Organization & Environment

This article examines the “Poverty–CO2 (carbon dioxide) Reductions Paradox,” wherein reducing poverty through economic growth simultaneously increases CO2 emissions from increased production and consumption, at a time in history when CO2 emissions must be reduced to avoid climate change catastrophes. Paradox theory and integrative social contracts theory are applied to help understand the evolving behaviors of China, the world’s largest CO2 emitter, and the European Union, a CO2 reduction leader, from 1990 to 2015 at the national and international levels. The environmental results of these activities have become species-threatening. The principle of fairness/justice is offered in order to guide efforts to resolve the paradox in a way that avoids irreversible climate changes projected to begin around 2050. Prominent stakeholder injustice claims are highlighted for future scholarship and policymaking considerations.

While corporate sustainability has been defined as an approach that creates long-term value with minimum environmental damage, there is still little understanding of the time horizon over which improved environmental performance leads to improved financial performance. We investigate the relationship between environmental and financial performance under increasing likelihood of environmental regulation. We leverage longitudinal data for 1,095 U.S. corporations from 2004 to 2008, a period of increasing activity for climate change legislation, in order to estimate the effect of greenhouse gas emissions on short- and long-term measures of financial performance. We find that during this period, improving corporate environmental performance causes a decline in an indicator of short-term financial performance, return on assets. Nonetheless, investors see the potential long-term value of improved environmental performance, manifested by an increase in Tobin’s q. These results suggest that limited uptake of proactive strategies may in part be attributable to short-term financial performance targets that guide managerial decision making.

What process of socioeconomic transformation might move humanity towards sustainability-as-flourishing, an ideal view of sustainability where life flourishes indefinitely on Earth? We suggest entrepreneurship as one such process and review the literature on three types of entrepreneurship said to transform society by creating value beyond profit: social, environmental and sustainable entrepreneurship. From environmental and social scientific literature, we distil a set of requisites for sustainability-as-flourishing, a topic of growing interest. We then review the literature on social, environmental and sustainable entrepreneurship relative to these requisites. Findings show contributions and also limitations towards sustainability-as-flourishing reflected in research on each type of entrepreneurship. We propose a research agenda to address the most glaring limitations including a failure to study critical reflection processes that can shape entrepreneurs’ actions and a lack of emphasis on the Earth’s physical carrying capacity. Future research could also zero in more on complex systems thinking and consider root causes.

Does membership in industry associations affect whether firms extend beyond their traditional markets? I use a data set from a survey of U.S. shellfishermen and empirically examine the relationship between membership in associations and participation in new markets. Traditionally, shellfishermen have been growing and harvesting shellfish for human consumption. However, some shellfishermen also engage in alternative revenue-generating environmental projects such as coastal restoration, clean-up, and research. Drawing on the organizational literature on associations and economic sociology literature, I test hypotheses about whether associations contribute to generating value and promoting cooperation among their members thus fulfilling requirements for a new market to emerge. I find that shellfishermen who are members of industry associations are more likely to participate in alternative revenue-generating activities and derive revenues from environmental projects. I argue that industry associations play an important role in firms’ decisions to pursue new markets by contributing to creating value and promoting cooperation.

The purpose of this article is to challenge organizational scholars, management educators, and business leaders to consider more deeply the impact of global business activities on local ecosystems. Drawing on the management, sustainability, and entomology literature, we illustrate the complex relationship between global business and biodiversity loss through the lens of the commercial bumble bee trade. Global firms in this trade rear and supply bees for greenhouse crop pollination. We build on a well-known global strategy framework used in management education by adding a sustainability dimension, and offering propositions for the relationship between global business strategy and the strength of environmental sustainability. We conclude that a locally responsive, place-sensitive business strategy supports the strongest degree of environmental sustainability, and addresses the invisible compromises to ecosystem health that may result from the efforts of global firms to provide otherwise beneficial products and services.

In this article, we explore organising narratives that underpin the generation of effective ecological solutions. We examine the processes of meaning construction in relation to the development of sustainable land management practices in the Landcare organisation in Australia. Meaning construction is situated in a variety of contexts that are themselves strongly influenced by a meta-narrative, which Taylor has labelled the “modern social imaginary”: A shared system of meanings that captures the imaginations of individuals and shapes their social groupings and society. The shift in meaning construction is reflected in the emergence of a narrative of “ecological repair” that involved a process of learning and knowledge development we have labelled protracted sense-making. Our research findings have led us to conclude that the development of successful ecological solutions require an active rewriting of the social imaginary.