Search

Operations management requires models, methods and tools that integrate both sustainability and operational excellence to support organizations in implementing long‐term sustainability. The purpose of this research is to provide a strategy deployment framework integrating both corporate sustainability and operational excellence. The research approach includes an explorative literature review, providing a background on operational excellence, sustainability, and hoshin kanri, a special form of strategy deployment. Comprehensive frameworks for both strategy deployment (hoshin kanri) and sustainability (Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development) were used as a foundation and adapted towards a strategy deployment framework linking sustainability with operational excellence. This was done by integrating both frameworks and by including operational excellence enablers. The resulting framework illustrates how strategic sustainability goals can be aligned and deployed within businesses. This research contributes towards supporting corporations in their efforts in becoming sustainable businesses and serves as a theoretical base for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies should integrate sustainability into all organizational units and on all management levels to contribute to sustainable development. This study explores nine smaller large‐sized companies (revenue between €50 and €300 million, at least 250 employees) from various sectors. We applied the framework of Baumgartner for corporate sustainability/corporate social responsibility empirically and used the promotor model of Witte from innovation management in the context of sustainability. The findings show that companies must have (a) top management support and (b) an open organizational culture regarding sustainable development to integrate sustainability on operational, strategic, and normative management levels. These two prerequisites need to remain stable over time, as changes in top management and staff create new challenges in sustainability implementation. The companies have mainly implemented sustainability management from the top‐down, first enlarging aspects of environmental management and human resource management and then integrating sustainability in terms of their vision and strategy. If top management does not see the need to alter the organization to address sustainability challenges, lower level managers or middle managers might take the initiative. In this case, however, only good environmental and human resources management practices are enabled. The top management blocks bottom‐up implementation efforts if they are not willing to make decisions based on new values and judgement and promote change in the organization. Our case studies show that a power promoter is essential for the integration of sustainability on all organizational levels. Presence of strong power promoter allows other promoter types to act in sustainability integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are key actors in the implementation of the circular economy (CE) concept as a basis for creating sustainable societies. Thus, the main objective of this study is to identify key strategies and resources that may favor CE implementation in SMEs. These key strategies should encourage SMEs to develop eco‐innovations to gain competitive advantage and create and capture value that is coherent with nature. A mixed‐method approach that consisted of a literature review and a focus group for gathering qualitative data was used. This focus group was made up of experts such as researchers and practitioners from universities, sustainable SMEs, and consultancy firms in Spain. A set of strategies and internal and external factors were identified to help SMEs to implement the CE. Finally, some useful dynamic capabilities for implementing the CE in business performance were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To prevent adverse effects from climate change, it is vital to involve the private sector in mitigation efforts. So far, however, research has insufficiently addressed the determinants of corporate action in specific industries. Our paper aims at bridging this gap by empirically analyzing the global automotive industry's response to climate change mitigation issues. We use publicly available information from 105 sector leaders to investigate the role of external institutional pressures and intra‐organizational governance in the extent of corporate action. Based on a multiple regression analysis, we find that organizational involvement and the integration of climate change into risk management exhibit the greatest influence. Moreover, companies with business activities that necessitate interaction with the end consumer tend to be most active. Our analysis furthermore indicates that neither the stringency of a firm's home country's climate policy regime nor the degree of internationalization is associated with a higher implementation level of response strategies. © 2017 The Authors. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management published by ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Sustainable development can be a source of success, innovation, and profitability for companies. To use this source and to deal with the challenge of sustainability, corporations need a framework they can rely on in order to identify opportunities and threats and to develop, implement, control, and improve corporate sustainability strategies to be both more sustainable (for themselves and the society) and more successful in economic terms. Based on an extensive literature review of strategic management, CSR, and corporate sustainability, a conceptual framework is developed which offers an integrated view on the relevance of sustainability aspects for an individual company and enables the integration of these sustainability aspects on different management levels. Contextual factors are used to identify the relevance of sustainable development and the significant sustainability aspects. Based on this initial step, the relevance of sustainability issues for the different management levels, as well as opportunities and threats related to sustainable development, can be identified. The framework distinguishes three different management levels: normative management, strategic management, and operational management. Questions of vision and mission of a company and of the fit between sustainability engagement and organizational culture are in focus of the normative management level. Developing an effective corporate sustainability strategy is part of the strategic level. The implementation of the sustainability strategy in the different corporate functions is part of the operational level. This framework for corporate sustainability management is supported by instruments which are clustered in different areas like performance measurement, assessment and evaluation, operational management or strategic management. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT There is a rising awareness and interest of corporations about corporate sustainable behaviour. Sustainability issues are increasingly integrated into corporate strategies, actions, and behavior. Different approaches, systems, and instruments have been developed to support corporate sustainability management. An important aspect of any sustainability-related corporate initiative is to train employees and to develop sustainability-related competencies. To enable education and training in this area, an interdisciplinary team of researchers, consultants and practitioners developed a management game called 'sustainability manager' (). This paper presents the key features of this business simulation and reflects the experiences of the application of this management game in training. This management game is based on a business simulation, i.e. a company is modelled using web technology and soft computing approaches. The sustainability manager can be used as a web-based training instrument for sustainability management and can be adapted to specific training situations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]