This study aims to cover the topic of hindrances for sustainability progression within the service industry and address contextual differences which might influence the identified hindrances. The researchers have chosen to follow a qualitative research design using a multiple case study. Data was gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews with two MNE’s and two SME’s in the service industry and was analyzed through data reduction and careful analysis.   Through the selected methods four main findings were identified. Primarily, the absence of engaging and supportive management was seen to drastically deter sustainability progression within a business to the extent of causing a complete stagnation in several cases. Additionally, the results point towards the importance of all levels of employees within an organization. Lack of employee engagement towards sustainability was a key hinderance which could disrupt implementation over a long periods of time. Thirdly the external environment was observed to have a major role in enabling as well as hindering suitability implementation. While the external environment was seen to provide guidance and motivation for corporate sustainability, it also led to varying limitations for all identified cases. Finally, prioritization of other areas was observed to hinder sustainability temporarily until focus could revert back to the topic.

In many corporations, sustainability has become an important activity to focuson, with the aim of preparing corporations for the future. Foresight, a newerfield, is increasingly becoming an important activity of corporations, with thepurpose of surviving long-term. These motives make companies’ involvement with corporate sustainability and with corporate foresight fundamental. However, because foresight is a recent field, it implies processes that are less mastered by professionals than sustainability. Since the motives of corporate sustainability and corporate foresight are similar, the purpose of this thesis is therefore to understand if corporate sustainability can contribute to corporate foresight implementation. Specifically, the purpose of this thesis is to identify which corporate sustainability (CS) activities can be integrated to which corporate foresight (CF) activities, to facilitate and foster foresight. Consequently, the contributions of the research consist in extending the knowledge about sustainability as a foresight activity and in proposing suggestions to incorporate sustainability to foresight activities. This study reviews several CS frameworks and several CF frameworks, provides a deeper understanding of the underlying processes needed for the implementation of CS and CF, and identifies the similarities. The study specifically builds on the Maturity Model of Corporate Foresight from the book Corporate Foresight – Towards a Maturity Model for the Future Orientation of a Firm from Rohrbeck (2010). Based on the theoretical findings, qualitative interviews of sustainability professionals are carried out. Those interviews are meant to test the theoretical findings. The research provides knowledge on the management of corporate foresightby providing insights on foresight practices that benefit from incorporating sustainability practices. The conclusion of the paper consists in a model thatpresents explicit ways in which corporate sustainability contributes tocorporate foresight. In fact, it is shown that corporate sustainability fosters strong internal and external networks and creates a corporate culture favourable to change. Internal and external networks facilitate cross-functional collaboration and communication; and employees favourable to change are more open to new ideas; both being key for foresight implementation. Thus, Corporate Sustainability supports Corporate Foresight because it sets up a favourable corporate culture, and because it paves the way for appropriate work processes (internal and external collaboration for instance).

