Climate change is a critical issue, as emphasized by the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (2023). Business organizations significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions but also play a crucial role in developing decarbonization solutions. A surge in scholarly attention since the mid-2010s has provided valuable insights into the dynamic interplay between firms and climate change. Studies have quantified risks and assessed the impact of environmental practices, while others have examined proactive measures by firms in response to regulatory landscapes and stakeholder expectations. External stakeholders, including governments, shareholders, and business partners, play a pivotal role in steering firms toward low-carbon strategies. However, there remains a gap in understanding the true impact of firm strategies on ecosystem health – for example on firms’ carbon footprint. This research aims to explore the influence of various actors on firms' decarbonization strategies and explores how firms navigate their transition towards low carbon amid conflicting pressures from financial markets, governments, and corporate customers in global value chains. The first essay reviews the literature on the challenges faced by multinational companies (MNCs) when trying to implement more sustainable practices in their supply chains. The second essay empirically investigates MNCs' impact on their suppliers' environmental performance, highlighting the importance of scrutiny, enforcement and economic leverage. The third essay analyzes investor reactions to coal plant divestment announcements by U.S. electric utilities, revealing increasing investor support for divestment. Overall, this work contributes to the literature at the intersection between firms and the environment in a global transition context, by taking a multidisciplinary and integrative approach. It also offers valuable insights for managers and policymakers as it highlights the necessity to account for contextual dynamics (e.g., change in value among stakeholders), and the breadth of the issues at stake (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions are concentrated at the manufacturing stages) to design more efficient environmental strategies and policies. / Business Administration/International Business Administration

No / Controversial industry sectors, such as alcohol, gambling, and tobacco, though long-established, suffer organizational legitimacy problems. The authors consider various strategies used to seek organizational legitimacy in the U.K. casino gambling market. The findings are based on a detailed, multistakeholder case study pertaining to a failed bid for a regional supercasino. They suggest four generic strategies for seeking organizational legitimacy in this highly complex context: construing, earning, bargaining, and capturing, as well as pathways that combine these strategies. The case analysis and proposed bidimensional model of generic legitimacy-seeking strategies contribute to limited literature on organizational legitimacy in controversial industry sectors. In addition, beyond organizations active in controversial contexts, this study and its implications are useful for individuals and organizations supporting or opposing the organizational legitimacy of organizations in controversial industries.

Yes / Performance measurement of logistics companies is based upon various performance indicators. Yet, in the logistics industry, there are several vaguenesses, such as deciding on key indicators and determining interrelationships between performance indicators. In order to resolve these vaguenesses, this paper first presents the stakeholder-informed Balanced Scorecard (BSC) model, by incorporating financial (e.g. cost) and non-financial (e.g. social media) performance indicators, with a comprehensive approach as a response to the major shortcomings of the generic BSC regarding the negligence of different stakeholders. Subsequently, since the indicators are not independent of each other, a robust multi-criteria decision making technique, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method is implemented to analyze the interrelationships. The integration of these two techniques provides a novel way to evaluate logistics performance indicators from logisticians' perspective. This is a matter that has not been addressed in the logistics industry to date, and as such remains a gap that needs to be investigated. Therefore, the proposed model identifies key performance indicators as well as various stakeholders in the logistics industry, and analyzes the interrelationships among the indicators by using the ANP. Consequently, the results show that educated employee (15.61%) is the most important indicator for the competitiveness of logistics companies.

Yes / For years, humankind has been facing various disasters of which logistics has a crucial role for alleviating sufferings of vulnerable people, who are isolated and in need of basic supplies. Owing to the increasing importance of logistics in humanitarian operations, logistics service providers (LSPs) have recently become more prominent. Yet, only a few LSPs have the capabilities and mechanisms to offer operational solutions for humanitarian relief. Also, the conducted extensive literature review makes evident that the existence of a limited number of normative research reveals a barrier about what LSPs can bring into the humanitarian field. Accordingly, why LSPs are particularly important in the humanitarian supply chain and how LSPs manage their activities and resources in humanitarian operations become the main questions to be addressed. Thus, this study seeks to explore humanitarian operations of LSPs from different dimensions, enabled by Business Model Canvas (BMC). In this sense, the obtained findings clarify both similar and different viewpoints of diverse LSPs when mapped against the BMC. Consequently, the categorised interrelated information presented through the cross-case synthesis provide novelty to advance insights both on strategic missions of LSPs in humanitarian relief operations and on the usage of BMC beyond its common commercial implementations.

