Data analytics, inclusion, sustainability: new roles multiply in organisations

New roles are multiplying in organisations. Look around your own organisation and you can probably spot some of these new roles: Is there a data analytics manager? An inclusion manager? A sustainability manager? Organisations often struggle with how to best support new roles. New roles do not come with a blueprint, nor can they be copied from other organisations. They have to be built from scratch. Too much structure will stifle creativity and innovation; too much freedom will lead to ambiguity and chaos. This challenge of “how much to tighten and how much to let go”continues to confound organisations

How to ensure success in environmental, social, and governance efforts

Businesses want to address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges but often fail. While organisations’ policies may be well-meaning, they often become decoupled from actual practices. Organisational efforts at change continue to focus on crafting “new and better” policies, but without commensurate attention to the rest of the organisational landscape, which includes internal and external stakeholders. Sukhbir Sandhu, Carol T Kulik, Sanjeewa S Perera, and Sarah A Jarvis developed a framework that works as a roadmap to ensure that ESG change efforts succeed

How to ensure success in environmental, social, and governance efforts

Businesses want to address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges but often fail. While organisations’ policies may be well-meaning, they often become decoupled from actual practices. Organisational efforts at change continue to focus on crafting “new and better” policies, but without commensurate attention to the rest of the organisational landscape, which includes internal and external stakeholders. Sukhbir Sandhu, Carol T Kulik, Sanjeewa S Perera, and Sarah A Jarvis developed a framework that works as a roadmap to ensure that ESG change efforts succeed

Implementing the Circular Economy in Regional South Australia: Identifying Targets and Developing Partnerships

A report prepared for the South Australian Government advising on implementation of circular economies in regional South Australia, including barriers and enablers and recommendations for ways forward

What colours them green? An enquiry into the drivers of corporate environmentalism in business organizations in developing and developed countries

Drawing on perspectives from stakeholder, resource dependence, institutional and the resource based theories and using a multiple-case inductive study, this research reframes the drivers of corporate environmentalism in the context of developing and developed countries. Based on case analysis of 23 environmentally responsive organizations in India and New Zealand, corporate environmentalism in this research has been operationalized as a two level construct. Organizations were categorized as being at first order responsiveness when they were observed to recognize the importance of the natural environment and exhibited attempts to decrease their impact on the natural environment through the adoption of programmes aimed at pollution reduction and prevention, decreased resource consumption and recycling of wastes. Organizations at second order responsiveness were observed to exhibit a higher order commitment in integrating environmental issues into their strategic decision making. This involved strategies such as green product development and initiating projects aimed at industrial ecology. Detailed within and cross case analysis revealed fundamental differences in the drivers that propel business organizations in developing and developed countries to be environmentally responsive at each level. The findings of this study reveal that lax enforcement of environmental regulations in developing countries implied that domestic regulations were not a driving factor for corporate environmentalism. Neither was pressure from consumers or communities reported to be a driving factor. Instead first order environmental responsiveness in organizations in developing countries was observed to be driven by pressure arising out of internationalization. Thus pressure from multinational organizational customers in developed countries and the institutional pressures imposed by the liability of foreignness (that arises when these firms set up subsidiaries in developed countries) drives first order responsiveness in the organizations in developing countries. However higher order environmental responsiveness in organizations in developing countries was observed to be associated with deep rooted identities and capabilities based in social responsiveness. In the context of business organizations in developed countries, the necessity to comply with stringently enforced domestic environmental regulations emerged as the primary driver for first order responsiveness. Societal expectations to comply with environmental regulations reinforce the regulatory drivers. Internationalization drives first order responsiveness in organizations in developed countries to the extent that the requirements of the host country are additional to and exceed current regulatory requirements in the parent country. Higher order corporate environmentalism in organizations in developed countries was observed to be associated with environmentally high impact organizations. Such organizations are considered environmental liabilities and are forced by stakeholders (with access to resource needed for continuity of operations) to exhibit higher order responsiveness or face a cancellation of the license to operate. The major contribution of this research lies in extending and reframing the existing theory about the drivers of corporate environmentalism

