Corporate social responsibility in the forest products industry : an issues management approach

Business is a social institution and society has always designated a role for business which has been undergoing changes with changing societal values and paradigms. Thus while business has always had some responsibilities, the modern connotation of the words corporate social responsibility commonly refers to business assuming responsibilities in economic, social and environmental realms. Relevance and acceptance of this view regarding the role of business in society has been increasing and is especially important for sectors such as the forest products industry. However corporate social responsibility in the forest products industry is an under- investigated area, more so, in the US context. To fill this gap, this research investigates corporate social responsibility in the US forest products industry. This is done by first developing a general theoretical foundation about the concept of corporate social responsibility, followed by investigating students' perceptions regarding the success of the US forest products industry in fulfilling its economic, social and environmental responsibilities. These students were drawn from four academic majors at Oregon State University and University of Montana and their perceptions were assessed on items covering economic, social and environmental responsibilities that were developed in Finland. The results suggest that students with different academic majors perceive the US forest products industry's success in fulfilling its economic, social and environmental responsibilities differently. Differences in perceptions were also found between male and female students. Limitations associated with this study led to conducting a broader study by first identifying social and environmental issues associated with the US forest products industry and then assessing the perceptions of general society with regards to industry's performance on these issues. Issues were identified by developing a two stage framework that consists of key-informants interviews and a Delphi group decision-making technique. Societal perceptions were assessed relative to industry perceptions for developing insights into business and society interaction. This was done by developing an issues evaluation framework consisting the legitimacy gap and expectational gaps components. Results suggest that significant legitimacy and expectational gaps exist between societal respondents and industry managers, indicating managerial attention to the social and environmental issues facing the US forest products industry

Preliminarno istraživanje obilježja ekoinovacija i ekodizajna u Sloveniji

Eco-innovation is crucial to Europe’s economic competitiveness; environment-friendly technologies have a positive impact on businesses and contribute to job creation. A survey of perceptions and attitudes about eco-innovation and eco-design among 712 Slovenian enterprises was conducted. The survey included micro, small and medium enterprises, and large companies. Analysis of the survey revealed that eco-design in Slovenia is underexploited. Only approximately 50 % of the 657 respondents have established an innovative environment for sustainable development or support for eco-innovation processes. Based on the survey results, it was concluded that further development and promotion will require comprehensive policies at the local and national levels. Specifically, policy solutions should advocate combining eco-innovation and adopting a life-cycle design approach. These policies could result in the development of successful innovations at a breakthrough level. Eco-innovation and eco-design present Slovenian enterprises with the opportunity to create new markets where they could dominate and prosper. Furthermore, Slovenia could become an important contributor to the European Union goal of becoming a smart, sustainable, and inclusive economy by fully satisfying the objectives of four “Europe 2020” Flagship initiatives, while simultaneously contributing to reducing climate change.Ekoinovacije imaju ključno značenje za ekonomsku konkurentnost Europe; okolišno prihvatljive tehnologije pozitivno utječu na poslovanje poduzeća i pridonose stvaranju novih radnih mjesta. Istraživanje percepcije i stajališta o ekoinovacijama i ekodizajnu provedena su u 712 slovenskih poduzeća. Istraživanjem su obuhvaćena mikropoduzeća, mala i srednja poduzeća te velike tvrtke. Analiza rezultata ankete pokazala je da je ekodizajn u Sloveniji nedovoljno iskorišten. Samo je oko 50 % od 657 anketiranih tvrki uspostavilo inovativno okruženje za održivi razvoj ili uvelo potpore za ekološke inovacijske procese. Na temelju rezultata istraživanja zaključeno je da daljnji razvoj i promocija ekoinovacija i ekodizajna zahtijevaju opsežne politike na lokalnoj i nacionalnoj razini. Naime, politička rješenja trebaju promicati kombinaciju ekoinovacija i usvajanje novog pristupa dizajnu uzimajući u obzir životni ciklus proizvoda. Takve politike mogu dovesti do razvoja uspješnih inovacija. Ekoinovacije i ekodizajn za slovenska su poduzeća prilika za stvaranje novih tržišta na kojima bi mogli dominirati i napredovati. Nadalje, Slovenija bi mogla postati važan čimbenik u ostvarenju težnje europske unije da postane pametno, održivo i inkluzivno gospodarstvo i da u potpunosti zadovolji ciljeve četiriju ključnih inicijativa strategije „Europa 2020”, a da pritom istodobno pridonosi smanjenju klimatskih promjena

Innovation Insights from North American Forest Sector Research: A Literature Review

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.Keywords: forest sector, forest industry, innovativeness, innovatio

Firm Performance, Business Environment, and Outlook for Social and Environmental Responsibility during the Economic Downturn: Findings and Implications from the Forest Sector

