Collection Business Science Institute

Research in Sustainability

Edited by Françoise Chevalier & Michel Kalika

136 boulevard du Maréchal Leclerc

14000 CAEN

© Editions EMS, 2023

All rights reserved.

www.editions-ems.fr

ISBN : 978-2-37687-888-9
(e-book)

Table of contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Project of the Century?

Questions of Semantics

Contextualizing Sustainability

Dealing with Controversies and Paradoxes

Building the Future

Developing High-Impact Research

Contributions

Part I. Concepts & Sustainability

Chapter 1. Initiating new strategic practices for responsible investment and the actualization of sustainable development

1. Changing times

2. A true social movement

3. The new business context

4. Structuring initiatives for a new system

5. A major reform’s movement

6. Deepening management research on sustainable development

Chapter 2. Behind the multiplication of concepts related to Sustainability, changes in societal priorities

1. Before CSR: merchant ethics, philanthropy and capitalist paternalism

2. From Social Responsibility for top managers to CSR for all…

3. CSR as a component of Sustainable Development

4. Sustainable development in the face of the climate emergency : concepts reflecting the debate on green (de)growth

Conclusion

Chapter 3. Disparate metrics of sustainable development

Introduction

1. What is metrology?

2. The fuzzy dimension of the domain

3. The symbolic metrology of Earth Overshoot Day as an eschatology of finitude

4. Meteorological metrics of global warming as a basis for public decision-making

5. "Carbon accounting" and the metrics of carbon neutrality

6. The ecological footprint as a metric for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

7. The biodiversity footprint as a metrology of nature

8. The ISO 14001 family of standards (version 2015 and after) – “Environmental management” as a conventional metric for private decision making

9. ISO 50001: 2018 – “Energy management systems”, another conventional private decision metric focused on energy performance

10. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA), a metric based on a decision support method

11. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a metrology built on a decision support method

12. French attempts to extend accounting to the environment and society as an evolution of accounting metrology

13. Territory and sustainable development: a geographical metrology of zoning

Conclusion: a metrology of control organized around the principle of materiality

Chapter 4. Sustainability and ethics: creators of meaning and good managerial practices?

Introduction

1. Is sustainability just a matter of communication?

2. Sustainability and ethics: two linked and complementary approaches

3. Associating ethics and sustainability for managers: some good practices for implementation

Conclusions

Part II. Business sectors & Sustainability

Chapter 5. About implementation possibilities of corporate social responsability in small and medium-sized entreprises

1. Definitions

2. Literature

3. Presentation of the sample company and its situation

4. Methodology

5. Results of the survey

Conclusions

Recommendations and outlook

Chapter 6. Sustainability in corporate learning: how a learning organization learns to learn new skills... or the art of teaching old dogs new tricks

1. Key issue: maintaining employability of employees as part of corporate sustainability

2. Concepts and literature

3. BouNdary spanning in learning: a vehicle to foster organizational sustainability

4. Managerial implications: teaching old dogs new tricks needs time, room and trust for boundary spanning

Chapter 7. Open educational resources: a mechanism for access to lifelong learning for all in response to sustainable development goal

1. Key issues and context

2. Central concepts

3. Conceptual and managerial recommendations

Conclusion

Chapter 8. Wrestling with the “sustainability” conundrum: considering ways forward for the business school curricula – the DBA as a solution?

1. Introduction – and the Influence of Modernism on Curricula

2. Sustainability – a grand challenge or merely a transition?

3. Business Schools – A Need to Embrace Organizational Ambidexterity?

4. The DBA – A Response to Challenge the Status Quo?

Conclusion

Chapter 9. The influence of sustainable development on the strategies of real estate agents

1. The real estate agent and sustainable development, between external influences and strategic opportunity

2. Differences in the perception of market issues related to sustainable development

3. Harnessing cognitive rent to capitalise on “green value”

Conclusion

Chapter 10. Financial strategies of banks: are sustainability and financial performance inseparable?