No / The importance of a collaborative approach between the project team, end-users, and stakeholders in managing complex decisions and risks in project environments has long been emphasized. The Porter model emphasizes the need to focus on client needs and competitive advantage. However, a lack of resources and capability development may hinder the project team's ability to provide appropriate services. Supervisors, team members, and end-users can play a supportive role in easing complexity in risk management and decision-making. It is important to understand standards as performance measures for decision-making and the need for detailed knowledge of the project brief. The value of group decision support systems and low-intensity involvements in decision-making would give rise to involving end-users in critical decision-making, the importance of focusing on organizational culture and strategic planning, and the need for a change of mindset to align individual perceptions with the norm. It is also important to gather and analyze information before making a decision. While some project teams see end-users as a threat to their judgment, the research emphasizes the duty to respond to end-users' needs and highlights the value they add to risk assessment.

Over the last few decades, the saliency of district strategic planning has increased with state mandates and federal implications, coupled with school districts and individual schools autonomously electing to engage in the planning process. Since the perspectives of community members and parents have often been marginalized in strategic planning scholarship, it is important to investigate the experiences of community stakeholders who participated in strategic planning. Using a single case study design, this dissertation investigated the nature of engagement of strategic planning participants who were community stakeholders at an urban school district. This study examined primary and secondary sources and involved 19 interviewees: twelve community members who participated in the planning process, five Rosewood residents, and two district leaders. The findings show that Rosewood Public School’s strategic planning was managed in such a way that community stakeholders were excluded from meaningful engagement. Though strategic planning participants initially felt welcomed, they were also relegated to specific sessions, given limited roles, and excluded from important decision-making opportunities. The findings make it clear that without adequate accountability or the willingness of district leaders to consistently include community perspectives, this urban school district's strategic planning process reinscribed dominant cultural practices and structures of power. / Urban Education

