Business Cases for Sustainability: A Stakeholder Theory Perspective
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In: Organization & Environment, Vol. 32, No. 3, 09.2019, p. 191-212.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Business Cases for Sustainability
T2 - A Stakeholder Theory Perspective
AU - Schaltegger, Stefan
AU - Hörisch, Jacob
AU - Freeman, R. Edward
N1 - First published 2.08.2017, Print Sept. 2019
PY - 2019/9
Y1 - 2019/9
N2 - The “business case for sustainability” is a notion often referenced in the corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility literature. Whereas some see sustainability and the business case as contradictions and thus emphasize the existence of trade-offs, others highlight how (potential) business cases can be created by managing ecological, social, and economic aspects. Both views have in common that the “business case” is implicitly or explicitly seen as creating financial performance, often for one group of stakeholders, only. The fact that a business case is not a given phenomenon but has to be co-created in the exchange between and with contributions from various stakeholders has so far not been analysed in depth. By taking a stakeholder theory perspective, this article extends the existing research on what business and a business case are about and analyses the understanding of business cases for sustainability and how they can be created with and by stakeholders.
AB - The “business case for sustainability” is a notion often referenced in the corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility literature. Whereas some see sustainability and the business case as contradictions and thus emphasize the existence of trade-offs, others highlight how (potential) business cases can be created by managing ecological, social, and economic aspects. Both views have in common that the “business case” is implicitly or explicitly seen as creating financial performance, often for one group of stakeholders, only. The fact that a business case is not a given phenomenon but has to be co-created in the exchange between and with contributions from various stakeholders has so far not been analysed in depth. By taking a stakeholder theory perspective, this article extends the existing research on what business and a business case are about and analyses the understanding of business cases for sustainability and how they can be created with and by stakeholders.
KW - Sustainability sciences, Management & Economics
KW - stakeholder theory
KW - business cases
KW - corporate sustainability
KW - Sustainability management
KW - business cases for sustainability
KW - management of stakeholder relationships
KW - triple win
KW - stakeholder business cases for sustainability
KW - sustainability performance
KW - business performance
KW - Stakeholder theory
KW - business cases
KW - corporate sustainablity
KW - sustainability management
KW - business cases for sustainability
KW - management of stakenholder relationship
KW - triple win
KW - stakeholder business cases for sustainability
KW - sustainability performance
KW - business performance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073900754&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1086026617722882
DO - 10.1177/1086026617722882
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 32
SP - 191
EP - 212
JO - Organization & Environment
JF - Organization & Environment
SN - 1086-0266
IS - 3
ER -