Introduction

1. Efficiency and sustainability of different international banking systems

2. Data and research methodology

3. Are the most efficient banks more inclined to integrating sustainability criteria?

4. Do all banks aspire to integrate sustainable development criteria in their strategy?

Conclusion and managerial implications

Chapter 11. Sustainable development in air transport

Introduction

1. Main concepts and issues

2. Factors impacting CO2 efficiency in aviation

3. Managerial recommendations

Conclusion

Chapter 12. Implementing CSR in the aviation industry

Introduction

1. Environmental durability of the aviation industry

2. Conceptual Framework

3. Methodology

4. Qualitative study recommendations

Conclusion

Chapter 13. Communicating CSR commitment: a challenge for luxury brands

Introduction

1. The luxury dream keeps growing

2. Luxury consumption: between responsibility and ostentation

3. Luxury industry: responsibility of high quality

4. Communicating CSR engagement: audience, tone of voice, channel, and content

5. Managerial recommendation

Conclusions

Chapter 14. Reflections on the case of heating and cooling networks and energy transition

Introduction

1. Methodology: the case of heating and cooling networks

3. Interpretation – From socio-technical systems to the sociology of translation

4. What paths for a sustainable future in the face of the challenge of global warming?

Part III. Functions & Sustainability

Chapter 15. Digital sustainability: an overview of empirical research in information systems

Introduction

1. Methodology

2. Results and discussion

Conclusion

Chapter 16. Business and societal requirements for an information system network for social sustainability

Introduction

1. The Challenges of Structuring Systems for Interoperable Sustainability Data

2. The Multi-disciplinary Harmonization Efforts to Align Sustainability Data

3. Policy and Governance – Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM)

4. Scholarly Alignment – Social-Ecological Systems Framework

5. Cyber Physical Coordination – Stigmergic Information Systems (SIS)

6. Conceptual Recommendations

Conclusion

Chapter 17. Integrating the climate emergency into human resource strategies for international mobility

1. IHRM and CSR are clearly separated research fields

2. Exploratory research results: pioneers, two levels of response, three types of policies

3. Managerial recommendations

Chapter 18. Being plastic: the new managerial way for the responsible entreprise

Introduction

1. An observatory on the impact of the crisis on management

2. Discussion of conceptual and managerial recommendations

Conclusion

Chapter 19. Integrating sustainable development and CRS towards a sustainable supply chain

Introduction

1. The crazy polysemy of CSR?

2. The management of a sustainable supply chain to the credit of CSR

3. The purchasing function, the trigger for a sustainable supply chain

4. Purchasing Social Responsibility in support of CSR

5. The infusion of responsible purchasing: Melian or cooperative dialogue?

6. The tools used to support sustainable procurement

Conclusion

Chapter 20. Can an unsustainable supply chain cause devastating effects for the company?

INTRODUCTION

1. Approach to sustainable development

2. What are the causes of the unsustainability of the supply chain?

3. Why a sustainable supply chain?

4. Relevant Supply Chain Management Practices

5. Case study: example of a sustainable supply chain

Conclusion

Chapter 21. Sustainable development and social acceptability: what factors should be taken into account to promote sustainable projects?

Introduction

1. Project management and social acceptability

2. Social acceptability factors for sustainable projects

3. Discussion

Conclusion

Part IV. Sustainability internationally

Chapter 22. Socially responsible investment: the imbroglio of European regulatory changes

1. Socially responsible investment: definition and economic market

2. European regulation: developments and new challenges

Conclusions and recommendations

Chapter 23. Sustainable development in Morocco: efforts and challenges

Introduction

1. Sustainable Development Initiatives in Morocco

2. Challenges Inhibiting Fast Progress Toward Sustainability

Chapter 24. Sustainability in Africa: the state of play

1. Managerial approaches and sustainability challenges in Africa

2. Opportunities and sectoral approaches

Chapter 25. Sustainable development and West African countries: case of Niger

Introduction

1. Concept of Sustainable Development (SD)

2. Sustainable Development in Niger

3. Recommendations

CONCLUSION

Chapter 26. Sustainability in crisis situations in Africa

1. Impacts of Covid-19 on sustainability in Africa

2. Consequences of the war in Ukraine on sustainability in Africa

3. Conclusions and recommendations

Chapter 27. Just sustainability in african countries: new oil and gas producers

1. The anchoring of sustainable development in a harmonized global framework

2. The transfer of sustainability to African producing countries

Conclusion

Chapter 28. Sustainable development in Africa: exploring research pathways in a context of post-pandemic crisis