Este trabalho investigou o comportamento dos retornos e risco das ações quando da divulgação das carteiras teóricas do Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE). Este índice foi implementado em 2005 pela Bolsa de Valores São Paulo e é considerado referência de boas práticas de sustentabilidade e responsabilidade corporativa no Brasil. No entanto, a inclusão de uma empresa em indicadores de sustentabilidade não garante, necessariamente, um melhor desempenho de suas ações. Neste contexto foram utilizadas as metodologias de estudo de eventos, análise de repetições, backtesting, regressão logit e análise envoltória de dados para analisar a reação dos retornos das ações do ISE e verificar se fatores ligados ao desempenho econômico, impacto ambiental e níveis de governança corporativa são fatores que influenciam esses retornos. Foram analisadas as ações pertencentes à carteira teórica do ISE no período de 2005 a 2010. Os resultados sugerem que os retornos das ações que integram o ISE foram influenciados pela divulgação das carteiras teóricas do ISE, uma vez que foi constatado: i) retornos anormais ao mercado; ii) não aleatoriedade dos retornos anormais ao mercado; iii) concentração dos retornos anormais ao mercado após a divulgação das carteiras teóricas e; iv) retornos anormais ao Value at RisK (VaR). Os resultados constataram que, em média, houve valorização positiva das ações na divulgação das carteiras teóricas, porém, apenas os fatores ligados à dimensão econômica puderam explicar o fenômeno estudado. A pesquisa concluiu que a reação dos retornos das ações do ISE, parece não estar associada, no período analisado, à integração das dimensões ambientais, sociais e econômicas, mas sim ao desempenho dessas dimensões. Assim, no que se refere à reação dos retornos das ações, o índice de sustentabilidade empresarial brasileiro parece não captar para todas as empresas que o integram a dinâmica das dimensões sociais, ambientais e econômicas, privilegiando esta última, o que não corresponde às premissas de sustentabilidade corporativa. / This study investigated the behaviour of stocks return and risk when the release of theoretical portfolios of Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE). This index, launched in 2005 by the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, is considered a benchmark of good practice in sustainability and corporate responsibility in Brazil. However, the inclusion of a company into sustainability indexes does not necessarily guarantee better performance of their stocks. In this context this research make use of event study methodology, analysis of repetitions, backtesting, logit regression and data envelopment analysis to capture the reaction of stock returns of the ISE and verify whether factors related to economic performance, environmental impact and levels of corporate governance are explanatory factors of these returns. It was analyzed the theoretical portfolio of ISE from 2005 to 2010. The results suggest that the returns on stocks that comprise the ISE were influenced by the release of its theoretical portfolio, since it was verified: i) abnormal returns to the market, ii) non-randomness of the abnormal returns to the market, iii) concentration of abnormal returns to the market after the release of the theoretical portfolio; and iv) abnormal returns of the Value at Risk (VaR).The results showed that, on average, there was positive valuation of the shares by the release of theoretical portfolios, however, only factors related to the economic dimension could explain the phenomenon under study. The research concluded that the reaction of stock returns of the ISE does not seem to be associated, in the period analyzed, with the integration of environmental, social and economic dimensions, but the performance of these dimensions. Thus the Brazilian corporate sustainability index showed that, regarding to the reaction of stock returns, it doesn\'t capture to all the companies comprising the index the dynamics of social, environmental and economic dimensions, favouring the latter, which does not match the assumptions of corporate sustainability.

With a triple-bottom-line lens on sustainability, this study examines the effects of culture on companies' economic, social, and environmental sustainability practices. Drawing on institutional theory and project GLOBE, we delineate cultural practices dimensions that consistently predict sustainability practices related to each of the three domains. Based on a sample of 1924 companies in 36 countries and nine cultural clusters, we find that future orientation, gender egalitarianism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance practices positively, and performance orientation practices negatively, predict corporate sustainability practices. Further, our findings suggest that these effects might vary according to the country vis-à-vis cluster level of analysis.

A mensuração da sustentabilidade corporativa é um tema complexo e fundamental para a operacionalização do desenvolvimento sustentável na rotina diária das organizações. Por isso, inúmeros sistemas para sua mensuração foram desenvolvidos após o alerta apresentado pela Agenda 21 Global quanto à sua importância. Apesar da existência desses vários sistemas, algumas lacunas ainda impedem a inclusão da sustentabilidade na agenda operacional das organizações, dentre elas a falta de congruência em relação ao seu conteúdo apresentada pelos diferentes sistemas. Por isso, o objetivo desta pesquisa é desenvolver um modelo de referência para mensuração da sustentabilidade corporativa que possa ser utilizado pelas organizações como ponto de partida para o desenvolvimento e avaliação de seus atuais modelos de avaliação do desenvolvimento sustentável. Para tanto, faz-se um análise comparativa da complementaridade dos oito principais sistemas de mensuração da sustentabilidade corporativa e nacional - Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Métricas do Instituto dos Engenheiros da Inglaterra (ICheme), Índice Dow Jones (DJSI), Triple Bottom Line Index System (TBL), Indicadores Ethos de Responsabilidade Social Empresarial, Indicadores de Desenvolvimento Sustentável da Comissão para Desenvolvimento Sustentável da ONU (CSD), Barômetro de Sustentabilidade e o Dashboard de Sustentabilidade. Essa análise comparativa levou em consideração as oito características fundamentais dos sistemas de mensuração da sustentabilidade. Como resultado final apresenta-se um modelo de referência composto por 157 indicadores que retratam a complementaridade do conteúdo dos sistemas estudados e a sua avaliação em relação às principais características para o desenvolvimento e de sistemas de mensuração da sustentabilidade corporativa. / Measuring corporate sustainability is a complex and fundamental issue for implementing sustainability in the organization daily routine. Therefore, several measurement systems have been developed after the Agenda 21 warning. Despite this, some problems still blocking the inclusion of the sustainability in the corporate operational activities, such as, the measurement content disagreement among systems. Thus, the aim of this master thesis is to develop a reference model to measure corporate sustainability that could be used by organizations to asses and develop theirs current sustainable development systems. By doing so, we have done a comparative analysis of the complementary of the eight well-known sustainability measurement systems, which are: Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainability Metrics (ICheme), Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), Triple Bottom Line Index System (TBL), Indicators of Corporate Responsibility of the Ethos Institute, Indicators of Sustainable Development of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), Barometer of Sustainability, and Dashboard of Sustainability. This comparative analysis was based on eight fundamentals features of the sustainable development measurement systems. As a result, we present a reference model with 157 indicators that shows the complementary of the content of the studied systems. In addition, we also present the evaluation of the studied systems related to the main characteristics to development of the sustainability measurement systems.

