Investigating corporate social responsibility in supply chains: a SME perspective

This paper analyzes the practices adopted and difficulties experienced by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to transfer socially responsible behaviors to suppliers that operate in developing countries. In particular, a multiple case study was conducted on five Italian socially responsible SMEs. It was found that companies use different strategies as well as diverse management systems and tools to address Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues along their supply chains (SCs). The paper is innovative mainly since few are the existing studies that investigate the CSR practices adopted by SMEs in the SC. Furthermore, it is argued that our research can be helpful to SME managers willing to deal with CSR issues along their SCs, especially when developing countries are involved.     

Corporate social responsibility in the mining industry: Exploring trends in social and environmental disclosure

In recent years, concerns about the sustainability and social responsibility (CSR) of businesses have become an increasingly high profile issue in many countries and industries, none more so than the mining industry. For mining, one outcome of the CSR agenda is the increasing need for individual companies to justify their existence and document their performance through the disclosure of social and environmental information. This paper explores recent trends in the reporting of such impacts and issues in the global mining industry. It offers a detailed review of the development of the media of social and environmental disclosure in the mining industry, and of the factors that drive the development of such disclosure. A temporal analysis of the recent trends in disclosure using a case study of the world's 10 largest mining companies is presented. Whilst there is evidence of increasing sophistication in the development of social and environmental disclosure, there is considerable variation in the maturity of reporting content and styles of these companies. The paper offers a simple classification of reporting companies, from ‘leaders’ to ‘laggards’. Stronger leadership and co-operation from the top reporting companies is necessary to support the laggards of the industry.     

Organising corporate social responsibility in international product chains

This article focuses on how companies can efficiently implement corporate social responsibility in international product chains by taking into account the particularities of their supply chain relationships. The way in which companies can organise chain responsibility will depend on both the diversity and the complexity of the product chain, the power of the company in the chain and the level of ambition set. On the basis of these four factors, a step-by-step plan has been developed to offer guidance to companies in choosing their own appropriate way of organising chain responsibility. In developing this plan, use was made of the experiences of 12 companies who participated in the programme entitled ‘CSR in an international context’ organised by CSR Netherlands.     

Corporate social responsibility: sustainable water use

Freshwater scarcity is no longer limited to sub-Saharan developing countries; also in Western society, access to unlimited amounts of freshwater is not assured at all times. It has been argued - and laid down in many national legal systems - that access to freshwater is a basic human right. What if corporate freshwater use threatens to interfere with this human right? The main focus of the article is to explore the role of today’s companies in relation to freshwater. A number of tools have been developed to attend to the necessity to reduce corporate use of freshwater. The article discusses specialised water reporting instruments such as the 2007 Global Water Tool and the ‘water footprint’ calculation method. In addition, attention is paid to a CERES report (2010) revealing that the majority of the 100 world’s leading companies in water-intensive industries still has weak management and disclosures of water-related risks and opportunities. To obtain concrete information about corporate water strategies and practices, an explorative analysis was conducted on 20 Dutch multinational companies. The article highlights various innovative practices. In sum, it is demonstrated that companies are expected to bear responsibility for their impact on water resources, in particular when it influences public access to water in areas with freshwater scarcity and/or weak government. Notwithstanding the critical conclusions of the CERES report, it is interesting to see an evolution in corporate research concerning sustainable water use and the development of greener products and greener ways of production.     

Is the Swedish environmental technology sector ‘green’?

The Environmental technology (ET) sector delivers environmentally preferably products. Little is known about whether companies in the ET sector set environmental objectives relating to their own production processes. This paper presents results from an online survey on environmental work in enterprises listed by the Swedish Environmental Technology Council (Swentec). The survey found that depending on the specific subsector, only between 21% and 45% of companies provide information about their environmental work on their website. This paper proposes environmental aspects of production and products as bases for corporate greening and for defining ‘green’ and ‘green-green’ business and identifies three main motivations for the companies within ET sector to operate as ‘green-green’ businesses: ‘competitive advantage’, ‘environmental responsibility’ and ‘environmental leadership’.     

Experiences of and views on third-party assurance of corporate environmental and sustainability reports

This study explores the development of environmental and sustainability reporting in Sweden and the dynamics behind the corporate decision to introduce, or not to introduce, third-party assurance of voluntary reports. The results are based on interviews with 28 Swedish companies, an analysis of corporate environmental/sustainability/annual reports as well as interviews with assurance providers. Between 1990 and 2003, the number of corporate voluntary reports increased and by 2003 approximately one-third of the reports were subject to third-party assurance. In general, the assured companies were positive in regards to the perceived benefits from third-party assurance, e.g. guidance on how to develop efficient internal reporting systems and increased credibility for published data. The companies without assurance were hesitant to adopt the concept. Their main arguments included the high cost of assurance and the lack of evidence that third-party assurance would result in enhanced credibility. According to the companies, the driving forces for the future development of assurance practices will most probably consist of a combination of proactive approaches from leading companies, generally accepted reporting guidelines and assurance methods, increased pressure from stakeholders and the general acceptance that third-party assurance creates benefits for the company and its stakeholders. In conclusion, this study calls for more attention to be paid towards establishing possible links between methods for third-party assurance and increased credibility for corporate environmental or sustainability reports.     