Introduction

1. Sustainable Development in Africa: concept, context and problematization

2. An emerging issue in the african literature

3. Plastic recycling experience in Cameroon: the case of Namé recycling

4. Discussions, impacts and recommendations

Conclusion

Conclusion

Biographies

The editors

The authors

Foreword

Under the initiative of Professor Françoise Chevalier, this book has several objectives:

First of all, to develop research grounded in the reality of management practice on matters related to Sustainability within the framework of Business Science Institute’s Executive DBA programme. This objective comes from a shared awareness of the importance of modern-day challenges and the need to involve researchers and managers in providing managerial recommendations based on conceptual analyses.

Furthermore, as Business Science Institute is an international academic network organization, or an "extended academic enterprise", it is essential to continually seek to strengthen the links within the network through projects that mobilize its members, and which are considered important by all. This book draws on the research of professors and researchers, but also on the research of Doctors who continue to work with the Business Science Institute after graduation as manager-researchers, and also of our doctoral candidates who are in the midst of their DBA learning journey.

Michel Kalika, President, Business Science Institute

Acknowledgements

The coordinators of the book would like to thank their colleagues, researchers, doctoral students and DBA graduates at Business Science Institute for having participated in this adventure. Together, we have reflected on research avenues that we believe are necessary to explore today, especially within the framework of a Doctor of Business Administration programme, where the world of practice and academia come together in a unique and inspirational way. We would also like to thank the support team at Business Science Institute, in particular Caroline, who carried out the demanding job of coordinating and supporting the project, Aline, who scrupulously checked the references in each chapter and Stephen who checked the English version of the book.

Françoise Chevalier and Michel Kalika

Introduction

Françoise Chevalier

CSR,1, SDG,2 ESG,3 NZE4… so many acronyms, so many challenges facing businesses, organizations, researchers, managers and decision-makers. The work of the Stockholm Resilience Centre highlights the planetary boundaries or ecological thresholds that humanity must not exceed if we are to survive (Rockström et al., 2009). Similarly, the latest report by the IPCC5 is alarming: climate change is no longer presented as a hypothetical threat but as a certainty. While decreasing CO2 emissions has become imperative, it is just as crucial to take biodiversity and corporate social responsibility into account. The impacts of the crisis have made sustainability more urgent (Kalika, 2021); there is a need to build other lifestyles and modes of production and consumption that are more respectful of humans and the natural environment.

Sustainability and its triad of “People, Planet, Profit” are at the heart of current issues related to social and corporate transformation. In this regard, regulatory activities, which are constantly expanding and changing, bear witness to the ever-growing number of businesses that are concerned with sustainability requirements, but also to the expansion of these requirements. The same is true of the integration of environmental concerns into companies’ extra-financial overviews.

The Project of the Century?

From the initial formulation of the concept by Clark and Munn (1986) to the Brundtland Report (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), and incorporating the analysis of common goods (Ostrom, 2009), sustainability has become an issue that is acknowledged by both academics and practitioners. More than a quarter of a century after the work of Starik and Rands (1995) and Shrivastava and Hart (1995), social, societal and environmental dimensions have come to the fore.6 Decision-makers, politicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, consumers and citizens are entering the field.7 A new concept has appeared: eco-anxiety. Is sustainability about to become the project of the century?

Sustainability oscillates between dystopia – especially the deterioration of the natural environment and biodiversity8 – and utopia (Chevalier, 2008), the aspiration for a better world: the world of the 17 SDGs, adopted by the member nations of the United Nations in 2015.9 In their universalist intent, are the SDGs not akin to a new version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Moreover, the succession of world crises – economic, health-related, climatic – is taxing established models. Could it be paving the way for a transformation of society or even a new socioeconomic paradigm (Aagaard et al., 2021)? According to Levillain et al. (2020), the Covid-19 pandemic and the ecological transition are driving us toward a new sustainable development cycle. In this regard, does the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities anticipate a new model that could provide a new international benchmark? Or could other models overtake it?

Questions of Semantics

Sustainability is a wide-ranging concept that seeks to build a global consensus on the major principles. According to Jenkins (2009) sustainability is defined as having an ultimate goal of maintaining indefinitely the viability of our economies, the societies in which they exist and the physical environment on which they all depend. It brings together nations, local communities, businesses, NGOs and citizens: all of them have a role to play.