Essa dissertação teve como objetivos gerais (i) compreender as motivações que levam uma empresa a buscar a responsabilidade social e ambiental corporativa (RSAC), além de (ii) realizar um prognóstico elucidando os principais benefícios, desafios e fatores críticos de sucesso para uma empresa que deseja implementar a filosofia Lixo Zero em suas rotinas. Para atingir o primeiro objetivo foi proposto um questionário contendo as motivações comumente encontradas na bibliografia, o qual foi encaminhando para empresas de diversos portes e segmentos no Brasil. Os resultados apontam como principais motivações para RSAC no Brasil: atender às legislações e regulamentos nacionais (citado por 87% das empresas respondentes), buscar o reconhecimento de Empresa Sustentável e valorização da marca (62%), contribuir para a proteção ao meio ambiente e controle da poluição (58%), buscar a redução na geração de resíduos (53%) e diferenciar-se das demais empresas do segmento (47%). Foi identificado que essas motivações são representativas do cenário analisado, independentemente das características individuais de cada empresa como: porte, apoio da liderança, região, segmento industrial, atuação no mercado (local, nacional ou internacional) e cliente final da empresa, conforme indicado pelo teste Qui-Quadrado e Kolmogorov-Smirnov, contrariando os resultados verificados na bibliografia existente. Com o objetivo de atender ao segundo objetivo, primeiramente foi realizado uma revisão sistemática da literatura para compilar conceitos, princípios, ações, benefícios, desafios e fatores críticos de sucesso advindos da implementação do ZW em diferentes cenários. Tendo como base a compilação apresentada, foi conduzido um estudo de caso em uma metalúrgica de pequeno porte, localizada na região do Vale dos Sinos, no Brasil, com o intuito de identificar quais itens se relacionavam com a realidade da empresa em questão. Foram identificados 12 benefícios passíveis de serem obtidos através da implantação da filosofia ZW na empresa em questão, 9 desafios a serem suplantados durante a implantação e 21 fatores críticos de sucesso, imprescindíveis para o pleno atingimento das metas propostas pelo ZW. O presente estudo apresenta discussões sobre aspectos que necessitam ser desenvolvidos no cenário Brasileiro, de forma a incentivar e proporcionar a estrutura adequada para operacionalização da filosofia ZW corroborando para consolidação desta filosofia como referência em modelo de gestão de resíduos no cenário empresarial. / This study's main objectives were (i) to understand the main drivers leading Corporate Social Environmental Responsibility (CSER) and (ii) to do an analysis in order to elucidate the key benefits, challenges and critical success factors for a company applying Zero Waste into their process. To achieve the first objective, this research has proposed a questionnaire containing the drivers for CSER presented in the literature, which has sent to several companies from different segments and sizes in Brazil. The results indicate these main drivers for CSER in Brazil: meet national laws and regulations (cited by 87% of responding companies), seek recognition of Sustainable Enterprise and brand enhancement (62%), contributing to the protection of the environment and pollution control (58%), seek to reduce the generation of waste (53%) and differentiate itself from other companies in the sector (47%). It was identified that the drivers found for CSER are representative of the sample, regardless of the size, the leadership, the region, the industrial segment, the market activities (local, national or international), and the end customer of the company, as indicated by Qui-quadrado and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, contrary to the findings on literature. In order to achieve the second objective, it has performed a systematic review of the literature for compile concepts, principles, actions, benefits, challenges and critical success factors from the implementation of the ZW in different scenarios. Based on this compilation, it was conducted a case study in a small metallurgical, located in the Vale dos Sinos region, in Brazil, in order to identify which items were related to the company’s scenario. For this company, twelve benefits were identified, which can be achieved through ZW implementation, nine challenges were found to be overcome, and twenty-one critical success factors were identified, which are essential to achieve the goals proposed by the ZW. This study advocates some aspects that should be developed in the Brazilian scenario in order to support ZW implementation, corroborating to consolidate this philosophy as reference in waste management model in business scenario.