Linkages between best practice in business and good environmental performance by companies

Is the adoption of currently accepted best practice in business associated with improved environmental performance by companies? What methods can be used to assess and compare the environmental practices and performance of different companies? In this pilot study, the business and environmental practices and performances of five companies in the metal working sector were examined and scored. The business practices and performances were assessed using the best practice model adopted in the Australian Manufacturers Council study (AMC, November 1994, Melbourne, 112pp.). The environmental practices and performance of the companies were assessed based on a five stage framework of business response to environmental issues presented here. A strong correlation was observed between environmental performance and business practices (correlation coefficient, r = 0.85, p < 0.05). The company closest to best practice had a strong focus on quality, efficiency and elimination of waste, well-developed strategy, good teamwork and a high level of commitment and also had the highest score for environmental performance. The company with poorest score for its business practices had the poorest environmental performance, with the remaining companies lying between on both scores. There was no significant correlation between business performance outcomes and environmental performance.     

Best practices for corporate commitment to biodiversity: An organizing framework from GRI reports

Corporate operations can have significant impacts on biodiversity. Nevertheless, the literature has overlooked the analysis of the organizational practices underlying corporate commitment to biodiversity. The objective of this article is to contribute to this under-researched issue by shedding light on the best practices of biodiversity conservation of companies whose operations pose high risks to biodiversity. For this purpose, we carried out a systematic analysis of the sustainability practices reported by 163 mining and forestry companies whose operations pose high risks to biodiversity. The article proposes an organizing framework describing the main approaches and practices for corporate biodiversity management. The contributions and implications for managers, policy makers and other stakeholders are discussed.     

From green product definitions and classifications to the Green Option Matrix

Hybrid cars, recycled products, photovoltaic cells, bioplastics: why so different products can be called ‘green’? Which practices companies willing to develop green products should implement? How companies can easily and effectively communicate to stakeholders the environmental features of their green products? This paper tries to answer these questions, by developing a Green Option Matrix (GOM), which characterizes green products and practices along different dimensions. This matrix is then used to analyze the different features of green products as well as related green practices developed by a sample of companies belonging to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSWI). Relevant data are collected by means of content analysis of companies’ websites and sustainability reports. Green products and practices developed by each company in the sample are positioned in the matrix and results are presented and discussed for each industrial sector. Then, different sectors’ behaviors are compared. The proposed matrix can be used by companies as a market tool to analyze competitors’ green products and practices and as a communication tool to effectively communicate to stakeholders the specific green features of their products and practices.     

Sustainability in the New Zealand wine industry: drivers,stakeholders and practices

This research aims to investigate various sustainability issues in the New Zealand wine industry. Namely, the study examines (1) what drives the industry to engage in sustainability practices, (2) the role of stakeholders in the company's decision-making, and (3) environmental practices related to water utilization, chemicals and waste management. A qualitative research approach supplemented by quantitative measures was adopted to answer the research questions. Twenty-four wineries were studied. The research found that the most important drivers for sustainable practices are personal values, preferences and satisfaction with the profession (i.e., enjoyment of the work itself), followed by product quality and customers' demand. Size of firm also appears to be an important factor. New Zealand wine companies are also driven by the market, but companies do not receive a price premium for grapes grown sustainably or organically grown. The study proposes a typology matrix that differentiates wineries' involvement in sustainability based on the extent of sustainability practices and sustainability drivers.     

An exploration of measures of social sustainability and their application to supply chain decisions

Sustainability recognizes the interdependence of ecological, social, and economic systems – the three pillars of sustainability. The definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR) often advocates ethical behavior with respect to these systems. As more corporations commit to sustainability and CSR policies, there is increasing pressure to consider social impacts throughout the supply chain. This paper reviews metrics, indicators, and frameworks of social impacts and initiatives relative to their ability to evaluate the social sustainability of supply chains. Then, the relationship between business decision-making and social sustainability is explored with attention initially focused on directly impacting national level measures. A general strategy for considering measures of social sustainability is proposed, and a variety of indicators of CSR are described. Several of these indicators are then employed in an example to demonstrate how they may be applied to supply chain decision-making.     

