Governance maturity grid: a transition method for integrating sustainability into companies?

Abstract

System innovation for sustainability requires innovation in corporate governance. Social, ecological, economic, territorial and governance dimensions of sustainability are explored and a set of sustainability principles are integrated into a governance maturity grid. This grid enables both the assessment and the improvement of current strategic and operational practices regarding sustainability. It has been implemented in two industrial companies. As a result, it promotes senior management's reflection on their current strategies regarding value creation systems, and supports them in the definition of their sustainable strategies and the means of achieving them. This study is designed for businesses and presents a tool under development to support organizational innovation for system sustainability.

Local Value Creation and Eco-design: A New Paradigm

“…Since the early industrial revolution, the business value creation factors slightly evolved from an industrial economy, through the optimization of production systems, to a market economy, through the minimization of production costs and marketing, and finally to a service economy, through a combination of high value services with low-cost goods [1]. Beside all the benefits it brought, the globalized economy, the mass consumption and the economic growth paradigms are major contributors to the current system crisis: environmental, social, economic or financial [2].…”

“…The reflection perimeter may be defined by two complementary approaches [1]. The first one 'administrative' consider business as an entity of a larger system.…”

“…Allais et al [1] highlight that the integration of territorial resources into product development process requires a deep evolution in strategic processes. They also underline that the use of both tangible and intangible territorial resources has the potential to improve the overall performance of a company and its territory [16].…”

A sustainable governance model to prevent corporate corruption: Integrating anticorruption practices, corporate strategy and business processes

“…These factors are supposed to be the main pillars in implementing an integrated meta‐management framework for anticorruption. The factors are developed from the AST experience and are supported by the literature on the comprehensive anticorruption frameworks (Adeyeye, ; Luo, ; van Erp et al, ), meta‐management framework (Asif et al, , ; Stiles & Uhl, ), ESG integration frameworks (Asif et al, ; Baumgartner & Ebner, ; Eccles et al, ; Whitelock, ; Yu et al, ) and the sustainable governance concept (Aghion et al, ; Allais et al, ; Elkington, ; Lombardi et al, ; Lozano & Huisingh, ; Maglio et al, ; Sánchez et al, ; Schrippe & Duarte Ribeiro, ; Shahzad et al, ). These key success factors have been developed for each step in the Framework (Figure ).…”

“…Government bodies are also actively involved in anticorruption actions (e.g., the Council of Europe Group of States against Corruption). Thus, international organisations and governmental bodies are promoting the concept of sustainable corporate governance (SCG), supporting companies in meeting their own expectations, integrating internal and external stakeholders into the decision‐making process, meeting social expectations through participatory democracy and undertaking the systematic adoption of intangible capital in both strategic and operational governance (Allais, Roucoules, & Reyes, ; Lombardi et al, ). The main peculiarity of SCG is an appropriate balance between managing organisations for shareholders and all stakeholders (Aghion, Caroli, & Garcia‐Penalosa, ; Allais et al, ; Elkington, ; Hart, ; Lombardi et al, ; Lozano, ; Lozano & Huisingh, ; Maglio et al, ; Schrippe & Duarte Ribeiro, ), safeguarding the environment and collectivity.…”