The Business of Sustainability : Building Industry Cases for Corporate Sustainability

Most academics and certainly most sustainability managers agree that research on the "business case" for sustainability has been very inconclusive. In fact many have simply decided that the business case for sustainability is elusive. This book goes further than ever before in trying to be more specific about the economic rationale for corporate sustainability, by approaching this issue on an industry-specific level. To do this, empirical evidence was gathered from managers in nine industries, along with their stakeholders, during an extensive and ambitious research project. The book gives a detailed and representative insight of the business case in the nine sectors but also a unique cross-industry perspective on this issue. Cover......Page 2 Contents......Page 7 List of Tables......Page 9 List of Figures......Page 10 List of Boxes......Page 12 Acknowledgements......Page 13 Foreword......Page 17 Preface......Page 19 Part I: Building a Business Case: General Findings, Observations and Lessons Learned......Page 21 1 Corporate Sustainability: The New Catch Phrase?......Page 23 2 Searching for and Building a Business Case......Page 25 3 Cross-Industry Research Findings......Page 31 4 Assessment of the Business Case......Page 81 Part II: Industry Reports......Page 93 5 The Automotive Industry......Page 95 6 The Aviation Industry......Page 119 7 The Energy Industry......Page 144 8 The Financial Services Industry......Page 172 9 The Food and Beverage Industry......Page 198 10 The Pharmaceutical Industry......Page 219 Appendix 1 Environmental Issues......Page 242 Appendix 2 Social Issues......Page 244 Appendix 3 Key Terms and Management Issues......Page 246 A......Page 248 C......Page 249 D......Page 250 E......Page 251 F......Page 252 K......Page 253 O......Page 254 R......Page 255 S......Page 256 U......Page 257 X......Page 258 Annotation The result of an extensive and intensive research project carried out in a groundbreaking partnership between a conservation NGO (WWF) and a top European business school (IMD), the contents of this book reveal the economic logic behind corporate sustainability in a total of nine key industry sectors, 'big sinners' included. Unparalleled access to global companies through corporate membership of IMD's research initiative - the Forum for Corporate Sustainability Management - allowed IMD researchers to ground their research in the reality of perceptions and attitudes of both sustainability and other business managers within companies. This completely new approach to understanding the business case for sustainability has lead to a never-before attempted comparative scrutiny of the business case for sustainability across industries, and a product that managers can actually use: a set of practical diagnostic tools for managers Annotation Most academics and certainly most sustainability managers agree that research on the "business case" for sustainability has been very inconclusive. In fact many have simply decided that the business case for sustainability is elusive. This book goes further than ever before in trying to be more specific about the economic rationale for corporate sustainability, by approaching this issue on an industry-specific level. To do this, empirical evidence was gathered from managers in nine industries, along with their stakeholders, during an extensive and ambitious research project. The book gives a detailed and representative insight of the business case in the nine sectors but also a unique cross-industry perspective on this issue. Most academics and certainly most sustainability managers agree that research on the 'business case' for sustainability has been very inconclusive. In fact many have simply decided that the business case for sustainability is elusive. This book goes further than ever before in trying to be more specific about the economic rationale for corporate sustainability, by approaching this issue on an industry specific level. To do this, empirical evidence was gathered from managers in nine industries, along with their stakeholders, during an extensive and ambitious research project. The book gives a detailed and representative insight of the business case in the nine sectors but also a unique cross industry perspective on this issue MARC BRUNNER Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany OLIVER ECHELMANN Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany ACHIM GEBEL Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany HANS-JRG HESS Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany AILEEN IONESCU-SOMERS Researcher, Forum for Corporate Sustainability Management, IMD, Switzerland and University College Cork, Ireland OLIVER SALZMANN Researcher, Forum for Corporate Sustainability Management, IMD, Switzerland and Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany MARKET 1: Practitioners in companies interested in implementing a business case for sustainability; Lecturers, Researchers, Libraries etc, in Universities and Business and Management Schools, especially in Business Ethics Part I. Building a business case : general findings, observations and lessons learned Part II. Industry reports. The automotive industry / Marc Brunner ; The aviation industry / Achim Gebel ; The energy industry / Oliver Salzmann ; The financial services industry / Hans-Jörg Hess ; The food and beverage industry / Aileen Ionescu-Somers ; The pharmaceutical industry / Oliver Eckelmann. Approaching the issue at an industry-specific level, this book addresses the problems of corporate sustainability. Using empirical evidence from managers in nine industries, it gives a detailed and representative insight into cross-industry perspectives