Os desafios do desenvolvimento sustentável apresentam inúmeras oportunidades e ameaças às organizações. Nesta realidade, inovar passa a ser ainda mais imprescindível para a competitividade organizacional, mas não a inovação tradicional, um novo tipo que integre as questões da sustentabilidade - a inovação sustentável. Compreender as competências relacionadas à sua gestão e sua forma de desenvolvimento é fundamental para o sucesso. Apesar dessa importância, verificou-se a inexistência de pesquisas com foco sistêmico considerando a evolução de todas as competências da gestão da inovação bem como o seu relacionamento com a evolução das gestões da inovação e da sustentabilidade. Neste contexto, esta pesquisa descritiva exploratória propõe um modelo de estágios evolutivos em gestão da inovação sustentável e suas características e competências específicas. Para tanto, realizou-se três estudos de caso longitudinal em empresas industriais multinacionais líderes em sustentabilidade e inovação, analisando-se a situação atual e evolução individual dos seus sistemas de gestão da inovação, da sustentabilidade e da inovação sustentável. Como resultado, propõe-se um padrão evolutivo da gestão da inovação sustentável de três estágios - reativo, preventivo e estratégico - com seus respectivos conjuntos de competências de gestão. Enquanto no estágio reativo, o foco da gestão da inovação sustentável reside no atendimento à legislação, no preventivo tem-se a ênfase na prevenção de riscos de SSMA e melhoria da ecoeficiência, e no estratégico, a inovação sustentável como fonte de vantagem competitiva. Ademais, identificaram-se três estágios evolutivos da gestão da sustentabilidade - reativo, preventivo e estratégico - e quatro da gestão da inovação - operacional, estratégico hard, estratégico soft e estratégico melhoria. Por fim, verificou-se que a evolução da gestão da inovação e da sustentabilidade mostrou-se linear (todas empresas passaram pelos estágios de forma sequencial), enquanto no caso da gestão da inovação sustentável, não-linear. / The challenges of sustainable development can trigger a new wave of creative destruction and innovation creating opportunities as well as threats to organizations. In this new reality, innovation becomes even more essential for organizational competitiveness, but not the traditional one, a new type that integrates sustainability concerns - the sustainable innovation. Therefore, to understand sustainable innovation management competences as well how they can be developed is crucial to its success. Despite this relevance, none study was found in the extant literature with a holist view of how the sustainable innovation management competences develop in time and their relationship with sustainability and innovation management evolution. In this context, this descriptive exploratory research contributes to address this gap by aiming to propose a framework of evolutionary stages, and features, that companies can follow in building their sustainable innovation management competence. To do so, three longitudinal case studies in multinational companies, leaders in sustainability and innovation, were carried out through the analysis of their evolution in management of sustainability, innovation and sustainable innovation. As a result, it is proposed an evolutionary framework of sustainable innovation management with three stages - reactive, preventive and strategic - and their respective sets of management competences. While in the reactive stage, the focus of sustainable innovation management lies on compliance with the law; the preventive stage emphasizes HSE risk prevention and eco-efficiency; and in the strategic, sustainable innovation is considered source of competitive advantage. Furthermore, it was identified three evolutionary stages of sustainability management - reactive, preventive and strategic - and four of innovation management - operational, strategic hard, soft and strategic improvement. Finally, it was found that the evolutions of innovation and sustainability management were linear (all companies passed sequentially through the stages), while in the case of sustainable management innovation nonlinear.

