Sustainability has become an important guiding principle that has not only found its way into numerous policies, but also into the "engine rooms" of governance. Governments and administrations have ...established diverse governance arrangements orienting state actions towards sustainability. How does this integration of sustainability into governmental and administrative activity succeed? This paper proposes an instrument for the measurement and comparison of sustainability-oriented internal governance capacity and operationalizes it in the context of Swiss cantons. The application of the measurement tool documents the diversity of governance arrangements and their different capacities. It shows where, and how, the sustainability governance of governments and administrations can be further strengthened.
Sustainability represents a hotly debated topic at the scientific, doctrinal, social and political levels. We often hear or can read that sustainability, although not implemented by various ...categories of entities, physical or legal, is very widespread thanks to the communication that has been implemented in recent years. A survey of 22,000 unlisted small, medium and large companies located in the 27 states of the European Union and the 51 states of the U.S.A sought to ascertain whether what is said or read about sustainability is true. The results confirm how there is a huge gap between what is written about sustainability and what companies implement regarding this issue. From the above-mentioned research it could be seen that many companies implement socalled green washing by carrying out a substantial scam, which, however, cannot be prosecuted because this scam is carried out in a very refined way so as to make any complaint impossible (e.g., the word green and blue labels are used a lot because, psychologically, this induces the consumer to believe that the product is organic). The research also found that most companies perceive the relevance of sustainability but sacrifice it on the altar of profit. In fact, many companies say that they talk to their stakeholders about sustainability except that they do not implement sustainable policies mainly because of costs. The solution to this situation can only be identified in an increased culture of sustainability, both at the corporate and personal level. Only when companies and each person understands the relevance of sustainability, will it be possible to see a change in the situation from the research implemented in Europe and the US. As long as such a culture is not widely spread, any argument deepened by doctrine will not be taken up by companies and will remain an academic exercise implemented by scholars of a topic that will remain only theoretical and will not have a corporate operational application.
This paper presents an analysis of the literature concerning the impact of corporate sustainability on corporate financial performance. The relationship between corporate sustainable practices and ...financial performance has received growing attention in research, yet a consensus remains elusive. This paper identifies developing trends and the issues that hinder conclusive consensus on that relationship. We used content analysis to examine the literature and establish the current state of research. A total of 132 papers from top-tier journals are shortlisted. We find that 78% of publications report a positive relationship between corporate sustainability and financial performance. Variations in research methodology and measurement of variables lead to the divergent views on the relationship. Furthermore, literature is slowly replacing total sustainability with narrower corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is dominated by the social dimension of sustainability, while encompassing little to nothing of environmental and economic dimensions. Studies from developing countries remain scarce. More research is needed to facilitate convergence in the understanding of the relationship between corporate sustainable practices and financial performance.
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