Sustainability is an ambiguous, catch-all concept, subject to dispute concerning its definition, its scope and how it can be achieved. Thus, the 17 SDGs cover a wide range of questions related to social, societal, environmental and economic development. Their scope is extremely broad: from infrastructure to climate, incorporating water and power use, economics, ethics and social justice. Both environmental management and corporate social responsibility are targets.

From a media perspective, sustainability is a topic of conversation, and marketing formulas for “green” services and products abound. From sock manufacturers to offers of zero-carbon travel, is there anyone today who does not claim to be “planet-friendly”? It is important to be aware of “greenwashing” or “social-washing”: a dynamic of virtue signaling, activist-sounding discourse and, more broadly, managerial fashion (Chevalier, 2021).

In short, sustainability is not a homogeneous reality. All the authors in this book are as one in highlighting the concept’s polysemous and ambiguous nature.

Contextualizing Sustainability

People have become aware of the urgency of the situation. But has this happened in the same way for everyone? How is their soul searching situated in time? In space? What are the priorities? Who is involved? Awareness and urgency are perceived to differing degrees. On the one hand, the concept of sustainability is polysemous; on the other, it is subject to different forms of interpretation and appropriation on the ground.

The understanding of sustainability varies greatly depending on the country, the industry, the business and the players. Depending on a country’s development level, history and culture, the approaches to and priorities for sustainability vary. The same is true of different industries, companies and organizations, where questions arise in different ways. As for individual people, Markman and Krause (2016) point out that there is a difference in how sustainability is interpreted for scientists and managers… For some sustainability means preserving the environment and meeting social needs, while for others it means ethical issues and compliance with the law. Sustainability needs to be contextualized and demands nuanced analyses. It must be put in sociological perspective.

Sustainability requires local deployment of measures that take the specific features of the territory into consideration. Such efforts at contextualization underlie the editorial agenda of this entire book.

Dealing with Controversies and Paradoxes

In practice, numerous efforts to change have been implemented in the name of sustainability. It is not surprising that most of these practices have been questioned or criticized (Banerjee, 2009), as they are often characterized by controversy or paradox (Chevalier, 2013).

To name just one controversy, consider the ESG criteria. Investors are frantically demanding ESG data, but ESGC scores for a single enterprise can differ radically from one rating agency to another (Leboucher, 2023). As for paradoxes, let us take the example of SDG 13 “climate action,” which refers specifically to decarbonization, and thus the reduction of greenhouse gases. In this field, for instance, although the development of digital technology has contributed to a reduction in CO2-emitting travel, it is paradoxically accompanied by substantial CO2 emissions of its own. Another case involves biodiesel, which is meant to reduce CO2 emissions into the atmosphere; however, when it is made with palm oil, it contributes to extensive palm tree plantations and, consequently, to deforestation. One can come up with similar paradoxes for each SDG. For example, in agriculture, limiting the use of pesticides to preserve biodiversity leads to more intensive use of tractors and thus to a larger carbon footprint, as well as to soil compaction, which endangers micro-organisms.

Controversies and paradoxes exist, but corporations and even governments can also twist the SDGs. The quest for grants or access to green financing sometimes wins over the true spirit of sustainability. Sustainability is also enmeshed in powerful geopolitical, economic and commercial interests.10

Organizational and geopolitical dynamics work together, making management action complex and multifactorial. They presuppose the reconsideration of certain issues and a capacity for critical distance, as this book will show.

Building the Future

The new sustainability requirements apply at the macro level, to nations and governments; at the meso level, to businesses and organizations; and the micro level, to groups and individuals. Reconciling corporate social responsibility, environmental protection and economic issues both gives rises to contradictions and is a vector of numerous innovations.

