Two Dimensions of Corporate Sustainability Assessment: Towards a Comprehensive Framework
Open accessAbstract
Over the last years, many approaches have emerged that attempt to measure the contribution of firms to sustainable development, i.e. corporate sustainability. Our review of existing methodologies for the assessment of corporate sustainability reveals two major shortcomings. First, value creation as a core condition for sustainability as well as for further contributions to economic sustainability is often ignored in these assessments, suggesting that financial and non‐financial organizational processes are separable. Second, existing approaches fail to differentiate between the actual contribution of a firm to sustainability on the one hand, and governance‐related features aimed at attaining this contribution on the other. We argue that the implementation of sustainability‐oriented organizational structures and managerial instruments alone does not necessarily guarantee sustainability performance. Therefore, besides the dimension of current sustainability performance, we introduce the notion of sustainability governance as a second distinct dimension of corporate sustainability assessment. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A lack of integration between financial and nonfinancial goals and between SP indicators and strategic performance measurement systems remains.
“However, a lack of integration between financial and nonfinancial goals and between SP indicators and strategic performance measurement systems remains [102].”
From Sustainability Reporting and Performance Measurement Systems: How do Small- and Medium-Sized Benefit Corporations Manage Integration? (2018) · cites this paper as [102]
Cites
Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony
Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/226550 · Cited by 28,308 · see citing works
Cannibals with forks: the triple bottom line of 21st century business
(1999) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.36-3997 · Cited by 9,001 · see citing works
Misery Loves Companies: Rethinking Social Initiatives by Business
Margolis, J. D., & Walsh, J. P. (2003) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/3556659 · Cited by 5,130 · see citing works
Beyond the Business Case for Corporate Sustainability
Dyllick, T., & Hockerts, K. (2002) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.323 · Cited by 4,029 · see citing works
Evolving sustainably: a longitudinal study of corporate sustainable development
Bansal, P. (2004) · Strategic Management Journal · doi:10.1002/smj.441 · Cited by 2,939 · see citing works
Hart, S. L., & Milstein, M. B. (2003) · Academy of Management Perspectives · doi:10.5465/ame.2003.10025194 · Cited by 1,907 · see citing works
Business Ethics: Corporate Responses to Scandal
Fombrun, C. J., & Foss, C. (2004) · Corporate Reputation Review · doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540226 · Cited by 1,595 · see citing works
An examination of the corporate social and environmental disclosures of BHP from 1983‐1997
Deegan, C. M., Rankin, M., & Tobin, J. (2002) · Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal · doi:10.1108/09513570210435861 · Cited by 1,340 · see citing works
Social Accountability and Corporate Greenwashing
Laufer, W. S. (2003) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1023/a:1022962719299 · Cited by 1,297 · see citing works
Getting to the Bottom of “Triple Bottom Line”
Norman, W., & MacDonald, C. (2004) · Business Ethics Quarterly · doi:10.5840/beq200414211 · Cited by 1,142 · see citing works
Measuring organizational performance: beyond the triple bottom line
Hubbard, G. (2006) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.564 · Cited by 966 · see citing works
Starik, M., & Rands, G. P. (1995) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.1995.9512280025 · Cited by 885 · see citing works
The Path to Corporate Responsibility
Zadek, S. (2007) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-70818-6_13 · Cited by 741 · see citing works
Corporate Greening Through ISO 14001: A Rational Myth?
Boiral, O. (2007) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.1060.0224 · Cited by 740 · see citing works
Trends in sustainability reporting by the Fortune Global 250
Kolk, A. (2003) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.370 · Cited by 619 · see citing works
Coming Up Short on Nonfinancial Performance Measurement
Smoot, P. (2004) · Harvard business review · Cited by 612 · see citing works
Coming up short on nonfinancial performance measurement.