Ecosystem Services for Wine Sustainability

This study investigates the concept of ecosystem services in an Australian grapeand wine company and explores risks and opportunities to achieve environmentalsustainability in this organization. Ecosystem service approach is an emergingparadigm to address natural resource degradation and achieve sustainability inagribusiness organizations. A case study method is used to identify environmentalissues at one of the premium wine organizations based in South Australia. Thisstudy conducts semi-structured interviews with multiple informants to analyzehow this organization integrates ecosystem services approach in their managementsystems. These semi-structured interviews with multiple informants identifiedthree categories of environmental issues: (1) primary (water use efficiency,soil health, carbon emissions), (2) secondary (energy, water availability), and (3)tertiary (waste water recycling, salinity in soil, loss of biodiversity, impacts due toclimate change projections, winery waste management, soil carbon). We usedEcosystem Based Business Risk Analysis Tool (EBBRAT) and found freshwateravailability as a major risk for this organization. This tool led to the identificationof key areas, such as biological control of insect pests, maintaining biodiversityand management of soil, as an opportunity for the wine company to enhancesustainability. This study highlights ecosystem service approach to achieve sustainabilityin wine and other agribusiness organizations. This case study isfollowed by two interactive exercises to illustrate the application of the ideasdiscussed in the chapter. The chapter concludes with lessons learnt to developsustainable food systems and some questions that reflect the ideas presented in thechapter and are aimed at shifting the focus toward food sustainabilit

How nation-level background governance conditions shape the economic payoffs of corporate environmental performance

International audiencePurposeCompanies develop and implement environmental initiatives in particular national governance and institutional contexts. The purpose of this paper is to study how the background governance conditions of legal systems, economic policies and national culture enable or impede the relationship between corporate environmental performance (CEP) and lagged corporate financial performance (CFP).Design/methodology/approachThis is an empirical study of 427 MNCs headquartered in 22 different countries. The authors merged data from the SiRi database (generally known as SustainAnalytics now), which contains ratings of stakeholder relations for 427 large corporations with publicly available data from Datastream.FindingsDrawing on the new institutionalism in economics and sociology, the authors show that common-law systems and high economic freedom in a company’s home country tend to strengthen the CEP-CFP link. In addition, the home-country cultural variables of uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and (to a lesser extent) masculinity may impede the deployment of CEP for maximum financial gain at the organizational level. The macrolevel analysis starts to move the field toward an understanding of the particular national governance configurations that provide the most supportive conditions for any CEP-CFP links.Originality/valueOne of the central questions in the field of organizations and the natural environment is about the background conditions that may incentivize and reward firms to be more environmentally responsive. The paper addresses this issue through a nation-level investigation of the background governance conditions that may help or hinder the relationship between CEP and CFP

Sustainability and reputation risk

In this paper, we discuss reputational risk that business organizations face as a consequence of sllstainability issues. Reputational risks - while they are widely prevalent in the more traditional business areas - are however particularly endemic to sustainability issues, especially when organizations mishandle environmental or social concerns. The paper will accordingly focus on expounding the concept of organizational reputation. We then discuss some examples of loss of reputation, due to inappropriate handling of sustainability issues. Next, we discuss stakeholders that are involved in reputational risk management and also touch on the benefits that accrue to organizations that effectively manage these stakeholder relationships. The paper concludes with a discussion on corporate citizenship as a means f managing reputational risks.

Risk management for climate change

This paper commences with a brief explanation of climate change. This is followed by a discllssion of risks that climate change poses to businesses. The paper then examines risk management for climate change in business organizations. This discussion includes inside-out and outside-in strategic framework for managing risks associated with climate change. We argue that climate change risk is a newer form of business risk and involves managing on the edge - especially because of regulatory and market uncertainty. Managers need to develop a strategic tool kit to deal with climate change risks. We conclude with a discussion of the intenlational policies/or dealing with climate change risks, with a particular foclls on the Australian Government 's framework.

Sensemaking of the regulation of windfarm development

New industries are continuously emerging. Legislation is used/or regulating a/these new industries. As a new indusny in South Australia, wind fann development was fast forwarded by the state govemment 's strategic target in renewable energy. In ten years, there were three fires, and the Not-in-My-Backyard (NIMBY) attitude is increasing. We use sensemaking as a research methodology to interpret the cues and examine the anomalies in the South Australian wind jann development. We examine archival analysis oflhe Act and Statutes, using a life cycle framework, to investigate if there is a gap in the legislation. We also examine the usefitlness of life cycle framework as a basis for legislative development in new industries.