The recent economic downturn severely affected the US forest sector from a macro-economic 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 approximately corresponding to the downturn. We also assess industry dynamism and industry’s view about social and environmental responsibility as a competitive tool. We conducted a national survey of wood, furniture and paper companies. Approximately sixty percent 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 non-financial benefits.This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by NRC Research Press and can be found at: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/journal/cjfr

Pure versus hybrid competitive strategies in the forest sector: Performance implications

The extant forest sector strategy research rests on Porter’s classic dictum that successful firms pursue a singular strategy. A growing research stream on organizational ambidexterity, however, challenges this traditional view and recommends the pursuit of hybrid strategies, a phenomenon that we note existing among forest sector firms. In this study, we set out to compare the financial performance of firms pursuing a singular or pure strategy and those pursuing hybrid strategies. We compare whether a differentiation, overall low cost, or hybrid strategy yields higher financial performance. We first deduce our study hypotheses and then test each using data from 441 US-based manufacturing firms drawn from multiple sub-sectors. We find no evidence that a hybrid strategy is a more effective choice towards enhanced firm performance than a singular strategy. We also find that firms pursuing a differentiation strategy are the highest performers while there is little difference in performance of firms pursuing other strategies.Keywords: Cost leadership, Ambidexterity, Business strategy, Differentiation, Financial performanc

Being Good When Not Doing Well: Examining the Effect of the Economic Downturn on Small Manufacturing Firms’ Ongoing Sustainability-Oriented Initiatives

How firms behave under conditions of decline and resource constraints has not been considered in the corporate sustainability literature. This leaves unanswered the question how much we should rely on firms’ sustainability-oriented voluntary initiatives at a time when the global economy continues to be weak and firms face persistent threats of decline. In addressing this question, we first argue that the effect of a decline would be different for peripheral and core initiatives. Using data gathered from 478 small firms representing multiple manufacturing sectors in the US through a survey, we empirically demonstrate that a decline in a firm’s financial performance is associated with a higher decline of peripheral initiatives than of core initiatives. We further found that a decline in peripheral initiatives was even greater when a firm operated in a relatively dynamic context. Contextual dynamism, however, did not affect decline in core initiatives.Keywords: small firms, core–periphery, SMEs, corporate social responsibility (CSR), cost stickiness, community and environmental initiatives, organizational decline, recession, environmental dynamis

Does the Business Case Matter? The Effect of a Perceived Business Case on Small Firms’ Social Engagement

This is an author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by Springer and can be found at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2835-6The business case for social responsibility (BCSR) is one of the most widely studied topics in the business and society literature that focuses on large firms. This attention is understandable because large firms have an obligation to shareholders who, as commonly assumed, seek to maximize returns on their investments, in turn, pressing corporate managers to show that firms’ expenditures in social engagement would pay off. Small firms, on the other hand, rarely face such pressures, yet the BCSR logic is increasingly applied to small firms as well. Our primary objective in this paper is to examine whether and how much do small firm owners’ perceptions of BCSR affect the firm’s social engagement. In finding a fine-grained answer to those questions, we consider BCSR as a two-dimensional construct consisting of tangible and intangible benefits, and also integrate the BCSR perspective with the slack resource perspective to offer a motivation-capacity lens to examine firm’s social engagement. Drawing on a multi-industry sample of 478 small firms in the US, we find that while small firm owners’ perceptions about potential tangible benefits of social engagement are not related to the firm’s social engagement, perceptions about potential intangible are positively related. Firm’s financial performance is also positively related to its social engagement, but there is no interaction between potential benefits and financial performance. This study contributes to an improved understanding about small firms’ social engagement, which still remains an understudied area. Our results are in line with studies which argue that firms’ social engagement is a response to institutional factors

Catalyzing Public and Private Investments to Scale Up Socio-Bioeconomy and Nature-Based Solutions

Socio-bioeconomy presents a promising approach to sustainable development by leveraging biological and social diversity to transition away from a fossil fuel dependent economy while simultaneously creating income and employment opportunities for millions of Indigenous and rural communities worldwide. Because the bioeconomy values the sustainable utilization of renewable biological resources, nature-based solutions (NbS), which are a facet of the socio-bioeconomy, gain increasing prominence. Socio-bioeconomy requires substantial investmentsfrom both public and private sectors to develop effective socio-biodiversity production systems. Socio-bioeconomy development will require improved institutional coordination, robust planning, and novel methodologies to measure trade-offs as well as promote synergies that can generate scale gains while preserving ecosystem services. This Policy Brief aims to propose a comprehensive framework for investment governance aligned with socio-bioeconomy, offering specific policy recommendations that G20 countries can adopt and help promote globally. The goal of this contribution is to foster a just development of the socio-bioeconomy by ensuring the rights of communities in accessing natural resources and participating in policymaking processes, and an investment climate that places socio-bioeconomy at the forefront of the development agenda at a global scale