5a. Corporate Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility

Who we are?

Sjors Witjes
Radboud University, The Netherlands, sjors.witjes@ru.nl
Arun Sahay
Birla Institute of Management Technology, India, arun.sahay@bimtech.ac.in
Gabor Harangozo
Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, gabor.harangozo@uni-corvinus.hu
Nelson Lozada
University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia, nelson.lozada@udea.edu.co

Goals and Objectives

Companies are important actors in any kind of (un-)sustainable development. Given this central role, scholars have developed different concepts and frameworks to support companies to integrate sustainability issues into their business activities. A central objective of this track is to discuss business sustainability management in relation to its effects on sustainable development.

This track offers a forum to reflect on recent developments in practice, results from science as well as ongoing transdisciplinary research activities in the fields of corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility. This relates for example to strategic management, sustainable business models and sustainable entrepreneurship.

Following main questions, amongst others, are of interest:

  • What is the contribution of sustainability strategies, business models and sustainable entrepreneurship to sustainable development?
  • How can strategies and business models be implemented, both in companies and in a network of companies?
  • Are current sustainability management approaches and strategies a sufficient contribution to sustainable development or are there limitations (for instance relative vs. absolute sustainability performance) which should be taken into account?
  • Which factors support or hinder the implementation of sustainability management approaches, strategies and business models in business practice?
  • How can managers deal with trade-offs between economic goals and environmental/social goals?
  • What is the role of leadership and organizational culture for sustainability management?
  • Which frameworks and tools support sustainable entrepreneurship?
  • How can corporates themselves become sustainable in the wider context of people, planet and profit?

Themes and topics

We encourage conceptual as well as empirical contributions specifically, but not exclusively, dealing with the following topics:

    • Sustainability management and leadership for sustainability management
    • Sustainability management and organizational culture
    • Business sustainability and CSR sustainability management/CSR and resilience
    • Sustainability Management/CSR and sustainability strategies: experiences, developments, barriers and actors
    • Strategic sustainability management and sustainable innovations
    • Sustainable business models
    • Sustainable entrepreneurship

Length and content of the proposed abstract to the track

Each proposed abstract (in connection to one of the areas pointed out above) within 300 and 500 words (including everything)

  1. shall be best organized (without headlines) along usual structures (e.g. intro/method/findings or results/ discussion/conclusions)
  2. does not need to, but can include references
  3. shall provide in a final section
    1. to which SDG(s) and SDG-target(s) their proposed abstract especially relate to (e.g. “SDG+Target: 14.1.”.
    2. a brief indication how the proposed contribution relates to the topic of the Conference “Transforming global challenges into Sustainable Opportunities: Collaborations and Partnerships across the globe.)“

Abstracts which do not outline points 3.1.) AND 3.2.) might be considered less relevant in the review.

Knowledge Resources

General Website

GENERAL WEBSITES

UN – Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

UN – SDG Knowledge Platform – Goal 12

European Union Science Hub – Sustainable production and consumption

ARTICLES

Harvard Business Review, The Elusive Green Consumer, July-August 2019

Wang, P. Ghadimi, M.K. Lim, M.-L. Tseng, A literature review of sustainable consumption and production: a comparative analysis in developed and developing economies

Clean. Prod., 206 (2019), pp. 741-754, 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.09.172

V.S.C. Tunn, N.M.P. Bocken, E.A. van den Hende, J.P.L. Schoormans, Business models for sustainable consumption in the circular economy: an expert study

Clean. Prod., 212 (2019), pp. 324-333 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.290

N.M.P. Bocken, R. Mugge, C.A. Bom, H.J. Lemstra, Pay-per-use business models as a driver for sustainable consumption: evidence from the case of HOMIE

Clean. Prod., 198 (2018), pp. 498-510, 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.07.043

Viciunaite, F. Alfnes, Informing sustainable business models with a consumer preference perspective

Clean. Prod., 242 (2020), 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118417

O’Rourke, A. Ringer, The Impact of Sustainability Information on Consumer Decision Making

Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol.20 Issue 4, August 2016 https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12310

Phipps et al., Understanding the inherent complexity of sustainable consumption: A social cognitive framework

Journal of Business Research, 66 (8) (2013), pp. 1227-1234 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.08.016

Routledge & Earthscans' Sustainability Hub

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