Poucos avanços foram observados na gestão de projetos sociais corporativos. Todavia, houve relevantes avanços em trabalhos teóricos da área da Teoria dos Stakeholders: área que pode contribuir com conceitos e ideias a serem utilizadas na gestão de projetos sociais por ter muitos pontos de contato com a mesma. A presente pesquisa teve por objetivo investigar como ocorrem os processos de gestão nos projetos sociais corporativos. Essa investigação se deu em três etapas: a primeira compreendeu um estudo exploratório sobre a estrutura existente em projetos sociais ofertados pelas 100 maiores empresas brasileiras. A segunda etapa compreendeu um questionário aplicado aos gestores de projetos sociais nas 100 maiores empresas brasileiras, com o objetivo de compreender se as variáveis advindas da Teoria dos Stakeholders são efetivamente aplicadas na gestão de projetos sociais corporativos. Na terceira e última etapa, foi aplicado o estudo de um caso com stakeholders participantes de um projeto social, visando aprofundamento do tema com vistas a verificar se as variáveis identificadas na pesquisa foram utilizadas no processo de gestão de projetos sociais. Finalmente, os resultados das três etapas da pesquisa foram apresentados e comparados ao referencial teórico com o propósito de responder o objetivo central da pesquisa e de refletir sobre como variáveis e constructos advindos da Teoria dos Stakeholders podem ser utilizados na gestão de projetos sociais oferecidos à comunidade por parte das organizações privadas. Observou-se que 85% das empresas declaram financiar projetos sociais, mas apenas 15% delas declaram envolver seus stakeholders e 17% declaram controlar resultados de seus projetos sociais, parecendo indicar baixo comprometimento dessas organizações para com a gestão de seus projetos sociais. Também parece haver baixa preocupação com a avaliação de projetos por parte dos gestores e que a opinião que os beneficiários possuem do projeto depende, em parte, do nível de interação que o gestor possui com sua equipe de trabalho. Nas entrevistas em profundidade realizadas em um projeto social patrocinado por uma empresa classificada como nível inicial na gestão de projetos, verificaram-se opiniões divergentes entre os públicos entrevistados. A gerente de projetos e os beneficiários do projeto declararam que a gestão do projeto social analisado não ocorreu conforme as variáveis selecionadas na pesquisa, enquanto as professoras ligadas ao projeto perceberam que grande parte dessas variáveis foi utilizada na gestão. Futuros estudos podem ampliar as contribuições trazidas por esta pesquisa ao incluir o setor financeiro na amostra, ao expandir o número de gestores respondentes e ao aplicar a pesquisa a diversas organizações. / Few advances were observed in the management of corporate social projects. However, there were significant advances in theoretical studies of the area of the Theory of Stakeholders: area that can help with concepts and ideas to be used in social project management because it has many points of contact with it. This research aimed to investigate as it happens the management processes in corporate social projects. This research is subdividided in three stages: the first, realized an exploratory study on the structure of social projects offered by the 100 largest Brazilian companies. The second stage comprised a questionnaire that the social project managers in the 100 largest Brazilian companies, in order to understand the variables arising from the Theory of Stakeholders are effectively applied in managing corporate social projects. In the third and final stage, a case study was applied with participating stakeholders of a social project aimed at deepening theme in order to verify if the variables identified in the survey were used in social project management process. Finally, the results of the three stages of the research were presented and compared to the theoretical framework in order to answer the central objective of the research and to reflect on how variables and constructs arising from the Theory of Stakeholders can be used in social project management offered to the community by private organizations. It was observed that 85% of companies claim finance social projects, but only 15% of them declare involve stakeholders and 17% declare control results of its social projects, seems to indicate low commitment of these organizations to the management of its social projects. Also there seems to be insufficient concern with the assessment of projects by managers and that the view that beneficiaries have the project depends in part on the level of interaction that the manager has with his team\'s work. In applying the case study on a company classified as initial level in project management, there are differing opinions among respondent\'s audiences. The project manager and project beneficiaries said that the management of social project analyzed did not occur as the variables selected in the survey, while the teachers realized that many of these variables was used in management. Future studies may expand the contributions made by this research to include the financial sector in the sample, to expand the number of respondent\'s managers and applying research to several organizations.

Este estudo analisa como mudanças institucionais no mercado da soja brasileiro proporcionam as condições para negociação de um sistema de governança ambiental para a produção na Amazônia. Em junho de 2006, as principais agroindústrias anunciaram um acordo inédito parao setor agrícola do país: Elas se comprometeram a não comercializa a colheita produzidas em novas áreas desmatadas da floresta amazônica. Esse acordo ficou conhecido como a Moratória da Sója e deu origem a um sistema de segurança multistakeholders para conter o avanço da produção sobre a floresta. O comportamento dos atores ligados à agroindústria da soja é a face mais visível de um fenômeno social que também tem seus componetes econômicos, culturais e políticos. O arranjo que surgiu no campo da soja faz parte de um movimento que se espalha por vários mercados contemporâneos, onde cada vez mais as organizações, em vez de esperar pelo Estado antecipam-se criando sistemas voluntários de gestão ambiental, por meio de protocolos e acordos voltados a reduzir os impactos ambientais negativos daquilo que fazem. A decisão de decretar a moratória e a consequente criação de um comitê de governança ambiental é analisada sob uma perspectiva histórica, na qual grupos dominantes e desafientes constantemente disputam nos campos sociais a definição das instituições que dão estabilidade aos mercados. A partir de novas vertentes teóricas da nova sociologia econômica e da teoria das organizações, as ações tomadas pela agroindústria são vistas não apenas como escolha racional a partir dos recursos internos das empresas e dos sinais do mercado, mas como resposta a pressão externa por legitimidade. / This study focus on how institutional changes in the soybean market generated conditions to setting an environmental governance system for production in the Amazon region. On June 2006, the main soybean and trading companies working in Brazil reached an unprecedented agreement on not to trade soy grown in newly deforested area in the Amazon. The agreement was named Soybean Moratorium in the Amazon and led to the creation of the Soya Working Group, a multistakeholder arrangement to curb production from spreading throughout the forest. The soybean industry actors behavior is part of a broader complex social phenomenon, which also includes economic, cultural and political components. The new institutional arrangement in the soybean organizational field is connected to a broader move spreading on several contemporary markets, in which organizations, instead of waiting for State regulations, adopt initiatives, such as voluntary systems of environmental management through alliances, agreements and certifications systems, to control the negative impacts of their activities. The new attitudes are explained from a historical perspective, in which dominant groups and their challengers dispute, within social arenas, the definition of institutions that stabilize the organizational field. Using the theoretical approaches of economic sociology and sociology of organizations, the action of the soybean industry is seen not only as rational choices based on the company resources and market signals, but as answers to external pressures for legitimacy