Fitting together the building blocks for sustainability: a revised model for integrating ecological,social, and financial factors into business decision-making

Companies committed to integrating sustainability concerns into product decisions are confronted with the daunting task of assessing hundreds, or thousands, of materials and goods. Further complicating efforts have been the rapid growth of environmental and social assessment principles, strategies, actions, and tools. The lack of clarity on how existing approaches are complementary or distinct has resulted in ambiguities about pathways forward for companies. This current state of the field highlights the need to draw out interconnections between the wide range of current work on integrating environmental and social issues into material, product, and other business decisions.This article—developed through collaboration among several environmental, social, and sustainability-oriented researchers and practitioners—addresses this need through building upon pre-existing work [J. Cleaner Prod. 10(3) (2002) 197; J. Cleaner Prod. 8(3) (2000) 243]. It proposes adaptations on a framework for organizing the assessment field, including development of exemplary sustainable product characteristics and their inclusion in a “strategic sustainable development” decision-making model and process [J. Cleaner Prod. 10(3) (2002) 197]. The article also argues for an expansion of analytical approaches within this previously developed framework in order to highlight social aspects of sustainability and landscape-level issues. Finally, the article puts these elements together to describe a pathway forward for companies. In the conclusion, areas for future research are highlighted.     

Eco-design in innovation driven companies: perception, predictions and the main drivers of integration. The Spanish example

This study attempts to contribute to the scarce knowledge on how eco-design, and to broad extent sustainability, is connected to innovation driven companies. In particular, this cross sectional research verifies i) perception and knowledge of eco-design of the professionals from innovation driven companies in Spain, ii) specific eco-design strategies towards sustainability that innovation driven companies are integrating in their strategic plans and their application in the supply chain and iii) the companies’ future predictions on innovation and eco-design linkage. The methodology of this paper is based on a survey, developed defining measurable proxies for both eco-design and innovation approaches and conducted on 10,000 multidisciplinary professionals from Spanish innovation driven companies. The study shows that sustainability is a cardinal driver for innovation and that responses have specificities regarding company size, activity or respondent position. Innovation and eco-design strategies for the future aim to use materials with a lower environmental impact and to develop new concepts.     

Development of a methodology for benchmarking public transportation organisations: a practical tool based on an industry sound methodology

Transportation plays an important role in modern societies. Despite the advantages inherent to well functioning transportation systems, they always generate significant negative side effects that put a burden on the quality-of-life, especially in urban areas. This is especially true of the way in which increasing automobile usage generates important negative impacts such as congestion, increases in accidents and additional vehicle emissions. The European Commission proposes to address these impacts by shifting modal share away from private transportation: in the local transportation sector this means improving the performance of public transportation operators so as to compete with the advantages of private car use.Recent legislation has increasingly required public transportation companies to operate in an environment of increasing competition; consequently there is constant pressure on the operators to improve the efficiency of their performance in order to survive. Benchmarking is considered as one of the most promising ways to help maintain and improve the quality and efficiency of this sector by the sharing data on good practices among operators. This paper concentrates on the practice of ‘benchmarking’ e.g. the measurement of indicators for an individual operator and ‘a comparison of results’ with other operators. The empirical basis for the paper comes from the EU-DG project called EQUIP (Extending the Quality of Public Transportation).The paper has the following structure: in the introduction of the paper, the theoretical framework is discussed: what are the experiences in the industry with benchmarking in public transportation? What is measured with benchmarking? How are the potential benefits of benchmarking exploited? The second section deals with the methodology of the benchmark process. Attention is then turned, in the third section, to practical experience. It deals with the complications of data collection and how to select indicators to provide relevant information for public transportation.After some interim conclusions on achieving and sustaining improvements in Section 4. In the final Section (5), the paper concludes with the experiences of piloting this methodology and makes recommendations for changes in the institutional environment for the successful introduction of benchmarking on a national and European basis for this sector.     

Making sense of Corporate Social Responsibility: Exploring organizational processes and strategies

This article describes and analyzes how company members make sense of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The research question focuses on organizational processes of structuring CSR in practice: How do CSR sensemaking processes in companies work and is it possible to discern process strategies?Based on universal sensemaking theories, a conceptual framework is developed to analyze CSR sensemaking in practice. When the framework is used to analyze the experiences of 18 companies we are able to characterize internal CSR sensemaking as a process that consists of a three-stage cycle with an important role for change agents. Further, we conclude that the companies develop unique interpretations of the three-stage cycle. Grouping the processes, we discern two strategies of communicating and acting that stimulate the involvement of people and embed CSR values in the company.     

Environmental management system and human resource practices: is there a link between them in four Brazilian companies?

