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Amid the global economic crisis due to COVID-19, consumer interest in CSR reports of global corporations has surged. CEO messages within these reports are crucial during such crises. This study aims to understand CEOs' perceptions of key CSR issues and corporate strategies during global crises. Utilizing topic modeling, CEO messages from Fortune Global's top 100 companies are analyzed before and after COVID-19. Compared to previous periods, social and environmental issues like climate change are more prominent. Key strategies include sustainable management development, risk management, and competitive advantage. This study offers insights into the importance of CSR reporting as a communication tool for managing stakeholders during crises. With COVID-19's global impact, understanding changes in global companies and comparing pre-crisis conditions contributes significantly to the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability consciousness (SC) is a crucial determinant for the successful execution of sustainability initiatives. The changing of citizens' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors is an essential component in attaining sustainable development (SD). Ensuring a sustainable future hinges on cultivating a durable sense of awareness among citizens. The aim of this article is to present a systematic literature review (SLR) on SC and to reveal the research trends and future perspectives. The data were obtained from the Web of Science (WoS) database and the data analysis of 49 articles selected based on determined criteria was carried out with two approaches: bibliometric and content analysis. The analysis reveals that publications pertaining to the topic of SC have emerged mainly within the past decade, with a maximum annual publication count of nine. The analyzed publications were categorized into four primary themes: (1) SC through education for sustainable development (ESD), (2) SC of consumers, (3) SC in business, and (4) measurement tools for SC. Education and educational research emerged as the primary field of study, with students being selected as the focus of research. However, research has indicated that even among children who receive SC education, there may be a decline in SC levels over a period. The attainment of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) necessitates a society characterized by a high level of SC. The scope of SC should extend beyond educational institutions to encompass broader societal contexts, including corporations and professional environments. The findings of this study demonstrate significant deficiencies in the existing literature on SC and emphasize the significance of SC in attaining the UN SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of climate change (CC), "business as usual" is futile. The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events (e.g., hurricanes, floods, droughts, and heatwaves) have hurt lives, displaced communities, destroyed logistics networks, disrupted the flow of goods and services, and caused delays, capacity failures, and immense costs. This study presents a strategic approach we term "Climate-Change Resilient, Sustainable Supply Chain Risk Management" (CCR-SSCRM) to address CC risks in supply chain management (SCM) pervading today's business world. This approach ensures supply chain sustainability by balancing the quadruple bottom line pillars of economy, environment, society, and culture. A sustainable supply chain analytics perspective was employed to support these goals, along with a systematic literature network analysis of 699 publications (2003–2022) from the SCOPUS database. The analysis revealed a growing interest in CC and supply chain risk management, emphasizing the need for CCR-SSCRM as a theoretical guiding framework. The findings and recommendations may help to guide researchers, policymakers, and businesses. We provide insights on constructing and managing sustainable SCs that account for the accelerating impacts of CC, emphasizing the importance of a proactive and comprehensive approach to supply chain risk management in the face of CC. We then offer directions for future research on CCR-SSCRM and conclude by underlining the urgency of interdisciplinary collaboration and integration of climate considerations into SCM for enhanced resilience and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the results of sustainability reporting investigations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on a content analysis of 297 reports published by 161 companies operating in Poland in the 2020–2021 period. This study covers specific disclosures on the impact of the pandemic on economic conditions and business activity of companies, corporate environmental performance, the safety and well-being of employees, and companies' community and stakeholder engagement. Moreover, an analysis is conducted of disclosures on changes in business strategies and environmental activities undertaken to respond to the pandemic, initiatives improving the safety and well-being of employees, and companies' social involvement during the COVID-19 crisis. Our study demonstrates that ensuring the safety and well-being of employees was the highest priority in the analyzed sustainability reports. Furthermore, the investigated companies exerted considerable efforts to harmonize adverse economic challenges created by the pandemic with altruistic actions manifested in active and wide-ranging social involvement addressed to local communities and primary stakeholders during the period under analysis. We believe that our study offers intriguing insights into disclosures on sustainability issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and addresses the call for research on the sustainability initiatives that emerged during that time to help companies remain resilient and sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a sliding mode control (SMC) for the "full-bridge Buck inverter–DC motor" system when a photovoltaic (PV) panel is considered as the power supply. The control executes the trajectory tracking task related to the angular velocity of the DC motor shaft without the need for electromechanical sensors. The proposed control is validated through realistic simulation