Sustainability appears to be one of the key engines of change – what one might call polyphonic change (Pichault et al., 2022). In corporations, it gives rise to new business models (Aagaard et al., 2021; Bocken, 2021; Bocken et al., 2014; Evans et al., 2017; Ioannou & Hawn, 2019; Pieroni et al., 2019), and to a proliferation of innovations – incremental, frugal and disruptive – that create value (Gennari, 2022) and renewed leadership (Almandoz & Lee, 2022; Osagie & Wesselink, 2020). Many businesses incorporate sustainability into their strategy and its operational deployment in their management processes, particularly human resources management (Stahl et al., 2020). On the ground, for companies of all sizes (Martins et al., 2022), efforts are developed to clarify language, determine priorities, and identify degrees of maturity (Baumgartner & Ebner, 2010) and the corresponding TRLs11 in order to better steer transitions. Sustainability also goes hand in hand with the development of new accounting systems and new kinds of extra-financial reporting (Jain & Tripathi, 2022).

Ultimately, it involves encouraging management to find balance and innovative paths between virtuous principles and the inevitable contradictions of real life.12 Each of the chapters in this book therefore leads to theoretical and managerial recommendations.

Developing High-Impact Research

Research and publications participate in collective dynamics in which research is not separated from action (Alvesson & Gabriel, 2013). This entails concern for the impact of research’s impacts on management practice (Kalika, 2018). Developing research on sustainability means seeking to escape from mantras, greenwashing and insubstantial theories in order to analyze concrete practices at work, and make an effort to understand them better in order to provide keys to understanding and guidelines for renewed action (Wittmayer & Schäpke, 2014).

In this context, the publication of a book, a chapter or an article is not the ultimate goal. On the contrary, it is the start of a process intended to regenerate managers’ thinking and practices. As Howard-Grenville (2021) put it, the publication of an article is not the final outcome; instead, it is the beginning of the generative process.

Building the future beyond doubt,13 constantly searching for compromises, however unstable they may be, and innovating to achieve a renewed meaning for “common goods” (Cornu et al., 2017) – is this not the very purpose of sustainability research and sustainability management?

References

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Almandoz, J., & Lee, Y.-T. (2022). Leadership in social enterprises: A paradigm for purpose-led organizations. In A. Vaccaro & T. Ramus (Eds.), Social innovation and social enterprises (pp. 83-108). Springer.

Alvesson, M., & Gabriel, Y. (2013). Beyond formulaic research: In praise of greater diversity in organizational research and publications. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 12, 245-263.

Banerjee, B. S. (2009). Corporate social responsibility: The good, the bad and the ugly. Critical Sociology, 34(1), 51-79.

Baumgartner, R. J., & Ebner, D. (2010). Corporate sustainability strategies: Sustainability profiles and maturity levels. Sustainable Development, 18, 76-89. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.447

Bocken, N. (2021). Sustainable business models. In W. Leal, A. M. Azul, L. Brandli, A. L. Salvia, & T. Wall (Eds.), Decent work and economic growth (pp. 963-975). Springer.

Bocken, N., Short, S. W., Rana, P., & Evans, S. (2014). A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes. Journal of Cleaner Production, 65, 42-56.

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Chevalier, F. (2013). Le développement durable: entre l’idéal des solidarités et les inévitables contradictions du réel. In J.-M. Peretti (Ed.), Tous solidaires : Les meilleures pratiques par 91 professionnels (pp. 319-324). Eyrolles.

Chevalier, F. (2021). Post-Covid et sustainability: l’état d’urgence. In M. Kalika (Ed.) Les impacts durables de la crise sur le management (pp. 249-255). Éditions EMS.

Clark, W. C., & Munn, R. E. (Eds.). (1986). Sustainable development of the biosphere. Cambridge University Press.

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Gennari, F. (2022). Sustainable business model innovation: From value uncaptured to value opportunities. SYMPHONYA: Emerging Issues in Management, 2, 27-46.

Howard-Grenville, J. (2021). Caring, courage and curiosity: Reflections on our roles as scholars in organizing for a sustainable future. Organization Theory, 2(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1177/2631787721991143

Ioannou, I., & Hawn, O. (2019). Redefining the strategy field in the age of sustainability. In A. McWilliams, D. E. Rupp, D. S. Siegel, G. K. Stahl, & D. A. Waldman (Eds.), Oxford handbook of corporate social responsibility: Psychological and organizational perspectives. Oxford University Press.

Jain, K., & Tripathi, P. S. (2022). Challenges of sustainability reporting from managerial perspective: A review and future agenda. Metamorphosis, 21(2), 140-151.

