Com a introdução de políticas estratégicas de sustentabilidade corporativas esperase que as empresas aprimorem várias questões, dentre as quais, aquelas relacionadas ao trabalho, propiciando maior bem estar para seus trabalhadores. Dentro do contexto da engenharia da produção foi buscado conectar a temática da sustentabilidade com a temática do trabalho, esta última contemplada pela disciplina da ergonomia. Através de estudos de caso desenvolvidos em quatro empresas consideradas de referência em sustentabilidade analisou-se como a introdução da temática da sustentabilidade influenciou as questões relacionadas ao trabalho, desde a divulgação no externo e no interno da organização, passando pela análise dos meios organizacionais de desdobramento, até a fase de projeto de trabalho. Esta última fase é o instante em que se prescreve o trabalho na organização. Espera-se que a empresa engajada na sustentabilidade dedique uma posição de relevância ao trabalhador e ao seu bem-estar nesta fase. Os estudos de caso foram essenciais para confirmar sete proposições as quais permitiram confirmar a tese de doutorado, a saber, \"Embora sejam divulgadas como incluídas, não existem evidências explicitas de que mudanças no trabalho sejam consideradas durante a introdução de políticas de sustentabilidade\". A partir desse resultado de pesquisa, são discutidas as contribuições que podem ser proporcionadas pela disciplina de ergonomia nas empresas para aumentar a efetividade da introdução das questões de trabalho em suas políticas de sustentabilidade sistêmicas, permitindo um alinhamento entre o que é divulgado e o que realmente é introduzido nas organizações. / With the introduction of strategic corporate sustainability policies, it is expected that companies improve several issues. Work is one of those issues, leading to provide greater well-being for workers. Within the context of production engineering, this research connects sustainability and work issues, the latter contemplated by the discipline of ergonomics. Through case studies developed in four companies considered benchmark in sustainability, it was examined how the introduction of the theme of sustainability has influenced the work-related issues. The elements analyzed were the corporate sustainability strategy, the organizational paths to deploy the strategy and the work design phase. The last element is the moment in which work is prescribed in the organization. It is expected that the company engaged in sustainability dedicates a position of relevance to workers and their well being at this stage. Case studies are essential to confirm seven propositions, which allowed confirming the thesis, namely: \"Although disseminate as included, there is no explicit evidence that changes in work are considered when introducing sustainability policies\". The thesis is the starting point for discussions about the contributions of the discipline of ergonomics to increase the effectiveness of the introduction of work issues in corporate sustainability policies. There is an opportunity to align what is disseminated and what really is introduced into organizations, about work issues.

This thesis is a critical evaluation of the theory and practice of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM). It seeks to understand why SSCM theory has so little to say about environmental sustainability and to explore how SSCM practice is contributing towards the transition towards sustainable development. I conjecture that SSCM scholars have not engaged sufficiently with the broader sustainability literature and other constructions of sustainability, which has led to a lack of theory development within SSCM. The sustainability paradigms framework that forms the core of the thesis was developed in order to broaden the discussion around sustainability within SSCM. Specifically, it embraces the contested nature of the concept of sustainability and uses multiple sustainability paradigms to construct future directions for theory development. In order to put the concept of environmental sustainability at the centre of SSCM theory, the concept of ‘environmental effectiveness’ was developed which seeks to differentiate between environmentally sustainable strategies and those that merely seek to achieve reductions in unsustainability. In order to evaluate the practice of SSCM, a case study was conducted. The concept of ‘environmental effectiveness’ is operationalized through the use of non-perceptual measures related to carbon emissions and evaluates the extent to which SSCM practices contribute towards climate stabilization, a key sustainability objective. It is found that those SSCM practices that have been shown to improve ‘environmental performance’ within the extant SSCM literature did not deliver ‘environmentally effective performance’ within the case study. This raises the possibility that the literature has mistaken reductions in unsustainability for sustainability proper and that we may need to go back to basics. The findings are discussed with reference to the sustainability paradigms framework and multiple opportunities for theory development within SSCM are explored.

