A Model for Managing Corporate Sustainability

• Date: 01 June 2013
• Published date: 01 June 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12009

A Model for Managing

Corporate Sustainability

THOMAS MACAGNO

ABSTRACT

The world is faced with unprecedented global economic,

environmental, and social challenges. Sustainable devel-

opment has emerged as an organizing principle for

addressing these issues. Corporate social responsibility

(CSR) is seen as the business contribution to sustainable

development. The article defines CSR as an organiza-

tion’s efforts to secure resources and legitimacy for sur-

vival or competitive advantage by managing nonmarket

and nonregulated issues arising from complex social and

environmental problems. Supporting this definition, the

“sustainability issue management” (SIM) model is pre-

sented to help managers and researchers assess and

manage CSR issues. Based on ecological economics, the

tool originated from a larger study. The model is used to

explain and discuss how the UK Government’s National

Indicator 185 (requiring carbon reporting from Local

Authorities) shaped the action of a supplier to Local

Authorities. The case illustrates how the SIM model can

help both managers and researchers understand and

manage CSR issues.

Thomas Macagno is a researcher at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East

Anglia, NR4 7TJ Norwich, UK. E-mail: t.macagno@uea.ac.uk.

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Business and Society Review 118:2 223–252

© 2013 Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University. Published by Blackwell Publishing,

350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK.

The world is faced with unprecedented global economic,

environmental, and social challenges. How do we equitably

satisfy the hunger of over 7 billion people for economic

development, and nourishing food and water? The key is manag-

ing critical economic and life supporting resources. These are a

unique collection of resources produced by ecosystems. Ecosys-

tems provide us with resources or services we take for granted:

water, food, trees, climate regulation, etc. For the most part,

corporate management has historically ignored ecosystem

resource management (Gladwin et al. 1995). A small number of

progressive companies are beginning to look at managing ecosys-

tems (Confino 2011). This article looks at the challenge of making

this a norm, rather than the exception.

Sustainable development has emerged as an organizing prin-

ciple for addressing economic, environmental, and social issues.

However, at the corporate level, there is a weak understanding of

how to operationalize sustainable development (Bansal 2005). To

help address this weakness, a definition for Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR) linked to sustainable development is pro-

posed. The definition considers the three major obstacles to

implementing CSR: (1) CSR seen as a voluntary activity; (2) CSR

issues are complex social and environmental problems; and (3)

CSR issues lack markets and regulation. In addition, the “sus-

tainability issue management” (SIM) model is introduced to help

managers and researchers overcome these obstacles.

The SIM model provides a method for understanding the insti-

tutional process of assessing and managing CSR issues, where

markets and regulations are missing. The model draws on eco-

logical economics to build a management tool. The tool originated

from a larger study (Macagno 2007). Here, the model is applied to

a case analyzing how the UK Government’s National Indicator 185

shaped the behavior of a supplier to Local Authorities. The case

illustrates how the SIM model can help both managers and

researchers with understanding and managing CSR issues.

THE NATURE OF CSR

CSR is a contested concept (Matten and Moon 2008). Garriga

and Melé (2004) categorize the major theoretical areas of CSR

224 BUSINESS AND SOCIETY REVIEW