The aim of this article is to analyze the theoretical model proposed by [Jabbour CJC, Santos FCA. Relationships between human resource dimensions and environmental management in companies: proposal of a model. Journal of Cleaner Production 2008;16(1):51–8.] based on the data collected in four Brazilian companies. This model investigates how the phases of the environmental management system can be linked to human resource practices in order to attain continuous improvement of a company's environmental performance. Our aim is to contribute to a field, which has little empirical evidence. Although the interaction between the phases of the environmental management system and human resource practices is recommended by the specialized literature [Daily BF, Huang S. Achieving sustainability through attention to human resource factors in environmental management. International Journal of Operations and Production Management 2001;21(12):1539–52.], the results indicate that most of the theoretical assumptions could not be confirmed in these Brazilian companies.     

Towards corporate environmental information disclosure: an empirical study in China

High levels of corporate environmental information disclosure (EID) have become pressing issues due to environmental protection around the world. Corporate EID refers to disclose their information on activities related to the natural environment, environmental protection and use of resource. Emerging economies in developing countries seem to face a formidable task for promoting corporate EID. Based on data of corporate EID for 871 listed manufacturing companies in China, this paper examines the status of corporate EID. The significant difference of selectively disclosing their environmental information for the listed companies is investigated. The relations among the level of EID, industrial sector, company size, and company ownership are also explored. Surprisingly, the result reveals the inverse relationship between the marketization level and corporate EID.     

A methodology for CSR reporting: assuring a representative diversity of indicators across stakeholders,scales, sites and performance issues

This paper presents a framework called the CSR Deliberation Matrix for the structuring of CSR issue identification, stakeholder dialogues, indicator selection and reporting, with an overarching goal to achieve an appropriate balance between sensitivity to individual situations and the benefits of “generic” indicators applicable to a large spectrum of reporting contexts.We suggest guidelines to (1) define the full spectrum of sustainability concerns and of relevant stakeholder dialogue contexts; (2) mobilise a relevant “data bank” which provides a profile of candidate CSR indicators; (3) obtain a parsimonious selection of indicators in a site-level CSR reporting process through a stakeholder dialogue; and (4) obtain a “representative diversity” of indicators at the interface of site-level and higher-level CSR reporting contexts.     

A conceptual framework for analyzing sustainability strategies in industrial supply networks from an innovation perspective

This article proposes a new conceptual framework concerning the implementation of sustainability in supply networks from an innovation perspective. Based upon a recent qualitative literature review in environmental, social/ethical and logistics/operations management journals, this article summarizes and analyses the approaches found. Concluded is that even though innovation, socialization, experimental learning and cultural perspectives have been acknowledged as being relevant to explaining supply network dynamics in general, they are rarely included in the current frameworks concerning sustainability. The question still remains why companies influenced by the same external factors and similar in size and power develop a different strategy towards sustainability aspects in their supply network. The article demonstrates with the first results of a survey held in the fashion/clothing sector the relevance of this question.The proposed conceptual framework states that the capability to develop a strategy is influenced by the innovation power of the “focal” company and its supply network. The three implementation strategies presented in the framework are: resign, offensive and defensive. Two propositions are defined to be tested. These propositions focus on the relation between the level of innovation power and the implementation strategy concerning sustainability. Factors used to characterize the innovation power of the “focal” company are: external orientation and transparency, cooperation between departments, learning and adapting, leadership, autonomy and possibility for experimenting, and result driven. Cooperation in the supply networks is characterized by factors like trust, reputation, joint programmes, and cooperative information systems throughout the supply network.In empirical research, strategies found will be related with the level of innovation power. This level will be measured using the factors mentioned. The results might add a new innovation dimension to an improved conceptual framework within the interdisciplinary field of sustainability and supply network research.     

Ex-ante environmental assessments of novel technologies - Improved caprolactam catalysis and hydrogen storage

Utrecht University has conducted a pilot sustainability assessment for the executive board of the chemistry program ACTS (Advanced Chemical Technologies for Sustainability) of the Netherlands’ Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). These assessments represent prospective, i.e. ’ex-ante’ studies on the production of caprolactam by an improved catalyst and on different hydrogen storage options (i.e. compressed and liquefied hydrogen, storage in metal hydrides and storage in a metal organic framework). The pilot sustainability assessments followed the principles of environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), thereby focusing on non-renewable energy use (NREU) and climate change (GWP100). It was found that caprolactam with the novel catalyst has lower impacts than petrochemical caprolactam production from benzene but higher impacts than bio-based caprolactam produced via fermentation. Regarding hydrogen storage, it was found that compressed and liquid hydrogen have the highest impacts. The impacts of the metal hydrides and the metal organic frameworks show by far the lowest environmental impacts. The main reason is that these materials can be reused up to 1500 times (refilling of tank), while for compressing and liquefaction of hydrogen energy is needed each time a tank needs to be refilled. The study demonstrates the successful application of ex-ante technology assessment.