Realising the vision of Integrated Reporting: A critical viewpoint

The purpose of this paper is firstly to determine whether the International Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework is sufficiently robust to act as the guide for the IR movement. The secondary purpose is to speculate on the constraints that IR will face on its journey towards achieving the aims and vision of the IIRC (International Integrated Reporting Council). The paper is written in the form of a critical viewpoint, and will engage with the relevant academic literature and industry-led initiatives to achieve its objectives. The main finding of this paper is that the potential of the International Framework towards achieving its objectives lies more with the way it is applied than the way it was written. Academic literature does however highlight a number of potential constraints that will have to be overcome if integrated reporting is to achieve its long-term vision of financial stability and sustainability

Restoring degraded landscapes : assessing the utility of biodiversity offsets for the business sector in Africa

Increasing pressure for the conversion of tropical and sub-tropical wetlands and forests to alternative land usage raises the possibility that biodiversity offsets will increasingly take centre stage in biodiversity conservation planning and ecosystem restoration discourses. This article explores the major discourses on and utility of biodiversity offsets in the African context with a view to identifying and articulating some of the challenges and opportunities evident in attempts to operationalise the concept in practice. The discussion establishes that as intuitively pleasing as they have become in recent years, with potentially large benefits expected to be derived from offset initiatives, several significant hurdles need to be overcome for them to become well established practice in Africa. For instance, some observers have argued strongly that, in practice, land use and wetland mitigation in most countries have come nowhere near achieving the goal of ‘no-net-loss’. There are also enduring questions about the credibility of the formulae used to calculate net-losses and net-gains in biodiversity offset schemes. In the light of these and other outstanding questions, the article concludes that biodiversity offsets may seem simple but are much more complex to design and implement to the extent that they become really convincing as a conservation tool for businesses in Africa.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rars202016-06-18hb201

Market barriers for voluntary climate change mitigation in the South African private sector

A key challenge in the twenty-first century is to enable economic growth and increase both environmental quality and social inclusiveness, while mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change. The need for a transition to more sustainable consumption and production patterns is undeniable and sustainable economic growth must be placed at the heart of future development for all citizens. The South African private sector is under enormous pressure to remain globally competitive while balancing the interests of society, the environment and its shareholders. It has been suggested that there are discrepancies between what companies say and what they actually do, as they are challenged to move from policy to action. This paper evaluates the extent to which the private sector in South Africa adheres to voluntary climate change mitigation mechanisms and identifies potential market barriers impeding the large-scale uptake of such mechanisms. The research findings suggest that the private sector in South Africa has adopted a “take position, wait and see approach” which places them in a position to take advantage of and influence the opportunities and risks associated with climate change without having a negative impact on the bottom line. The primary barrier to voluntary climate change action is the vagueness of local and international policy frameworks. The different rules and resultant uncertainty around local and international frameworks appear to impede consistent and meaningful action. Although this uncertainty does not prevent the private sector from taking voluntary action, it does appear to negatively affect the overall scale and type of climate change mitigation efforts. While companies are continually improving the quality of sustainability reporting and public disclosure, the challenge still lies in translating these strategies into daily operations and sustainable practice that goes beyond ad hoc mitigation actions.http://www.sajems.org/am201

RSCL onto-epistemology and practice approach to reconceptualise responsible leadership theory

DATA AVAILABILITY : Transcripts are confidential and are kept with the University of Pretoria because of ethical commitments made to the interviewees.PURPOSE : This article explores how the relational social constructionist leadership (RSCL) ontology and epistemology, as well as the practice approach, could be employed to reconceptualise the responsible leadership theory. DESIGN : This paper presents a literature review on the responsible leadership and relational leadership theories. It also reviews literature on the RSCL onto-epistemology as its theoretical framework and the practice approach as its methodology. The empirical analysis that is underlined by the abductive mode of enquiry is based on nine interviews with leaders from the Twende Mbele (TM) African Partnership for Monitoring and Evaluation. FINDINGS : The findings comprise one main theme (relational leadership practice of interest) called identifying. Identifying constitutes five sub-themes (intersecting relational leadership practices): context identity, gender identity, government identity, language identity and champions identity. Recommendations to reconceptualise responsible leadership theory are based on the discussion of the findings. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS : The findings could enhance the quality, intentionality and practicality of inter-organisational leadership stakeholder engagement strategies. The social construction of leaders as role models, in the form of cultivating their identity as champions beyond the internal positional leaders, could be practiced by business leaders in other organisational settings to champion social-relationality and ethics-orientation in society in line with the core tenets of responsible leadership theory. ORIGINALITY/VALUE : The RSCL onto-epistemology and the practice approach methodology provide conceptual tools to advance responsible leadership theory from a leader-centric focus to the collective domain of leadership research by using leadership practices as the unit of analysis.http://www.sajbm.orgam2024Business ManagementNon