Este estudo analisa como mudanças institucionais no mercado da soja brasileiro proporcionam as condições para negociação de um sistema de governança ambiental para a produção na Amazônia. Em junho de 2006, as principais agroindústrias anunciaram um acordo inédito parao setor agrícola do país: Elas se comprometeram a não comercializa a colheita produzidas em novas áreas desmatadas da floresta amazônica. Esse acordo ficou conhecido como a Moratória da Sója e deu origem a um sistema de segurança multistakeholders para conter o avanço da produção sobre a floresta. O comportamento dos atores ligados à agroindústria da soja é a face mais visível de um fenômeno social que também tem seus componetes econômicos, culturais e políticos. O arranjo que surgiu no campo da soja faz parte de um movimento que se espalha por vários mercados contemporâneos, onde cada vez mais as organizações, em vez de esperar pelo Estado antecipam-se criando sistemas voluntários de gestão ambiental, por meio de protocolos e acordos voltados a reduzir os impactos ambientais negativos daquilo que fazem. A decisão de decretar a moratória e a consequente criação de um comitê de governança ambiental é analisada sob uma perspectiva histórica, na qual grupos dominantes e desafientes constantemente disputam nos campos sociais a definição das instituições que dão estabilidade aos mercados. A partir de novas vertentes teóricas da nova sociologia econômica e da teoria das organizações, as ações tomadas pela agroindústria são vistas não apenas como escolha racional a partir dos recursos internos das empresas e dos sinais do mercado, mas como resposta a pressão externa por legitimidade. / This study focus on how institutional changes in the soybean market generated conditions to setting an environmental governance system for production in the Amazon region. On June 2006, the main soybean and trading companies working in Brazil reached an unprecedented agreement on not to trade soy grown in newly deforested area in the Amazon. The agreement was named Soybean Moratorium in the Amazon and led to the creation of the Soya Working Group, a multistakeholder arrangement to curb production from spreading throughout the forest. The soybean industry actors behavior is part of a broader complex social phenomenon, which also includes economic, cultural and political components. The new institutional arrangement in the soybean organizational field is connected to a broader move spreading on several contemporary markets, in which organizations, instead of waiting for State regulations, adopt initiatives, such as voluntary systems of environmental management through alliances, agreements and certifications systems, to control the negative impacts of their activities. The new attitudes are explained from a historical perspective, in which dominant groups and their challengers dispute, within social arenas, the definition of institutions that stabilize the organizational field. Using the theoretical approaches of economic sociology and sociology of organizations, the action of the soybean industry is seen not only as rational choices based on the company resources and market signals, but as answers to external pressures for legitimacy