Ittner, C. D., & Larcker, D. F. (2003) · PubMed · Cited by 539 · see citing works
The corporate challenges of sustainable development
Bansal, P. (2002) · Academy of Management Perspectives · doi:10.5465/ame.2002.7173572 · Cited by 468 · see citing works
Measuring corporate environmental performance: the trade‐offs of sustainability ratings
Delmas, M. A., & Blass, V. D. (2010) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.676 · Cited by 466 · see citing works
Fombrun, C. J. (2005) · Corporate Reputation Review · doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1540235 · Cited by 436 · see citing works
Sustainability indicators, policy and governance: Issues for ecological economics
Hezri, A. A., & Dovers, S. R. (2006) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.11.019 · Cited by 363 · see citing works
How to compare companies on relevant dimensions of sustainability
Krajnc, D., & Glavič, P. (2005) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.12.011 · Cited by 328 · see citing works
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
Quairel, F. (2013) · Presses universitaires du Septentrion eBooks · doi:10.4000/books.septentrion.6730 · Cited by 323 · see citing works
Breaking down the Wall of Codes: Evaluating Non-Financial Performance Measurement
Chatterji, A., & Levine, D. I. (2006) · California Management Review · doi:10.2307/41166337 · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Discourse ethics and social accountability: The ethics of SA 8000
Gilbert, D. U., & Rasche, A. (2007) · Business Ethics Quarterly · doi:10.5840/beq200717230 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
SMEs and the fallacy of formalising CSR
Fassin, Y. (2008) · Business Ethics A European Review · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8608.2008.00540.x · Cited by 270 · see citing works
Incentives and disincentives for corporate environmental disclosure
Solomon, A., & Lewis, L. (2002) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.328 · Cited by 256 · see citing works
The UN Global Compact: The Challenge and the Promise
Williams, O. F. (2004) · Business Ethics Quarterly · doi:10.5840/beq200414432 · Cited by 214 · see citing works
The Practitioner's Perspective on Non-Financial Reporting
Perrini, F. (2006) · California Management Review · doi:10.2307/41166339 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Social and environmental reporting and the corporate ego
Spence, C. (2007) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.600 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Path dependence and path creation
Caron, M., & Turcotte, M. (2009) · Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal · doi:10.1108/09513570910933979 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Sustainable leadership: management control systems and organizational culture in Novo Nordisk A/S
Morsing, M., & Oswald, D. R. (2009) · Corporate Governance · doi:10.1108/14720700910936083 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Corporate social responsibility: a business contribution to sustainable development.
Anderson, M. (2014) · European Union regulations | European Encyclopedia of law · Cited by 111 · see citing works
Corporate governance and sustainability : challenges for theory and practice
Benn, S., & Dunphy, D. C. (2013) · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe
(2009) · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · doi:10.4337/9781848447233 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Developing, Communicating and Promoting Corporate Ethics Statements: A Longitudinal Analysis
Murphy, P. E. (2005) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-005-0189-1 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
EVOLUTIONARY TRENDS IN ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING
AZZONE, G. F., Manzini, R., & Noci, G. (1996) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0836(199612)5:4 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
International Corporate Social Responsibility Rating Systems
Schfer, H. (2005) · Journal of Corporate Citizenship · doi:10.9774/gleaf.4700.2005.wi.00012 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Arevalo, J. A., & Fallon, F. T. (2008) · Corporate Governance · doi:10.1108/14720700810899194 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Leading corporate citizenship: governance, structure, systems
Morgan, G., Ryu, K., & Mirvis, P. H. (2009) · Corporate Governance · doi:10.1108/14720700910936047 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Deconstructing corporate sustainability: A comparison of different stakeholder metrics
Antolín-López, R., Delgado-Ceballos, J., & Montiel, I. (2016) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.01.111 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Nigri, G., & Del Baldo, M. (2018) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su10124499 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Morioka, S. N., & Carvalho, M. M. (2016) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.01.103 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Corporate sustainability assessments: a systematic literature review and conceptual framework
Pranugrahaning, A., Donovan, J. D., Topple, C., & Masli, E. K. (2021) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126385 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Corporate sustainability assessments in the information communication technology sector in Malaysia
Pranugrahaning, A., Denis Donovan, J., Topple, C., & Kordi Masli, E. (2020) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su12219271 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Building from previous studies across CS and CSA literatures such as [33,40,41], two key elements are identified, underlying the governance systems for sustainability: (1) companies’ commitment to sustainability standards and guidelines (e.g., [38,40,45]) and (2) sustainability structures,…”
Influential
- Authors
- Schneider, A., & Meins, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Schneider, Anselm
- Venue
- Business Strategy and the Environment
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-07-31
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 211-222
- ISSN
- 0964-4733 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-0836
- OpenAlex
- W1931285899
- Cited by
- 155
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 22.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Business Strategy and the Environment (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Sustainability and Innovation in Business
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Environmental Sustainability in Business
- Keywords
- corporate sustainability assessment, sustainability governance, value creation, sustainable development, sustainability performance measurement, corporate governance, organizational structure, financial and non-financial performance
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
