scholarly journals Sustainability with (out) compromise: how companies perceive, manage, and communicate trade-off decisions in the practice of corporate sustainability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merriam Haffar
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Organizational Cognition ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Latent Content

The practice of corporate sustainability is beset with compromise; it involves inevitable trade-offs across competing objectives and across a range of stakeholders and time horizons. These trade-offs create tension points that present the company with strategic choices that ultimately shape its overall approach to sustainability. Accordingly, trade-offs constitute a material aspect of a company’s sustainability practice, and ought to be disclosed in sustainability reports. The purpose of this research is therefore to understand how companies perceive, manage, and report on these critical trade-off decisions in the practice of sustainability. To achieve this objective, this dissertation conducted a study in three phases. In Phase I, this study conducted a review and content analysis of the trade-off literature through the lens of the natural resource-based view of the firm. Through this process, this study proposed a hierarchical framework for the analysis of trade-offs based on their root tensions, their interconnections, and their connection to sustainability synergies. In Phase II, this study used an organizational cognition perspective to posit that companies perceive and respond to these trade-off decisions in ways that reflect the company’s underlying sustainability logic. To explore this link, this study performed a content analysis of interviews with sustainability managers, as well as archival documents. This study found that companies with an instrumental logic saw trade-offs as binary and resolved them by counterbalancing the ‘lose’ dimension with ‘wins’ elsewhere. In contrast, companies with an integrative logic saw trade-offs as non-binary, and resolved them through an iterative, risk-based approach. Finally, in Phase III, this study used a legitimacy perspective to determine whether companies are disclosing these trade-offs in their sustainability reports. To do so, this study analyzed sustainability reports and interviews with sustainability managers using content analysis. This study found that 92% of all reporting companies had encountered sustainability trade-offs but had not disclosed them in their reports. Evidence of these accounts were nevertheless present in the implicit (or latent) content of the reports. These findings highlight the negative light in which many companies perceive trade-offs, and the legitimacy threat that their disclosure poses.

scholarly journals Sustainability with (out) compromise: how companies perceive, manage, and communicate trade-off decisions in the practice of corporate sustainability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merriam Haffar
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Organizational Cognition ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Latent Content

The practice of corporate sustainability is beset with compromise; it involves inevitable trade-offs across competing objectives and across a range of stakeholders and time horizons. These trade-offs create tension points that present the company with strategic choices that ultimately shape its overall approach to sustainability. Accordingly, trade-offs constitute a material aspect of a company’s sustainability practice, and ought to be disclosed in sustainability reports. The purpose of this research is therefore to understand how companies perceive, manage, and report on these critical trade-off decisions in the practice of sustainability. To achieve this objective, this dissertation conducted a study in three phases. In Phase I, this study conducted a review and content analysis of the trade-off literature through the lens of the natural resource-based view of the firm. Through this process, this study proposed a hierarchical framework for the analysis of trade-offs based on their root tensions, their interconnections, and their connection to sustainability synergies. In Phase II, this study used an organizational cognition perspective to posit that companies perceive and respond to these trade-off decisions in ways that reflect the company’s underlying sustainability logic. To explore this link, this study performed a content analysis of interviews with sustainability managers, as well as archival documents. This study found that companies with an instrumental logic saw trade-offs as binary and resolved them by counterbalancing the ‘lose’ dimension with ‘wins’ elsewhere. In contrast, companies with an integrative logic saw trade-offs as non-binary, and resolved them through an iterative, risk-based approach. Finally, in Phase III, this study used a legitimacy perspective to determine whether companies are disclosing these trade-offs in their sustainability reports. To do so, this study analyzed sustainability reports and interviews with sustainability managers using content analysis. This study found that 92% of all reporting companies had encountered sustainability trade-offs but had not disclosed them in their reports. Evidence of these accounts were nevertheless present in the implicit (or latent) content of the reports. These findings highlight the negative light in which many companies perceive trade-offs, and the legitimacy threat that their disclosure poses.