Sustainability Reporting amongst corporates has been growing in prominence with, amongst others, the Principles for Responsible Investment outlined in 2005, the King III Report published in 2010 and International Integrated Reporting framework published in late 2011. The need for analysing the business case for sustainability reporting underpins the motivation for this research which undertook to ascertain the link between certain organisational attributes, sustainability reporting and financial performance. The literature review identified conflicting results in similar studies, and given that this is a fast evolving field of study, this study was deemed necessary. A quantitative research method was used utilising financial and operational data for 200 South African organisations, in an attempt to study the correlation between key organisational attributes, sustainability reporting frameworks, and financial performance. This research adds to the ongoing and dynamic ‘business case for sustainability’ discussion, by studying the links and correlations between the quality of sustainability reporting, specific organisational attributes and key financial performance ratios. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

As the impacts of climate change intensify, businesses are increasingly committing to ambitious sustainable development goals, yet an enduring disconnect remains between corporate sustainability activities and declining global environment and society. This study adopts a complexity view that reductionism associated with Newtonian thinking has played a key role in creating many of the sustainability issues now faced by humanity. This dissertation departs from the premise that sustainability needs to be integrated into an organisation and uses a complexity view to argue that corporate sustainability is a co-evolutionary process of emergence. Whilst many studies have examined how sustainability can be integrated into a business, less is known about corporate sustainability as an emergent process. To address the knowledge gap, this research answered three questions: (1) How does sustainability emerge in financial institutions? (2) What is the role of coherence in the emergence of sustainability? and (3) What conditions enable the emergence of sustainability? A mixed method sequential design was used. In the initial quantitative strand of the research, a holistic business assessment survey based on integral theory was implemented in two financial services organisations in Southern Africa. The results were analysed using self-organising maps and explored in narrative interviews in the subsequent qualitative strand of the research. The study makes three contributions to our understanding of emergence in corporate sustainability. First, by proposing four modes by which corporate sustainability is enacted; these elucidate how integral domains are enacted in corporate sustainability. Second, by clarifying the process of emergence by articulating how zones of coherence emerge between embodied and embedded dimensions. Third, by explaining how the shift to corporate sustainability occurs by means of four conditions. These contributions serve to advance our understanding of corporate sustainability as a fundamental shift in the functioning of an organisation towards coevolutionary self-organisation. It is recommended that corporate sustainability is holistically cultivated to support emergence and self-organisation, rather than being integrated through a linear process of change.

The role of banks in sustainable development has been growing with prominence internationally. Therefore, research was undertaken to ascertain the approach of South African banking sector in respect of corporate sustainability or sustainable banking. The purpose of this research was to further explore the business case thereof in the SA context and specifically where it pertains to product and market innovation. A qualitative research methodology comprising an exploratory research design was applied, consisting of in-depth interviews and secondary data research of a sample of SA banking organisations. Findings indicated that SA banks primarily view corporate sustainability from an integrated approach. The South African macro-environment and national priorities play an important role in determining corporate sustainability initiatives. Accordingly, risks and opportunities are manifest (as part of a regulated and compliance-driven industry). Considering the national context and unique needs of stakeholders, there was evidence of a relationship between corporate sustainability and product and market innovation. However, not all opportunities from a business case perspective and in product and market types have been exhausted in this space. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

This paper examines whether US regulation related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) improves firms’ CSR performance. This inquiry is motivated by increasing stakeholder interest in firms’ CSR activities and reporting, as well as questions of increasing regulatory burden over time and government failure to adequately address societal challenges. First, I develop a measure of firms’ CSR regulatory exposure by extracting federal agencies’ regulatory analysis, and applying a machine-learning model for industry classification. Second, I confirm theoretical expectations that more stringent CSR-related rules are associated with higher firm CSR performance in the regulated areas, but with lower CSR performance in the unregulated areas. The result suggests a likely trade-off in firms’ responses to CSR regulation. Cross-sectional tests show that financial constraint (regulatory uncertainty) elevates (reduces) such tradeoffs. Using narrow passage of congressional bills as an exogenous shock to firms’ CSR regulatory exposure, I also provide causal evidence on such tradeoffs.

No description available.

