Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2013
Publication Title
Business Strategy and the Environment
Keywords
case survey methodology, configuration theory, corporate environmental performance equifinality, stakeholder engagement, sustainability
Abstract
We examine 45 existing case studies of firms with strong corporate environmental performance (CEP) to empirically identify four organizational configurations for successful sustainability. These four configurations represent different combinations of variables describing a firm’s external environment, organizational structure, and its strategy-related activities. More specifically, these configurations vary in having a benign or challenging external environment, a mechanistic or organic structure, a low-cost or differentiation strategy, hands-on or hands-off participation by the top-management-team, high or low consideration given to stakeholders, and a short or long-term time orientation. Taken together the four organizational configurations introduce an understanding of equifinality for achieving CEP. In other words, given an adequate variety of ingredients, there are multiple recipes for successful sustainability. Implications for scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers and other stakeholders are discussed.
DOI
10.1002/bse.1805
Recommended Citation
Walker, Kent. (2013). Recipes for Successful Sustainability: Empirical Organizational Configurations for Strong Corporate Environmental Performance. Business Strategy and the Environment.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/odettepub/70
Comments
This is an author's accepted manuscript of an forthcoming article in Business Strategy and the Environment. Copyright John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2013. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%291099-0836.