Corporate Sustainability Integration: Understanding Drivers and Barriers

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Issue Date
2019-06-27
Language
en
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Corporate Sustainability (CS) can be viewed as a new and evolving management paradigm that serves as a replacement of organizations’ traditional business model which was based on growth and profit maximization. A proactive approach to sustainability which is a growing trend includes pursuing goals that include environmental protection, economic development and social well-being. However, integrating sustainability into strategic management is still a daunting task for organizations. The objective of this thesis is to identify how management systems can be used to address CS integration. A review of literature shows that there is no “one size fits all” approach to CS integration and organizations should approach CS depending on their specific circumstances. Subsequently, a framework is developed from the reviewed literature which served as a lens for data collection and review of three organizations used as case studies. These organizations are involved in CS activities but are not certain of their approaches towards it and thus their suitability for this research purposes. The use of case study as a research tool was preferred because it is exploratory and often used to obtain a balanced knowledge of practices in organizations which might have not been covered in literature. It also provides an in-depth and holistic information as compared to quantitative statistical results. From the analysis of data collected, it was observed that these organizations were motivated to act towards CS because of the rise in climate change awareness, an expected change in the Netherlands energy supply system, human capital agenda, compliance and organizational goals. However, they faced common barriers such as lack of resources, cooperation and motivation of employees, ambiguous sustainability goals and resistance to change. Despite the barriers, activities the organizations have already taken towards achieving their sustainability goals include incorporation of education into organizations to learn new ways of addressing sustainability, investment in new processes and technologies, installation of bio-plants and re-use of materials among others.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen
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