Problematisering: Företag står inför utmaningar som handlar om att inkludera hållbarhetsbegreppets tre dimensioner: det ekonomiska, sociala och miljömässiga ansvaret. Påtryckningar ökar från samhällets olika intressenter, som sätter press på att företag och företagsledare agerar ansvarsfullt. Hållbarhet är idag en aktuell och relevant fråga som företag, styrelser och ledare på något sätt får ta i beaktning på grund av dessa påtryckningar från samhället. Relationen mellan ledarskap och hållbarhet är, enligt oss, en samhällsaktuell fråga för företag. Det finns idag omfattande forskning kring ledarskap och en hel del forskning om hållbarhet. Forskningen däremellan är däremot relativt outforskad. Det behövs därför en förståelse för hur denna relation ser ut. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till förståelse av hur relationen mellan ledarskap och hållbarhet ser ut i ett svenskt företag, samt identifiera de aspekter i ledarskapet som kan vara av betydelse för hållbarhet. Metod: För att besvara syftet är denna studie uppbyggd av en pilotstudie och en enfallsstudie av kvalitativ karaktär, där vi har genomfört semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem ledare i ledningsgruppen på Transdev Sverige AB. Studien har en induktiv ansats. Slutsats: Resultatet från denna studie har visat att relationen mellan ledarskap och hållbarhet ser olika ut. Ledningsgruppens kontext och ledarnas ansvarsområden har varit avgörande i beskrivningen av hur relationen ser ut. Kontexten och ansvarsområdena har dessutom varit avgörande för var i hållbarhetsbegreppet ledarna lägger sin tyngdpunkt. Relationen beskrivs vidare utifrån tre identifierade “relationsbyggare”: mål, moral och kunskap. Dessa tre är aspekter som vi anser vara av betydelse för hur relationen ser ut i denna studies specifika kontext. / Background: Due to increasing expectations and demands from different stakeholders, companies are being called upon to take actions to integrate the three dimensions of sustainability; economic, social and environmental. Corporate sustainability is therefore an inevitable topic of discussion among business organisations and top executives. Separately, there is extensive research on the two topics leadership and sustainability. However, the amount of research of the intersection of these two research fields is scarce and fairly unexplored, which makes this an interesting field of study. As a result of the actuality evolving around leadership and sustainability for corporations and the above stated lack of research, there is a need of a deeper understanding of the relationship between leadership and sustainability. Aim: The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between leadership and sustainability, as well as identifying aspects in the leadership that could be of importance regarding sustainability leadership. Methodology: This is a qualitative case study using a hermeneutics perspective of interpretation. The empirical data consist of a pilot study and five semi-structured interviews with top executives at Transdev Sverige AB. The study revolves around the empirical data and is therefore to be considered to have an inductive approach. Conclusion: The findings of the study has shown that the relationship between leadership and sustainability differ. The context of the top management team and the responsibility of the leaders have been vital in the explanation of their relationship. The context and the area of responsibility have additionally been vital in order to identify where in the sustainability spectrum the leader position himself. The relationship is further explained by three identified “relationship builders”; goal, morale and knowledge. We consider that these three aspects are of relevance to understand the relationship between leadership and sustainability within the specific context of this study.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-16T14:49:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1746554 bytes, checksum: ffefb909ff874bcdf4e0461185bd14d3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The growing concern with the current model of economic development and its consequences for society and the environment led authorities to undertake major global debates on sustainability. Converging with this fact, organizations of several industrial sectors are becoming more aware of their role in the sustainable development process, seeking to adapt their business activities to the precepts espoused by the triple bottom line model. Emerging in this scenario is the segment of the red ceramic industry, from the moment that the industry is a large consumer of energy and natural resources and generates residues. In this scenario, efforts to mitigate environmental and social impacts should be performed. By contextualizing this sector with the reality in Paraiba state, the environmental situation is delicate, since the regions of the rainforest and rural have an ecosystem important for the survival of native animal species, and their exploitation for providing firewood and clay can result in serious damage to the environment. Thus, it is opportune to analyze the sustainability of enterprises of this sector in the state. Thus, this study aims to evaluate business sustainability of red ceramic industries in the state of Paraíba, based on the Corporate Sustainability Grid (CSG). Hence, we attempted to calculate the Partial Sustainability Scores (EPS) and Corporate Sustainability Scores (ESE) to proceed with the positioning of the companies investigated on the Grid. Qualitative and quantitative in nature, the research is characterized as exploratory as to the purposes and on the means as field, literature, and multi-case study. Data were collected through structured questionnaire, in accordance with the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability, applied in three ceramic industries. The results indicate that one company obtained Corporate Sustainability Score 3 (Satisfactory), showing that it harmonizes satisfactory performances in the three dimensions analyzed. The other two were Corporate Sustainability Score 1 (Weak), where one of them exhibited satisfactory performance only on the environmental dimension, and the other recorded satisfactory performance only on the social dimension. We conclude that the companies have conditions to improve their activities to suit a more sustainable reality, noting the weaknesses highlighted by the investigated sustainability indicators / A crescente preocupação com o modelo de desenvolvimento econômico vigente e com suas consequências para a sociedade e meio ambiente, motivou autoridades mundiais a realizarem importantes debates sobre Sustentabilidade. Alinhado a isso, organizações de diversos setores vem se tornando mais conscientes de seu papel no processo do Desenvolvimento Sustentável, buscando adequar suas atividades empresariais aos preceitos defendidos pelo modelo triple bottom line. Emergindo neste cenário está o segmento da indústria de cerâmica vermelha, no momento em que a indústria é grande consumidora de recursos naturais e energéticos, bem como geradora de resíduos. Diante deste cenário, esforços para mitigar seus impactos ambientais e sociais devem ser realizados. Ao contextualizar este setor na realidade paraibana, a conjuntura ambiental é delicada, no momento em que as regiões da zona da mata e agreste possuem ecossistema importante para sobrevivência de espécies nativas de animais, e sua exploração para provimento de lenha e argila pode acarretar em sérios danos ao meio ambiente. Desta forma, torna-se oportuna uma avaliação da sustentabilidade das empresas do setor no estado. Assim, o presente estudo tem como objetivo avaliar a sustentabilidade empresarial de indústrias de cerâmica vermelha do estado da Paraíba, a partir do Grid de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (GSE). Desta forma, buscou-se calcular os Escores Parciais de Sustentabilidade (EPS) e os Escores de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ESE) para prosseguir com o posicionamento das empresas investigadas no GSE. De natureza qualitativa e quantitativa, a pesquisa se caracteriza quanto aos fins como exploratória, e quanto aos meios como sendo de campo, bibliográfica, e como estudo multi-caso. Os dados foram coletados a partir de questionário estruturado, em conformidade com as dimensões ambiental, econômica e social da sustentabilidade, aplicado em três indústrias de cerâmica. Os resultados indicam que uma empresa obteve Escore 3 de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (Satisfatória), mostrando que consegue conciliar desempenhos satisfatórios nas três dimensões analisadas. As outras duas obtiveram Escore 1 de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (Fraca), onde uma delas exibiu desempenho satisfatório apenas na dimensão ambiental, e a outra registrou desempenho satisfatório apenas na dimensão social. Conclui-se que as cerâmicas estudadas possuem condições de melhorar suas atividades para se adequarem a uma realidade mais sustentável, observando os pontos fracos evidenciados pelos indicadores de sustentabilidade investigados