Corporate Sustainability Indicators In Banking Sector

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 581-584
Author(s):  
Dumitrascu Mihaela ◽  
Ileana Ciutacu ◽  
Iulian Vasile Săvulescu
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Industry Sector ◽  
Sustainability Reports

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to see the situation regarding the indicators from the Sustainability Reports. For this we use a qualitative research, a content analysis of these reports. Our sample is composed by the banks that develop their activity in our country for which we analysed the last year reports at group level. We choose only an industry sector to obtain the homogeneity of the sample. The findings reveal a number of 86 indicators, which were used in these reports. We analyzed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators used by 12 companies. The most reported indicators are EN4, EN8, LA1, LA10, while the last reported indicators are E5, E10 E13 E15, EN20, EN21, EN23, EN27, HR9, HR10 The results obtained are important for future research in this area, for both managers and researchers.

scholarly journals Corporate Sustainability Reporting in the BIST Sustainability Index

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burcu Demirel ◽  
Murat Erdogan
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Development Stage ◽  
Global Reporting Initiative ◽  
Sustainability Index ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Working Day ◽  
Sustainability Report ◽  
Day By Day

<p>In recent years, there is a growing focus on corporate operations especially since the publication of the first environmental reports in 1989. Companies have started to publish information about its environmental, social and sustainability policies. The study examines the sustainability reporting elements of Borsa Istanbul Sustainability Index (BIST) in Turkey and to evaluate which elements is most vital in this context. This study will begin with the sustainability reporting that will be examined under the roof of corporation sustainability and end with the examination of sustainability reports of 15 firms, which are included in the BIST Sustainability Index in Turkey, and a content analysis. The reports of companies under study were taken from special web site and GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) database of companies. Being the first study in examining the sustainability report of companies in BIST Sustainability Index, it is expected to contribute in literature about sustainability reporting recently started to gain importance in Turkey. Overall our findings suggest that the sustainability index established in Turkey is still in development stage, but the enterprises in the endeavor are working day by day to develop the sustainability qualities.</p>

scholarly journals The use of indicators in Canadian corporate sustainability reports

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Clement Roca
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Sustainability Indicators ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
Industry Sector ◽  
Composite Indices ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
The Way

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the use of sustainability indicators in Canadian corporate sustainability reports. The literature review highlights that few details are available on how indicators are currently used by corporations. To address this gap, this research focues on a content analysis of sustainability reports published by Canadian corporations in 2008. This thesis provides the first comprehensive review of indicators used in Canadian corporate sustainability reporting. Thematic categories of indicators, their use by industry sector and their associated targets are discussed. The use of existing sustainability indicators programs, such as composite indices, the GRI and Balanaced Scorecard, is also presented. The GRI indicators selected by Canadian corporations are also reviewed in detail. Finally, the way corporations report on the selection, development, and use of indicators int the management of sustainability issues is analysed.

A Comparison of Corporate Sustainability Reporting in Europe and the Mena Region

2019 ◽  
pp. 1610-1632
Author(s):  
Harish C. Chandan
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Senior Management ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Large Corporations ◽  
The Developed Countries

Corporate sustainability (CS) is becoming a strategic focus for large corporations globally. This chapter compares CS reporting in the Europe and MENA regions. A content analysis of the CS reports from large corporations in Europe and the MENA region is presented to explore the themes covered in their sustainability reports. More large corporations in Europe have been reporting CS longer than those in the MENA region, and more large corporations in the developed countries of Europe as compared to MENA region publish CS reports. In general, CS reporting in the MENA region and developing European countries is in its infancy. There is evidence of leadership structures being put in place to ensure that the board and senior management are involved in sustainable strategy development and are incentivized to monitor and ensure implementation of that strategy through financial rewards.

