Corporate Sustainability Management in the Energy Sector (eBook)

An Empirical Contigency Approach

Oliver Salzmann (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2008 | 2008
XX, 355 Seiten
Betriebswirtschaftlicher Verlag Gabler
978-3-8349-8132-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Oliver Salzmann provides a comprehensive view on corporate sustainability management in companies such as Shell and RWE and develops a model for the systematization of strategic, thus profit-oriented, corporate sustainability management.

Dr. Oliver Salzmann promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Ulrich Steger am Institut für Technologie und Management der TU Berlin. Er war zu dieser Zeit als Research Associate am IMD in Lausanne tätig. Zurzeit arbeitet er als Vertriebsingenieur in der Solarbranche.

Inhalt

Preface 6
List of contents 7
List of abbreviations 11
List of figures 12
List of charts 14
List of tables 16
List of regression tables 17
1 Introduction 19
1.1 Research field 19
1.2 Structure 20
1.3 Intended contributions 22
2 Theoretical foundation and concepts 25
2.1 Contingency theory 25
2.2 CSM and related theoretical frameworks 26
2.3 Key concepts 34
3 Review of empirical literature 43
3.1 Determinants of CSM 44
3.2 CSM 48
3.3 Outcomes 53
3.4 Summary and research gaps 54
4 Conceptual rationale and research questions 55
5 Method 61
5.1 Selection of suitable method 62
5.2 Instruments 69
5.3 Synergistic fit of methods 86
5.4 Evaluation 88
6 Sector characteristics 93
6.1 Characteristics and activities of companies 93
6.2 Trends, drivers and competitive forces 95
6.3 Discussion 97
7 Data collected 99
7.1 Qualitative data 99
7.2 Quantitative data 100
8 Empirical evidence 105
8.1 Issues 108
8.2 External stakeholders, industry and partnerships 134
8.3 Managers 188
8.4 Companies 202
9 Synopsis 287
9.1 Findings 287
9.2 Significance of the study 296
9.3 Limitations and suggestions for further research 302
9.4 Conclusion 307
Appendices 309
Appendix A – Interview samples 310
Appendix B – Key financials of sector samples 314
Appendix C – Hypotheses and objectives of IMD research project 315
Appendix D – Operationalization of key concepts 317
Appendix E – Pairwise correlation analysis 322
Appendix F – Regression models 325
Appendix G – Regression diagnostics 330
Appendix H – Interview guidelines 331
I. Introduction 331
A. Introduction to the project 331
B. Confidentiality and anonymity 331
C. Interview road map 331
II. Interview 332
A. Building the business case: Detecting external pressures and value drivers for building the BCS 332
Appendix I – Questionnaires 340
Appendix J – Abbreviations in regression tables 350
Bibliography 351

Textauszug

1 Introduction (S. 1-2)

1.1 Research field

The history of corporate social responsibility and other related concepts can be traced way back to ancient Mesopotamia and Greece (and probably even further), where businessmen were punished for negligence that harmed workers and the general public. However, it is obvious that the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th cen tury substantially increased the significance of businesses and thus also their scope to behave more or less responsibly within society. Because there was no legislation in this area at that time, history mentions several businessmen who postulated that business should serve society and took corresponding initiatives (Balza & Radojicic, 2004, Wren, 1979). With the emergence of labor unions and legislation (on minimum wages, disability compensation etc.), the concept of the social responsibility of the businessman gained importance over the following decades.

After World War II, social concerns were increasingly incorporated into management education and legislation (foremost social security systems). Between 1960 and 1980, rapid economic growth and its social and environmental effects (including incidents such as e.g. Aberfan, Wales in 1966 and Seveso, Italy in 1976) triggered several initia tives such as the Club of Rome and the Brandt Report as well as new regulatory standards in industrialized countries, e.g. the US Environmental Protection Act (Mohan, 2003).

Obviously the growing acceptance of businesses’ social and environmental responsi bility was intensively discussed among scholars and practitioners. The best known contribution to this debate is undoubtedly Milton Friedman’s claim that "few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundation of our free society as the accep tance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible" (Friedman, 1962). Consequently scholars increasingly built a stronger and more logically grounded case for corporate social responsibility (CSR). For example Johnson (1971) presented several views of social responsibility, among them utility maximization (rather than profit maximization) as the prime motivation of companies. He postulated that socially responsible managers maximize utility by extending their interest beyond their own well being to their fel low employees and citizens.

In the 1980s and 1990s a plethora of further definitions and frameworks were devel oped and refined (Arlow & Gannon, 1982, Carroll, 1999, Davenport, 2000, Moir, 2001). Furthermore, the notion of sustainable development, initially defined in the Brundtland Report by the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), gained more and more importance. However, the inflated use of terms such as corporate social responsibility, corporate sustainability and corporate citizenship led to significant skepticism and cynicism, particularly in civil society.

So far empirical research essentially only produced a plethora of instrumental studies yielding inconclusive evidence for a sound business case, and failed to describe cor porate sustainability management (CSM) and its economic rationale comprehen sively (Griffin & Mahon, 1997, Morsing, 2003).1 In particular, sector specific and comparative approaches are missing although the contingent character of CSM and related concepts such as social responsiveness was diagnosed as early as the 1970s (Arlow et al., 1982, p. 235, Carroll, 1979, Sethi, 1975). Understandably skepticism has not ebbed away (Walley & Whitehead, 1994).

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 16.12.2008
• Zusatzinfo: XX, 355 p.
• Verlagsort: Wiesbaden
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Elektrotechnik / Energietechnik
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Logistik / Produktion
• Schlagworte: Energieindustrie • Energiesektor • Energy • Gassektor • Management, profit-orientiertes • Nachhaltigkeit
• ISBN-10: 3-8349-8132-X / 383498132X
• ISBN-13: 978-3-8349-8132-5 / 9783834981325