Business as environmental steward: the growth of greening

Abstract

PurposeBusiness initiatives that improve environmental impact are increasing in number and the trend continues to accelerate. However, there is a growing consensus that transformations to protect the environment and conserve natural resources should be more pervasive and much larger steps than those already being taken are needed. Among the difficult challenges that business leaders and practitioners face today is to understand the driving forces that encourage environmental sustainability in the context of their own operation. This work articulates the key drivers of “green” activities that support environmental stewardship, and their relevance to business management.Design/methodology/approachEnvironmental stewardship is positioned as a growth area, business leaders are already taking action to apply environmental sustainability principles, and each key driver of environmental stewardship is discussed separately. A rationale for each driver is provided, business management implications are articulated, and real world cases for what businesses are actually doing in the marketplace are described.FindingsThis work defines the drivers of environmental stewardship for business leaders, and connects those drivers directly to management implications and real world, actual cases of business activity. With this approach and framework, businesses can easily use the same approach to identify which drivers they are responding to, and which others may have gaps that represent a competitive risk if no action is taken.Originality/valueBusiness leaders and practitioners can use insights provided in this work to better understand the driving forces behind environmental improvement actions, and better align their own initiatives to achieve higher business value and environmental stewardship. Without understanding the driving forces behind their actions, businesses are likely to sub‐optimize their transformation initiatives and fail to realize the expected value.

From Iran: Does Improvement in Corporate Environmental Performance Affect Corporate Risk Taking?

“…There is an increasing interest in CEP today, especially with regard to climate change and weather pollution (Olson, ). Many theoretical and conceptual topics have been derived from the stakeholder theory (Donaldson & Preston, ; Jones, ), which suggests an inverse relationship between CEP and firm risk.…”

Korporativna Društvena Odgovornost U Funkciji Unapređenja Imidža Brenda

“…Svest potrošača se potpuno promenila, pogotovo kada gledamo njihove obrasce ponašanja i kupovine, što može značajno da utiče na profitabilnost kompanije. Uz sve to treba dodati i činjenicu da su kupci postali zahtevniji i da vrše pritisak na kompanija da menjaju i transformišu svoje poslovne aktivnosti kako bi smanjili svoj uticaj na okolinu [4].…”

Crise de abastecimento de água em São Paulo e falta de planejamento estratégico

“…Prosseguiram com discussões sobre como as estratégias de responsabilidade socioambientais poderiam gerar valor para as empresas (Waddock;Graves, 1997) ou se constituir em vantagem competitiva (Sharma;Vredenburg, 1998). Na década seguinte, as estratégias ambientais foram ganhando espaço com a discussão sobre eco e socioeficiência e equidade ecológica (Dyllick;Hockerts, 2002), oferecendo orientação aos executivos e estrategistas de negócios (Olson, 2009). Mais recentemente, estudos de caso sobre estratégias ambientais começaram a ganhar destaque em publicações como o Journal of Business strategy (Bonn;Fisher, 2011), assim como novos modelos para o desenvolvimento de estraté-gias ambientais de amplo alcance (Galpin;Whittington, 2012).…”