Richter (Eds.), Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance (pp. 159-172).
Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-70818-6_13