This thesis contributes to our understanding of Corporate Sustainability (CS) in Multinational Corporations (MNCs) by offering a non-western perspective. A review of the extant literature reveals CS-related studies are mainly based on theories and implications in and for western contexts. It leads us to question the definitions of CS that have been taken for granted in current management and organisation studies. This thesis argues CS should be considered as a non-fixed, contextual and culturally-sensitive notion. When the ideas of CS travel from western scholarship to Chinese organisation practices, the meanings are forever constructed, altered, and mobilised. This is beyond linguistic translation, and functions as a continuous stream of temporary hermeneutic processes of translating. This research explores how CS has been translated in a Japanese MNC in China (the organisation is called ‘OMG’ in the research). The ethnographic enquiry provides a visual and narrative representation of corporate culture as promoted in OMG; ‘Communal Vessel’ evolves as a translational construct symbolising the culturally-derived meanings of CS. The intrinsically oxymoronic meanings of ‘Communal Vessel’ can be drawn from classical Chinese philosophies, which could have implications for understanding contemporary organising practices in China, and globally. In summary, this thesis problematises the construction of CS, and contributes an indigenous, non-western way of understanding CS via an ethnographic representation focusing on processes of translating. The implications are summarised through an analysis of the classical phrase ‘The Great Vessel Rarely Completes’.