Corporate sustainability measurement based on entropy weight and TOPSIS

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guler Aras ◽  
Nuray Tezcan ◽  
Ozlem Kutlu Furtuna ◽  
Evrim Hacioglu Kazak
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainability Performance ◽  
Corporate Sustainability Performance ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Sustainability Measurement

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to measure Garanti Bank’s corporate sustainability performance along with the main indicators of economic, social and environmental factors, taking into consideration of the governance indicators. Design/methodology/approach Recent global economic developments indicate that the main corporate sustainability indicators of economic, environmental and social factors are insufficient for the sustainability practices of the companies. Along with these indicators, a good administrative structure should be evaluated as a whole to measure the sustainability performance. For measuring corporate sustainability performance of the bank along with the economic, environmental, social and governance dimensions of corporate sustainability, content analysis, entropy and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) methods are used with a total of four corporate sustainability reports published by Garanti Bank within the period of 2010-2014. Findings The results depict that the sustainability performance of Garanti Bank tends to increase during the time span. Among all dimensions, economic dimension has the highest impact on overall sustainability performance, as it has the highest weight in entropy. On contrary, governance dimension has the lowest impact on overall performance. Research limitations/implications This paper has implications in enhancing the understanding of corporate sustainability measurement both using content analysis, and TOPSIS particularly in a developing country, although it is limited by the size of the corporate sustainability reports and time span. Originality/value This paper attempts to reveal an emerging banking sector specific corporate sustainability materiality. This is the first study in Turkey which includes both qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques considering the content analysis and TOPSIS.

Legitimizing Potential “Bad News”: How Companies Disclose on Their Tension Experiences in Their Sustainability Reports

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 534-553
Author(s):  
Merriam Haffar ◽  
Cory Searcy
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Bad News ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Sustainability Principles ◽  
Latent Content

The practice of corporate sustainability is beset with compromise; it involves inevitable tensions across competing social, environmental, and economic objectives, across a wide range of divergent stakeholders and across time. The purpose of this study is to determine whether, and why, companies are reporting on tensions decisions in their sustainability reports. This study relies on a group of the largest companies in Canada and analyzes sustainability reports and interviews with sustainability managers. The study finds that 92% of all reporting companies in the sample had encountered sustainability tensions but had failed to disclose these discussions explicitly in their reports. Evidence of these accounts are nevertheless present in the implicit (or latent) content of the reports, surrounded by “legitimizing talk”—affirmations of the companies’ commitment to, and demonstration of sustainability principles. These findings highlight the negative light in which many companies perceive tensions (as “bad news”) and the potential legitimacy threat that their disclosure poses.

A Comparison of Corporate Sustainability Reporting in Europe and the Mena Region

2016 ◽  
pp. 230-251
Author(s):  
Harish C. Chandan
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Senior Management ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Sustainability Reports ◽  
Large Corporations ◽  
The Developed Countries

Corporate sustainability (CS) is becoming a strategic focus for large corporations globally. This chapter compares CS reporting in the Europe and MENA regions. A content analysis of the CS reports from large corporations in Europe and the MENA region is presented to explore the themes covered in their sustainability reports. More large corporations in Europe have been reporting CS longer than those in the MENA region, and more large corporations in the developed countries of Europe as compared to MENA region publish CS reports. In general, CS reporting in the MENA region and developing European countries is in its infancy. There is evidence of leadership structures being put in place to ensure that the board and senior management are involved in sustainable strategy development and are incentivized to monitor and ensure implementation of that strategy through financial rewards.

scholarly journals On strategic trade-offs: does the principle of energy conservation explain the trade-offs law?

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (11) ◽  
pp. 1163-1174
Author(s):  
Matthias Thürer ◽  
Mark Stevenson ◽  
Roberto Sarmiento ◽  
Peter Gianiodis
Keyword(s):  
Energy Conservation ◽  
Deductive Reasoning ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Trade ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Conceptual Study ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Principle Of Energy Conservation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reaffirm the suggestion that there are at least two distinct types of laws of trade-off that affect all firms and, in doing so, to contribute toward resolving the persistent trade-off debate in the literature. Design/methodology/approach Conceptual study using implicit deductive reasoning. Findings Two types of trade-offs are identified: “internal” can be understood following the dictates of the law of diminishing returns, while “external” can be modeled using the principle of energy conservation. Research limitations/implications New insights are provided by discussing the impact of both laws of trade-off on the resource-based view of the firm, on new capabilities such as sustainability and innovativeness and on key strategic choices. Practical implications The study explains why trade-offs occur and outlines contextual factors that determine the “strength” of the trade-offs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has attempted to investigate the topic of strategic trade-offs on the basis of the principle of energy conservation.

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