Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T14:24:36.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Corporate Sustainability: Challenge to Managerial Orthodoxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Dexter Dunphy
Dexter Dunphy*
Affiliation:
Distinguished Professor, Corporate Sustainability Project, School of Management, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, SydneyPO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007, Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of corporate sustainability. It examines why achieving sustainability is becoming an increasingly vital issue for society and organisations, defines sustainability and then outlines a set of phases through which organisations can move to achieve increasing levels of sustainability. Case studies are presented of organisations at various phases indicating the benefits, for the organisation and its stakeholders, which can be made at each phase. Finally the paper argues that there is a marked contrast between the two competing philosophies of neo-conservatism (economic rationalism) and the emerging philosophy of sustainability. Management schools have been strongly influenced by economic rationalism, which underpins the traditional orthodoxies presented in such schools. Sustainability represents an urgent challenge for management schools to rethink these traditional orthodoxies and give sustainability a central place in the curriculum.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 2 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2003 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Academy of Management 2002, ‘Positive professional practice: A response to ethical dilemmas in our profession’, Academy of Management News, vol. 33, no. 4, p1.Google Scholar
Aragon-Correa, J. A. & Sharma, S. 2003, ‘A contingent resource-based view of proactive corporate environmental strategy’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 71–78.Google Scholar
Benn, S., Bubna-Litic, D. & Eckstein, D. 2001, ‘Is the MBA sustainable: Degrees of change’, ANZAM Conference, Auckland, 12.Google Scholar
Benn, S, Dunphy, D., & Wilson, S. 2002, ‘Corporate sustainability: A case study, Fuji Xerox Eco Manufacturing Centre, Sydney, Australia’, School of Management Working Paper Series 25/02, University of Technology, Sydney, 11.Google Scholar
Brown, L. 2000, ‘The rise and fall of the Global Climate Coalition’, Worldwatch Institute Report, Alert 2000-6, Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Burke, T. 2001 ‘Ten pinches of salt: A reply to Bjorn Lomborg’, Green Alliance, London, at http://www.green-alliance.org.uk. accessed 3 March 2003.Google Scholar
CSIRO Sustainability Network 2003, Update 21E, 23 01, pp. 11–12.Google Scholar
Dunphy, D. & Griffiths, A. 1998, The Sustainable Corporation: Organisational Renewal in Australia, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Dunphy, D, Griffiths, A. & Benn, S. 2003, Organisational Change for Corporate Sustainability: A Guide for Leaders and Change Agents of the Future, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Dunphy, D. Griffiths, A, Benveniste, J & Sutton, P. 2000, Sustainability: The Corporate Challenge of the 21st Century, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Elkington, J. 2001, The Chrysalis Economy: How Citizen CEOs and Corporations Can Fuse Values and Value Creation, Capstone, Oxford.Google Scholar
Flannery, T. F. 1994, The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People, Reed Books, Port Melbourne.Google Scholar
Gettler, L. 2002, ‘So what's a reputation worth?’ The Sydney Morning Herald, Special Supplement, Good Reputation Index, Monday 28 10, p. 2.Google Scholar
Gollan, P. 2000, ‘Human resources, capabilities and sustainability’, in Sustainability: The Corporate Challenge of the 21st Century, eds Dunphy, D., Griffiths, A., Benveniste, J. & Sutton, P., pp. 55–11.Google Scholar
Gratton, L. 2000, Living Strategy: Putting People at the Heart of Corporate Purpose, Financial Times, Prentice Hall, London.Google Scholar
Tibbs, Hardin 2000, ‘The technology strategy of the sustainable corporation’, in Sustainability: The Corporate Challenge of the 21st Century, eds Dunphy, D., Benveniste, J., Griffiths, A. & Sutton, P., Allen and Unwin, Sydney, pp. 191–216.Google Scholar
Hart, S. 1997, ‘Beyond greening: strategies for a sustainable world’, Harvard Business Review, 01-Feb, pp. 67–76.Google Scholar
Hawkins, P, Lovins, A & Lovins, H 1999, Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution, Earthscan, London.Google Scholar
Hitt, M., Ireland, R. & Hoskisson, R. 2001, Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization (Concepts and Cases), 4th edn, South-Western College Publishing, USA.Google Scholar
Holliday, C.O., Schmidheny, S., & Watts, P. 2002, Walking the Talk: The Business Case for Sustainable Development, Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield.Google Scholar
Hutton, W. 2002, The World We Live In, Little Brown, London.Google Scholar
Kennedy, A. 2000, The End of Shareholder Value: Corporations at the Crossroads, Orion Business, London.Google Scholar
Lomborg, B. 2001, The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Nahapiet, J. & Ghoshal, S. 1998, ‘Social capital, intellectual capital and the organizational advantage’, Academy of Management Review, vol. 23, pp. 242–266.Google Scholar
Pears, A. 2002, ‘Technologies and processes for ecological sustainability’, in Sustainability: The Corporate Challenge of the 21st Century, eds Dunphy, D., Benveniste, J., Griffiths, A. & Sutton, P., Allen and Unwin, Sydney, pp. 167–190.Google Scholar
Robbins, S., Bergman, R. & Stagg, I. 1997, Management, Prentice Hall, Australia.Google Scholar
Sadler, P. 2002, Building Tomorrow's Company, Kogan Page, London.Google Scholar
Sheehan, P. 2003, ‘A ravaged country is a nation on the way out’, Comment, Sydney Morning Herald, Thursday 01 23, p. 13.Google Scholar
Smith, S. & Dunphy, D. 2003, ‘Sustainable efficiency: What is it and how can we measure it?’ Unpublished ms, Sydney.Google Scholar
Sydney Morning Herald 2003, ‘Bush leader urges green tax to save resources’, Thursday, 01 23, News p. 3.Google Scholar
Suzuki, D & Dressel, H, 2002, Good News for a Change: Hope for a Troubled Planet, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
The Australian Financial Review 2003, ‘Business Council swings toward Kyoto’, The Weekend AFR, 03 1, p5.Google Scholar
The Sydney Morning Herald, 2002, Special Supplement, Good Reputation Index, Monday 10 28, p2.Google Scholar
Thompson, A. Jr. & Strickland, A. III (2001), Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, 12th edn, McGraw Hill/Irwin, New York.Google Scholar
Tsoukas, H., 1999 ‘David and Goliath in the risk society’, Organization, vol. 6, no 3, pp. 499–526.Google Scholar
Windsor, D. 2002, Letter to Association of Advance Collegiate School of Business, 10 8, 2002.Google Scholar