Managing the Business Case for Sustainability The Integration of Social, Environmental and Economic Performance

About this book

The difficulties in moving towards corporate sustainability raise the question of how environmental and social management can be integrated better with economic business goals. Over the last decade, the relationship between environmental and economic performance, and more recently the interaction between sustainability performance and business competitiveness, have received considerable attention in both theory and practice. However, to date, only partial aspects of the relationship between sustainability performance, competitiveness and economic performance have been studied from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. And, to date, no unique relationship has prevailed in empirical studies. A number of explanations have been put forward to explain this, including methodological reasons, such as the lack of statistical data, the low quality of that data, or the fact that such data is often available for short time periods only. Other theoretical explanations have been developed, such as the influence of different corporate strategies or the relatively small influence of environmental or sustainability issues as one factor among many on the economic or financial success of firms. So, how should the business case for sustainability be managed?

This is the starting point for this book, which compiles insights on a large number of aspects of the link between sustainability performance, business competitiveness and economic success in an attempt to provide a comprehensive and structured view of this relationship. The book provides an unrivalled body of knowledge on the state of theory and practice in this field and identifies prospective future fields of work.

The book includes: conceptual frameworks for the interaction of social, environmental and economic issues in business environments; case studies of companies that have successfully integrated social, environmental and economic issues; analyses of the causal and empirical relationship between environmental and/or social performance, business performance and firm-level competitiveness; concepts and tools useful for improving business value with proactive operational strategies; assessment of the factors influencing operational sustainability strategies and their economic impact; and comparisons of interactions between sustainability performance and firm competitiveness across industry sectors and countries.

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction. Managing and Measuring the Business Case of Sustainability. Capturing the Relationship between Sustainability Performance, Business Competitiveness and Economic Performance Stefan Schaltegger and Marcus Wagner PART 1. THEORY - CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES 1 The Link between Environmental and Economic Performance Environmental Performance and Economic Performance. The Basic Links Leena Lankoski How Can Environmental Management Contribute to Shareholder Value? The Environmental Shareholder Value Approach Stefan Schaltegger 2 Social Performance and Economic Success Do Social Objectives Integrate with Core Corporate Objectives? The Future of Social Auditing Trevor Goddard Social Performance and Competitiveness. A Socio-Competitive Framework Kuno Spirig 3 Integrative Approaches Mapping the Links of Corporate Sustainability. Sustainability Balanced Scorecards as a Tool for Sustainability Performance Measurement and Management Marcus Wagner and Stefan Schaltegger A Model of Financial Analysis at the Service of Sustainability Juan Pineiro Chousa and Noelia Romero Castro Sustainable Value Added. A New Approach to Measuring Corporate Sustainable Performance Frank Figge and Tobias Hahn Sustainable Analysis of Industrial Operations. A Proof of Concept Demonstration Study Sonja Lynn Odom PART II. EMPIRICAL SURVEYS - FINANCIAL MARKETS; INDUSTRY AND COUNTRY SURVEYS 4 Views from the Financial Markets The Economic Performance of European Stock Corporations. Does Sustainability Matter? Klaus Rennings, Michael Schroeder and Andreas Ziegler Capital Markets and Corporate Environmental Performance. Research in the United States Dinah A. Koehler Sustainable Investment and Financial Performance. Does Sustainability Compromise the Financial Performance of Companies and Investment Funds? Eckhard Plinke and Andreas Knoerzer Benchmarking Competitiveness and Management Quality with the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The Case of the Automotive Industry and Climate Change Niki Rosinski 5 Industry Surveys Have Trends in Corporate Environmental Management Influenced Companies' Competitiveness? Henning Madsen and John P. Ulhoi Competitiveness, Environmental Performance and Management of SMEs David Hitchens, Jens Clausen, Mary Trainor, Michael Keil, Samarthia Thankappan and Wilfried Konrad IPPC and the Impact of Best Available Techniques (BAT) on the Competitiveness of European Industry. Survey of the European Non-Ferrous Metals Industry David Hitchens, Frank Farrell, Josefina Lindblom and Ursula Triebswetter 6 Country Surveys The Mutual Relationship between the Environmental Context and Management in the Netherlands Ronald S. Batenburg The Norwegian Environmental Business Barometer Bjarne E. Ytterhus Sustainability Performance of Countries. Based on the Example of Oekom Research AG's Country Rating Matthias Bonning Does a Nation's Ecological Performance Affect its Economic Stability? The Potential for Enhancing Sovereign Credit Risk Assessments with Ecological Resource Accounts Mathis Wackernagel, Chris Martiniak, Fred Wellington, Chad Monfreda and Steve Goldfinger PART III. EVIDENCE - STRATEGIES; CASE STUDIES AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 7 Strategies and the Business Case for Sustainability Achieving Sustainable Corporate Competitiveness. Strategic Link between Top Management's (Green) Commitment and Corporate Environmental Strategy Ki-Hoon Lee and Robert Ball Ecopreneurship and Competitive Strategies. Striving for Market Leadership by Promoting Sustainability Holger Petersen Building a Business Case for Corporate Sustainability Ulrich Steger Developing Value. The Business Case for Sustainability in Emerging Markets Jodie Thorpe and Kavita Prakash-Mani 8 Company Cases Managing Sustainability Performance in the Textile Chain Stefan Seuring and Maria Goldbach Sustainability and Competitiveness in the Renewable Energy Sector. The Case of Vestas Wind Systems Rolf Wuestenhagen Path-Dependent Thinking and Eco-Products. An Empirical Study of Socio-Cognitive Models and Product Propositions of Ford and Volvo Cars Mats Williander Honda and Toyota. Using Sustainability in a New Competitive Battleground Peter A. Stanwick and Sarah D. Stanwick Incremental Change towards Sustainability. Integrating Human and Ecological Factors for Efficiency Suzanne Benn and E. Jane Probert 9 Environmental Management Systems and Competitiveness ISO 14001: Profitable? Yes! But is it Eco-Effective? Jost Hamschmidt and Thomas Dyllick The Promises and Pitfalls of ISO 14001 for Competitiveness and Sustainability. A Comparison of Japan and the United States Eric W. Welch, Ashish Rana and Yasuhumi Mori What Makes Environmental Management Systems Successful? An Empirical Study in the German Manufacturing Sector Boris Braun About the Contributors Index

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