Jenkins, H. (2009). A “business opportunity” model of corporate social responsibility for small- and medium-sized enterprises. Business Ethics, the Environment and Responsibility, 18(1), 21-36.

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Pieroni, M. P. P., McAloone, T. C., & Pigosso, D. C. A. (2019). Business model innovation for circular economy and sustainability: A review of approaches. Journal of Cleaner Production, 215, 198-216.

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1. CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility.

2. SDG: Sustainable Development Goal.

3. ESG: Environmental, Social and Governance; these constitute the three pillars of extra-financial analysis.

4. NZE: Net Zero Emissions.

5. On 20 March 20, 2023, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) presented a summary of its latest reports.

6. It should be recalled that, in the first half of the 19th century, the fathers of utopian socialism, such as Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier and Robert Owen, were already promoting a quest for harmony between business activities and society’s needs.

7. The research literature on sustainability is very abundant. More than 4 million articles on the SDGs were published between 2015 and 2019 (Elsevier & RELX Group, 2020).

8. This was highlighted for the general public in the film Dark Waters, for example.

9. The 17 SDGs are as follows: (1) no poverty; (2) zero hunger; (3) good health and well-being; (4) quality education; (5) gender equality; (6) clean water and sanitation; (7) affordable and clean energy; (8) decent work and economic growth; (9) industry, innovation and infrastructure; (10) reduced inequalities; (11) sustainable cities and communities; (12) responsible consumption and production; (13) climate action; (14) life below water; (15) life on land; (16) peace, justice and strong institutions; and (17) partnerships for the goals.

10. Consider the tension that now exists between the “European Green Deal Industrial Plan “and the “U.S. Inflation Reduction Act”.

11. TRL: Technology Readiness Level.

12. In this regard, see the Exponential Roadmap 2030: Scaling 36 Solutions to Halve Emissions by 2030 (Exponential Roadmap Initiative, 2020).

13. See the presentations by Michelle Bergadaà, Michel Kalika and Pierre-Jean Benghozi, at the Business Science Institute seminar on March 30 and 31, 2023 (https://www.business-science-institute.com/conferences-integrite-academique/).

Contributions

Françoise Chevalier and Michel Kalika

The book contains twenty-eight chapters, written by some forty authors, including: research professors, DBA graduates and holders of doctorates and doctoral candidates students, especially from the Business Science Institute. Some chapters were coauthored by research professors and DBA manager-researchers practitioners with DBAdegrees.1

The authors invite us to contextualize sustainability and view it from a constructive critical distance. They situate sustainability in the history of ideas, question its translation across in different industries and corporate functions, and report on its current status in different countries.

The book is divided into four parts. The first part introduces the key concepts of sustainability. The second describes sustainability in different industries. The third covers sustainability in the major corporate functions. And the fourth part investigates sustainability on the international stage.

Sustainability Concepts

Sustainability challenges established models and appears to foreshadow a change of paradigm over the course of history, in accordance with society’s new values. Key issues include the important question of measurement. Many reflections and questions must be addressed, including deviations such as greenwashing.

According to Paul Beaulieu, we are seeing an unprecedented mobilization to reform business. Although sustainable development sciences are still in the emergent phase, they are accompanied by a true militant social movement to reform the capitalist system and the practice systems governing investment management.

In this context, Ziad Malas, Najoua Tahri and Christophe Fournier encourage readers to trace the historical societal changes that have led to today’s emergence of the key concepts of sustainability in corporations.

For Yvon Pesqueux, a key issue in sustainable development is the question of measurement; in other words, who measures what and how? He emphasizes the importance of meteorological measurement of global warming as a basis for public decision-making and points out how different metrology systems can be.

Emmanuel Caillaud investigates greenwashing and shows that the real issues of sustainability and ethics are not taken into consideration in organizations. A state-of-the-art overview of concepts makes it possible to conceive of connections between ethics and sustainability, distinguish between “weak sustainability” and “strong sustainability,” and produce managerial recommendations.

Industries and Sustainability

Sustainability is accompanied by actions on many fronts, from SMEs to multinationals, and affects areas of activity as diverse as education, real estate, banking, air transportation, luxury goods, district heating and cooling, and more.

