Corporate net-zero carbon emission pledges abound and so does skepticism about the results they could deliver. Three approaches proposed here can ensure these pledges alleviate, rather than ...aggravate, the climate crisis.
Corporate transparency is an aspirational ideal that is very difficult to achieve because organizations can never be completely transparent. As a result, effective management of transparency requires ...managers to carefully balance transparency with the need for secrecy. This article describes the complex nature of transparency and demonstrates how attempts to balance transparency with secrecy result in three different kinds of transparency—rationalized, ceremonial, and decontextualized. Effective transparency management requires managers to avoid simply dumping information, use new technology strategically, engage their audiences creatively, avoid overpromising and underdelivering, and attend carefully to how transparency is measured.
Supply-chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are of unparalleled magnitude because of a confluence of circumstances: a sudden rise in demand for some products, unforeseen shifts in demand ...points, supply shortages, a logistical crisis, and an unprecedentedly quick recovery in major economies. This article maps the changes that will occur in supply-chain planning and management in a post-COVID-19 world. It also reflects on the articles included in this special issue and draws key conclusions about how configurations of global supply chains might change. Automation and digitalization are likely to play a key role in these transitions.
Implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in supply chains is not a trivial task. In fact, many firms in recent years have publicly proclaimed that in order to keep their CSR commitments, ...they had to reduce reliance on external suppliers by vertically integrating their operations. Our aim in this article is to examine whether there is truly a relationship between a firm’s CSR performance and its level of vertical integration. Drawing on a multi-industry sample of 2,715 firm-year observations, and after addressing endogeneity concerns, we demonstrate that firms with higher CSR performance tend to vertically integrate more (or, outsource less). We also demonstrate that this tendency is weaker for firms that have higher degrees of asset specificity or international diversification. Our core conclusion is that CSR performance and outsourcing are at odds, but firms can reconcile this tension by deepening their collaborations with suppliers.
Can mandated adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) improve firm value? Most CSR adoption is purely voluntary. However, governments regularly encourage CSR adoption with soft regulations ...that vary from simply endorsing and symbolically supporting CSR to requiring the adoption of specific practices. Governments have resisted fully mandating CSR because there is some concern universally that mandated CSR may reduce firm value. There is, however, no empirical clarity as to whether mandated CSR impedes or improves firm value. We address this uncertainty by analyzing the effects of the mandated adoption of CSR that the government of India legislated in 2014. Drawing on a sample of 1,526 publicly traded firms and deploying a combinative analytical framework comprising an event study, regression discontinuity design, and a difference-in-differences technique, we conclude that India’s CSR mandate did, in fact, increase value for all firms bound by the mandate. This value-enhancing effect was greater for foreign firms relative to domestic firms. Our results refute previous research showing that India’s CSR mandate diminished firm value.
Due to their massive resources and global reach, businesses could contribute immensely to global efforts to reduce biodiversity loss. Within the last few years, businesses have indeed shown interest ...in biodiversity conservation. However, their current efforts are too limited and perfunctory to be consequential for achieving the
2050 vision for biodiversity
. This article proposes the following five distinct yet mutually reinforcing strategies for bringing about transformative change in how businesses can contribute substantively to biodiversity conservation: (i) making biodiversity protection every business’s business—i.e., incentivizing micro, small, and medium enterprises alongside large corporations to adopt biodiversity conservation measures, (ii) giving biodiversity a central stage in the corporate sustainability discourse—i.e., correcting the carbon tunnel vision of corporate sustainability, (iii) holding companies accountable for biodiversity impacts across their entire supply-chains, (iv) developing biodiversity-friendly organizational cultures so that employees become biodiversity champions, and (v) creating third-party certifications to benchmark and evaluate biodiversity-friendly business practices. Effective implementation of these five strategies will require voluntary commitment from companies and enabling regulations.
The recent economic downturn severely affected the US forest sector from a macroeconomic perspective but little is known about changes in firm-level performance. In this study we investigate the ...changes in financial, social and environmental performance of forest sector firms during a period that approximately corresponds to the downturn. We also assess industry dynamism and industryâs view about social and environmental responsibility as a competitive tool. We conducted a national survey of wood, furniture, and paper companies. Approximately 60% of our respondents reported a decline in financial performance during the downturn. With respect to social and environmental performance, customer-oriented actions show mixed trends, employee matters remained somewhat unaltered, community engagement significantly decreased, and engagement in environmental activities significantly increased. Respondents view their operating business environment as highly dynamic and difficult and they do not view engagement in social and environmental responsibility activities leading to either financial or nonfinancial benefits.
The promise of increased industry competitiveness through innovation has driven interest in innovation by industry managers, policy makers and academicians. Forest sector researchers have produced a ...strong body of work in recent years. This article provides a review of work originating in North America during the period 2000–2013. The review includes 28 journal articles focused on the forest sector in the U.S. and Canada. Seven important themes from the literature are identified and discussed: defining innovation and innovativeness; measuring innovativeness; factors influencing innovativeness; new product development; climate/culture; innovation systems; and innovativeness and firm performance. The positive culture and climate within a company has a clear connection to improved innovativeness and firm performance. Generally, findings describing the culture of the forest sector show a conservative group that fails to sufficiently invest in innovativeness and innovation. Culture change presents a significant opportunity within the industry to strive toward the improved development of new products, processes and business systems to reap the rewards of improved performance. The implications for managers and researchers are outlined.
When comprehensive and accurate data on diversity and representation is available, it significantly enhances our understanding of business challenges, thereby bolstering policy decisions and strategy ...formulation across all organizational tiers. Using the U.S. forest sector as a case study, we illustrate that there are significant gaps in diversity and representation within the private forest sector, particularly in terms of gender and race. These disparities exist across various domains and categories, including different forest industries, job roles, and business ownership structures. Our analysis brings to light the inadequacies of the current workforce data, emphasizing their limitations in keeping pace with the changing socio-economic landscape. We examine these areas of oversight and emphasize the profound implications they have for guiding both research and practices aimed at cultivating a sustainable and inclusive workforce.
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