Where are they now? tracking the longitudinal evolution of environmental businesses from the 1990s

In 1991 Steven Bennett published one of the first major publications on the concept of ecopreneurship, business opportunities resulting from the emerging environmental agenda of the late 1980s and early 1990s (Ecopreneuring: the Complete Guide to Small Business Opportunities From the Environmental Revolution. Wiley: New York). Since then a body of literature has developed that explores the idea of the intersection of entrepreneurship with environmentally and socially responsible behaviour. Many of the business cases presented by Bennett represent early adopters of green products, services and emerging eco-markets. Given the current emphasis on the transformation of business practices towards a more sustainable paradigm it is timely to review these 94 early ecopreneurial examples and consider their status two decades on from the original publication. This paper explores the definitions of environmental and social enterprise, and considers the longitudinal survival of these companies and the emerging trends in consolidation and failure of the sampled companies. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Strategisch gestaltbares Verhältnis

Die wirtschaftliche und strategische Relevanz der Ökologie wird zumeist unterschätzt. Die Ökologie kann sowohl als unerwünschter Nachteil oder Bedrohung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit als auch als erwünschter Vorteil und Chance erscheinen. Diese Ambivalenz läßt sich auf operativer wie auch auf strategischer Handlungsebene feststellen und führt zu entsprechend unterschiedlichen Strategien

Die vernachlässigte strategische Dimension

Moderne Managementkonzepte gehen davon aus, dass Führungsentscheide in Unternehmen unterschiedliche Ebenen der Komplexität und Reichweite gleichzeitig berücksichtigen müssen. Ziele und Maßnahmen sind daher nicht nur auf operativer, sondern auch auf strategischer Ebene zu verorten, wenn sie Erfolg haben sollen. Dies gilt auch für Umweltmanagementsysteme. Eine Typologie ihrer möglichen strategischen Dimensionen kann hier weiterhelfen. Sie wird an empirischen Beispielen illustriert

Implementing sustainability in multi-tier supply chains: strategies and contingencies in managing sub-suppliers

Buying firms must pay increased attention to supply chain sustainability issues, as stakeholders might hold them responsible for non-sustainable supply chain activities. Frequently, sustainability problems occur upstream at the sub-supplier level. Building on the literature on multi-tier supply chains (MSCs), we investigated the sustainability management strategies of buying firms in the food, apparel, packaging, and consumer electronics with regard to second-tier suppliers and beyond. In particular, we analyzed seven cases of global MSCs and found four different characteristic MSC types—open, closed, third party, and “don't bother”. We identified three main factors—supply chain complexity, the sustainability management capabilities of the first-tier supplier, and the type of sustainability in focus (i.e., environmental or social sustainability)—that determine when and how buying firms actually extend their sustainability strategies to their sub-suppliers

Assessing the economic performance of an environmental sustainable supply chain in reducing environmental externalities

This study investigates the mechanism that motivates supply chain firms to reduce environmental ex- ternalities while balancing the economic feasibility of the supply chain system under environmentally constrained circumstances in a competitive market. Taking government policy incentives into account, a quantitative model of an integrated supply chain that incorporates sustainable constraints is formu- lated to optimize supply chain firms’ operational strategies of producing environmental friendly products (EFPs). This study contributes to the literature with a better understanding the interplay and interrelation of multiple sustainable constraints and their impact on supply chain firms’ collaborative decisions. Our findings suggest that the decisions of operating EFPs are subject to sustainable constraints and that the government policy incentives play a dominant role overseeing supply chain firms’ environmental behav- iors toward sustainability

Motivations Behind Sustainable Purchasing

Sustainability issues in purchasing are receiving greater attention. Literature is rapidly growing, with several research programs being initiated to investigate the topic. This study presents the results of a research project which aims to reveal and structure the motivating forces leading companies to make efforts in sustainability purchasing and the means used to attain achievements in some fields of sustainability. Results presented in the literature are scattered in terms of the fields of sustainability: most of the studies focus only on green or corporate social responsibility issues and there is a lack of exploratory models. Sustainability in purchasing is addressed in a comprehensive way including green, social responsibility and corporate growth issues. After presenting the results of a literature review, theoretical development was undertaken to create a framework in which it is possible to describe the means of sustainability applied and the motivating forces behind them. This framework serves as the basis for an empirical investigation among Hungarian companies. Empirical results confirm the usefulness of the theoretical framework: the number and the characteristics of sustainability activities were determined by the particular types of motivation – to avoid negative effects, to achieve compliance with expectations and to attain positive effects

Procuring sustainably in social housing: The role of social capital

In order to explore its many complexities, scholars have called for a move beyond, descriptions of sustainable procurement. This study responds by seeking insights into sustainable procurement through the lens of social capital theory. Social capital is conceptualized as comprising cognitive, social and relational elements. Sustainable procurement is seen as a means of pursuing environmental, economic and social goals through the purchasing and supply process. The study, proposes and empirically tests the operational measures of social capital and their relationship with, sustainable procurement activity on a sample of 135 procurement professionals in organizations, providing social housing. The results indicate partial support for the study proposition; structural, social capital, rather than structural, social and relational taken together, is found to be the most robust predictor of sustainable procurement. The results highlight the importance of broadening, collaboration models for sustainable procurement beyond an exclusive focus on dyadic relations. It, also demonstrates that this broader engagement with other stakeholders focused on knowledge creation, as well as knowledge sharing, is a significant contributor to sustainable procurement activity. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd

Short-term versus long-term benefits: balanced sustainability framework and research propositions

Sustainability research has been expanding rapidly during recent decades. Such research takes various forms with the identification of mixed results. Even though there are several review articles on sustainability with valuable insights, the time dimension aspect of sustainability is totally missing in addition to lack of well-developed framework. This paper systematically reviews previous sustainability studies published in the refereed scientific journals for the past two decades to understand the evolution of sustainability issues in the business context and solutions proposed until now. The study categorizes the popular sustainability practices into short- and long-term practices based on the time effect, and link them with different forms of organizational capabilities and sustainability performance. The paper further proposes a two-dimensional sustainability framework that incorporates practices, capabilities and performance, and the balancing issues between short- and long-term sustainability. At the end, it suggests potential research directions for future research as well