The problems of unsustainable development and the increased-awareness of corporate power in the global era have contributed to an agenda of corporate citizenship. This thesis explores the meanings and practices that fall under the banner of the triple bottom line of corporate citizenship through forty-two in-depth interviews with representatives from the corporate sector and NGO sector (including trade unions) in Australia. This purposive sample includes a specific range of corporate industries and NGO types, all of which have involvement with various areas of sustainability. Interviewees described their feelings and experiences in relation to the concept of the triple bottom line, the potential and limitations of this type of sustainability and the purpose and impacts of partnerships between NGOs and the corporate sector. On the basis of this research, this thesis argues that corporate citizenship is at best, a set of initiatives for making minor adjustments to the way companies perform their day-to-day operations and at worst, a program for improving corporate image rather than performance and for shifting the agenda of sustainable development toward corporate interests. While radical steps are required to achieve a sustainable society and environment, the terms of corporate citizenship offer very limited opportunities for change. The self-regulatory and market based model of citizenship does not challenge the impact of consumerism or the legitimacy of particular industry types and their products, except where threats are perceived to the longevity of the companies involved. Furthermore, while the exploitation of the environment and society has occurred as a result of corporate self-interest, corporate citizenship is justified on the same basis. The self-interest rationale and the tyranny of the economic bottom line in particular, substantially limit the fields of responsibility that can be included in the citizenship paradigm. While there are undoubtedly some well-intentioned corporate representatives who are working toward attaining a more sustainable corporate culture, the discourse is primarily used to shift the sustainable development agenda toward corporate paradigms and interests.

Abstract The purpose of our thesis was to comprehend how organizations approach the Corporate Social Contract that exists between them and society. The empirical data was gathered to reflect a comprehension of the Corporate Social Contract as a whole and as the product of its components, i.e.: Corporate Social Responsibility and Reciprocity. Other concepts interconnected with our main topic were also used in order to better comprehend the concept of Corporate Social Contract as well as our interpretations of the collected empirical data. These interconnected concepts were Corporate Sustainability, Corporate Citizenship, Shared Value, and Willingness to Pay.   The research work was approached from the qualitative standpoint. Considering that the perspective of our thesis was an organizational one, we approached 5 organizations within which to conduct interviews on the stated topic. Our aim was merely to understand the organizational perspective and approach to the concept of Corporate Social Contract, not to compare these perspectives and approaches.   Each of the chosen organizations met certain basic criteria mentioned in our work that permitted us to include them in our sample. The thesis’ conclusion reflected various organizational approaches towards Corporate Social Contract from the angle of Corporate Social Responsibility as well as varying perspectives on, and expectations of, society’s reciprocity. The study has shown that our view of the equal importance of the concepts of CSR and Reciprocity, within the framework of CSC fulfillment, is an under investigated area in both academics and in the practical business world. This has also been supported by our interviewees’ view on expectations, placed on society, as an implicit area in their organizations’ policies. Through our study we have uncovered practical reasons as to why CSC cannot be fulfilled all the time, how expectations between both organizations and society differ from project to project, and the importance of societal reciprocity in the aim of CSC fulfillment. And thus, through our study, we endeavor to comprehend how organizations fulfill the CSC and how they view society’s attempts to fulfill its end of the contract.   As a result of our work, future students and researchers stand to gain insights into the mentalities of organizations that hail from different industries and are based in different parts of the world. Future students and researchers could also derive their own interpretations of our respondents words based on the culture prevalent in the country in which the respondents are based. Apart from this, one can note that the respondents were also from a range of departments and their professionally skewed perspective on our topic makes for an interesting contribution to those seeking insights into our topic and those interlinked.   Key Words: Corporate Social Contract, Corporate Social Responsibility, Reciprocity, Corporate Sustainability, Corporate Citizenship, Shared Value, and Willingness to Pay.

As the modern world deals with an increasing number of environmental and social crises, corporate sustainability is becoming ever more imperative for business. There is broad agreement that profit maximization can no longer be the exclusive goal of a company, with firms working to align environmental, social, and financial performance. Companies have demonstrated a wide variety of experiences in regards to the financial crisis and its effects on corporate sustainability. While some firms experienced serious setbacks in achieving environmental and social goals others firms claimed to have been ramping up sustainability efforts during the recession. However, most firms report that their corporate sustainability strategies have not been significantly affected by the recession.