results via Matlab-Simulink. In this regard, the system is constructed by using the electronic components of the specialized power systems library of Simscape. The results of the following four case studies are presented: (i) The performance of the closed-loop system considering two desired angular velocity profiles and three different incident solar irradiance shapes on the PV panel. (ii) An analysis associated with the primary energy source. (iii) A comparison of the proposed SMC versus a passive control. (iv) A study of the current ripple and its relationship with the execution of the tracking control task on the angular velocity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, a growing number of stakeholders recognise that sustainability determines success on multiple levels. Therefore, asset managers in developing and emerging countries increasingly focus on sustainable investment opportunities. While institutional investors largely centred on governance considerations pre-2020, the Coronavirus pandemic highlighted substantial social and environmental concerns at companies worldwide. As South Africa is the most unequal country globally according to the World Bank, decisions made by local institutional investors can have significant implications for individuals and environments where capital is invested. The objectives of this study were hence to analyse the sustainability themes on which South African asset managers focused in their stewardship reports and to explore the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that they addressed through their investment mandates. A content analysis was performed on stewardship reports that were published in 2020 and 2021 to consider the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. The findings indicate that prioritised sustainability themes include climate action, infrastructure development and social considerations. The considered asset managers accordingly focused on addressing climate action (SDG 13), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), and affordable and clean energy (SDG 7). Promising investment opportunities in companies that address key social issues, including the health and well-being of society (SDG 3) and broadening access to quality education (SDG 4) were also highlighted. The leaders of local investee companies are thus encouraged to ensure concise, transparent reporting on these material matters to enhance communication and engagement with institutional investors and other key stakeholders. This study offers a novel perspective on sustainable thematic investing in a highly unequal society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm performance in the MENA region before and after COVID-19. It also seeks to understand how earnings management moderates that relationship. The final study sample consisted of 661 firm-year observations from 2007 to 2021. This study employed the random effect estimation (RE) method to examine the relationships and used GMM regression for robustness to investigate the results' consistency. The RE findings demonstrate that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores have a favorable impact on return on assets (ROA), even after adjusting for COVID-19. Regarding the moderating effect of EM, the outcome shows that CSR has an insignificant positive impact on financial performance. However, the results demonstrate that ESG has little impact on ROE. Additionally, the findings show a strong positive link between ESG and Tobin's Q. This study provides policymakers, board directors, and managers with a set of recommendations that are relevant to the context by enabling a better understanding of how managers react to CSR disclosure and the impact of minimizing earnings manipulation on firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is devoted to building up a comprehensive model of the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability practices based on the analysis of their main predictors to ease the process of managing CSR and sustainability activities and provide practical recommendations for businesses regarding successful realization of their business, social and sustainable development goals. Currently, businesses integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability practices into their strategies to enable the fulfillment of sustainability goals and gain competitive advantages. Therefore, to achieve the aim of the study, a systematic review methodology was used in six stages: (1) defining the benchmarks; (2) extraction of papers from the two most cited databases: Web of Science and Scopus; (3) Manual content analysis of all extracted papers; (4) Identification of the dominant categories of this research topic; (5) The development of a comprehensive model of the relationship between CSR and sustainability, and(6) Discussion and control of obtained results and provision of recommendations for future studies. The model suggested is seen as a roadmap for organizations in different sectors of the economy and includes a variety of determinants that were divided into two groups depending on their relevance to an organization: the components of human and social capital, the technical characteristics of an organization and financial dimensions, and the outside business environment, which is determined by the political system and the level of corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been an articulated practice for over 7 decades. Still, most corporations lack an integrated framework to develop a strategic, balanced, and effective approach to achieving excellence in CSR. Considering the world's critical situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, such a framework is even more crucial now. We suggest subsuming CRS categories under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) be used and that they subsume CSR categories since SDGs are a comprehensive agenda designed for the whole planet. This study presents a new CSR drivers model and a novel comprehensive CSR model. Then, it highlights the advantages of integrating CSR and SDGs in a new framework. The proposed framework benefits from both CSR and SDGs, addresses current and future needs, and offers a better roadmap with more measurable outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]