South African renewable energy investment barriers: An investor perspective

As recently as the year 2010, renewable energy contributed less than 1% of all the energy sources in South Africa. Possible reasons include the lack of private sector investment in Renewable Energy technologies. By way of a structured interview methodology, this paper explores the reasons why private investors are reluctant to invest in renewables. The responses point to political, economic, social and technological barriers limiting private investment in renewable energy. Other barriers that were identified include poverty, low levels of education, limited technological readiness and access to the electricity grid. Some of these barriers are specific to the South African context. The paper concludes that a closer relationship between government and the private sector is required to stimulate innovation in the renewable energy sector

South African renewable energy investment barriers : an investor perspective

As recently as the year 2010, renewable energy contributed less than 1% of all the energy sources in South Africa. Possible reasons include the lack of private sector investment in Renewable Energy technologies. By way of a structured interview methodology, this paper explores the reasons why private investors are reluctant to invest in renewables. The responses point to political, economic, social and technological barriers limiting private investment in renewable energy. Other barriers that were identified include poverty, low levels of education, limited technological readiness and access to the electricity grid. Some of these barriers are specific to the South African context. The paper concludes that a closer relationship between government and the private sector is required to stimulate innovation in the renewable energy sector.http://www.erc.uct.ac.za/jesa/jesa-contents.htmam201

Followership : a review of current and emerging research

PURPOSE : Over time, the role of followers within leadership discourse has gained greater status, leading to followers being acknowledged as significant actors in the leadership process. This has led to the development of follower-centric leadership studies, as well as the more emergent research area of followership, with followership research having the specific intention to find out about followers from the perspective of followers. In this paper, the authors provide a review of role-based followership approaches, and implicit leadership and followership theories as a basis to build a case for follower implicit followership theories (FIFTs) as a focus area for future research. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH : The authors conducted a review of seminal and current role-based followership literature, with a specific focus on FIFTs and followership studies conducted within the African context. FINDINGS : Implicit theories have been an area of leadership research that has added much value, and as such could do the same for development of followership research. FIFTs as a research area are nascent and, as such, should continue to be explored in order to expand our understanding of followership. ORIGINALITY/VALUE : To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first literature reviews to have a specific focus on FIFTs, as well as on followership research conducted within the African context.https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0143-7739hj2022Business Managemen

An analysis of the prominence of corporate governance in South African media for the period 1990-2012

Sound corporate governance is a key driver for sustainable business performance, particularly for companies in developing countries. Since the media fulfils an important function in developing discourse regarding the role of business in society, we investigate the role that the South African print media has played to place corporate governance on the public agenda, and report on the level to which the term corporate governance and related topics appeared in the South African print media from 1990 to 2012. Based on agenda setting theory, we present a descriptive statistical analysis of the frequency (first level agenda setting) as well as the tonality (second level agenda setting) of corporate governance in selected South African print media over the 22-year period. Our findings suggest that while corporate governance has gained prominence in the media over the period of analysis, media reporting on this and related issues have a predominantly negative balanced tonality. We conclude that the print media is not yet sufficiently setting the agenda and breaching the public’s awareness threshold to substantially foster ethical corporate behaviour. Recommendations for further research are discussed.Ernst & Young and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/default.asp?ContentID=7am2016Business Managemen

Corporate citizenship around the world : what happens in South Africa?

The meaning and status of corporate citizenship (CC) in South Africa has been influenced by the country's history of inequality and injustice. In the broadest sense, CC refers to the role of business in society and it entails the contribution of business to sustainable development

Corporate responsibility : becoming a corporate citizen

Large corporate multinationals are a driving force behind corporate citizenship today around the globe. But their motivations for doing so and the influence of other actors vary significantly depending on the regional context. The environment and concerns about global climate change now top the list of corporate citizenship issues in all nations. Countries share concern over a number of other issues such as product safety and working conditions, but the priority given to other issues varies depending on geography