Submitted by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2016-07-05T20:01:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ávila, Patrícia Brito de.pdf: 4596211 bytes, checksum: 932b6ab67ee3034448b00173edc32bfc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2016-07-05T20:27:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Ávila, Patrícia Brito de.pdf: 4596211 bytes, checksum: 932b6ab67ee3034448b00173edc32bfc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-05T20:27:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ávila, Patrícia Brito de.pdf: 4596211 bytes, checksum: 932b6ab67ee3034448b00173edc32bfc (MD5) / A atualidade e relevância da discussão sobre o papel da empresa privada na sociedade, mais especificamente no contexto brasileiro e baiano, revela sua importância como atora na gestão social do desenvolvimento. Esta importância está diretamente relacionada à capacidade de formulação e implementação de políticas compensatórias, com possíveis intervenções no desenvolvimento do espaço em que opera e atua. Dentro deste cenário, destaca-se o papel do Instituto Ethos enquanto instituição associativa que, em nível nacional e regional, discute, fomenta e divulga aspectos relativos ao investimento social das empresas. Para o Ethos, a responsabilidade social pode ser traduzida como atuação ética nas ações e relações com os seus stakeholders, proposta que permite uma diversidade de interpretações, evidenciada por práticas que vão do mero associativismo a ações e parcerias caracterizadas como responsabilidade social empresarial. O perfil das organizações e as formas como elas se estruturam para responder às demandas de responsabilidade social empresarial condicionam formas institucionais, que por sua vez geram ações sociais e parcerias indicativas do nível de engajamento das empresas com a proposta do Instituto Ethos. Esta dissertação mapeia os perfis organizacionais e das formas de gestão das empresas associadas ao Instituto Ethos na Bahia e as características de suas ações, projetos e programas de responsabilidade social, bem como as parcerias que estabelece na ação social e os mecanismos de avaliação e transparência utilizados. Em seguida, classifica-se estas ações em filantrópicas e de responsabilidade social, com base no conceito de responsabilidade social empresarial do Ethos, de acordo com a seguinte escala: (0) empresa associada ao Ethos, (1) empresa associada ao Ethos e que realiza filantropia, e (2) empresa associada e que realiza filantropia ou atua dentro do que o Instituto Ethos considera responsabilidade social empresarial. Finalmente, contrasta-se e compara-se as ações das empresas no campo da responsabilidade social empresarial, e discute-se o grau de aderência das práticas implementadas com a proposta de responsabilidade social empresarial do Instituto Ethos. Conclui-se que as práticas de responsabilidade social das organizações associadas ao Instituto Ethos na Bahia caracterizam-se pelo hibridismo. Organizações de diversos setores e escalas incorporam ações que variam do cumprimento mínimo das obrigações legais, até doações de cunho filantrópico e práticas de responsabilidade social propriamente ditas, indicando que a atuação do Ethos como regulador é muito mais prescritiva, o que abre um hiato entre o que idealmente propõe em seu discurso e o que realmente as empresas fazem. The actuality and relevance of the discussion about the role of private companies in society, more specifically in the Brazilian context, reveal their importance as actors that can contribute to the management of social development. This importance is directly related to their capacities of formulating and implementing compensatory policies, with concrete possibilities of developing interventions on the territory they operate. Within this scenario, the role of associating institutions, such as Ethos Institute, that discusses, foments and communicates, both in regional and national level, aspects related to the social investment of firms, emerges. To this institute, a company is social responsible when it establishes practices, relationships and partnerships with its stakeholders within ethic values, proposal that allows multiples interpretations and is evidenced by practices that vary from mere associations to practices and partnerships characterized as corporate social responsibility. The profiles of the organizations and the ways they are structured to answer to the demands of corporate social responsibility create institutional forms, which generate partnerships and social actions that indicate the level of engagement to Ethos‟s proposal. This thesis maps the organizational profiles and managerial models of the companies associated with Ethos Institute in Bahia, and the features of their practices, projects and programs of social responsibility, as well as their partnerships on social actions and the mechanisms of evaluation and transparency they use. It also classifies these actions in philanthropic and of social responsibility, based on Ethos Institute‟s concept of corporate social responsibility, according to the following scale: (0) company associated with Ethos, (1) company associated with Ethos that performs philanthropy, and (2) company associated with Ethos that performs philanthropy or acts within what Ethos Institute considers corporate social responsibility. Finally, it compares the pratices of socialresponsibility of the companies studied and discusses the degree of compliance of what they implement with Ethos Institute‟s concept of corporate social responsibility. We conclude that the social responsibility practices of organizations associated with the Ethos Institute in Bahia are characterized by hybridity. Organizations from different sectors and scales incorporate actions ranging from the minimum compliance with legal obligations to philanthropic donations and social responsibility practices, indicating that the performance of Ethos as a regulator is more prescriptive and revealing a gap between what the institute ideally proposes in its speech and what the companies really implement.