Philip Lattauer investigates the possibility of implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in small and medium-sized organizations. He highlights the diversity of practices on the ground.

Barbara Ofstad and Anne Bartel-Radic highlight one of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): quality education (SDG No.4). From this perspective, lifelong learning appears to be indispensable to ensure a company’s survival.

Christophe Fournier and Mona Laroussi suggest that 10 concrete operational actions should be implemented to stimulate the development of Open Educational Resources that may respond to the three SDGs focusing on education.

Peter Stokes and Simon Smith take a critical look at the role business schools play in sustainable development.

According to Sébastien Bourbon, the ideas of sustainability and sustainable development are reflected in the real estate industry by a still new concept, namely: “green value.” He highlights both the logic underlying the greening of the real estate market and the need, in this context, for managers to work on real estate agents’ knowledge capital.

Elisabeth Paulet and Hareesh Mavoori examine the financial advantages of integrating environmental factors into decision-making regarding banking strategy. Their research covered several banks in the U.S.A., Europe, China and India. On the one hand, they show that economic liberalization has made banking strategies more uniform; on the other, they emphasize that the tradeoff between sustainability and performance is a difficult one.

Diaga Basse addresses the technical and human levers that are necessary to reduce the air transportation industry’s carbon footprint.

Mohamed Ben Helal studies the key role airlines’ CSR strategies play in the environmental field. He examines the implementation of CSR in air transportation.

Francesca Goi focuses on the issue of CSR commitment in one specific industry: luxury brands.

Jean Moscarola, Caroline Mothe and Estelle Delfosse ask how we can achieve a sustainable future, given the challenge of climate change. They share their thoughts concerning the specific case of district heating and cooling and the energy transition, showing that individual interests and attitudes are an obstacle to the implementation of potential changes.

Functions and Sustainability

All the major corporate functions are concerned: information systems, human resources management, supply chain management, project management, etc.

Chantal Fuhrer and Florence Laval address the topic of digital technology and the environment. They present an overview of empirical research in information systems and “digital sustainability,” referring to the convergence of the digital transformation and sustainable development.

In her recent DBA research for her DBA, Carol Aebi examined the commercial and societal requirements required to develop information systems that incorporate social sustainability.

Sophie Serizier and Anne Bartel-Radic seek to understand how French multinationals take environmental issues into consideration in human resources management of international mobility.

Florence Laval, Aurélie Dudézert and Fanny Gibert present an analysis of employees’ experiences and feelings regarding work to build responsible management. Their managerial recommendations are based on the concepts of management plasticity and the psychological contract.

Céline Cheval-Calvel and Olivier Lavastre investigate the incorporation of sustainable development and CSR into the supply chain. They emphasize the extent to which how much the concepts of sustainable development, societal responsibility, responsible purchasing and sustainable supply chains can lead to confusion, misunderstanding and, by extension, inappropriate actions or initiatives.

Abderrahmane Bellali asks the followingis question: Can a non-sustainable supply chain lead to catastrophic effects for the business? He illustrates his ideas with a case study.

In defining the success of projects, Marie-Douce Primeau, Cynthia Champagne Caron and Alejandro Romero-Torres invite managers to take the “Triple Bottom Line” into account by including projects’ social, environmental and economic aspects. Based on the results of a recent literature review, they suggest a conceptual analysis framework that could lead to a better understanding of the factors that affect projects’ social acceptability.

Sustainability Internationally

Internationally, in Europe and Africa, sustainability is expressed differently based on context. The tradeoffs between sustainability, performance and development can be difficult.

Leïla Kamara examines SRI (socially responsible investment) and the European regulations in force, particularly the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which is a key element in changing asset management companies’ practices for communicating with their investors. She emphasizes the complicated context of the European regulatory changes and the greay areas that still exist.

Khadija Al Arkoubi and Fadoua Tahari consider how Morocco is dealing with social, economic and environmental challenges. They emphasize the country’s efforts to implement the SDGs, describe the obstacles it has faced and the results obtained, and finally formulate some recommendations to speed up progress.

Al-Hamndou Dorsouma analyzes the current state of sustainability in Africa in different sectors such as agriculture, energy, industry and urban development. He points out that this concept has still not been widely adopted in the African context.

Hassoumi Assoumana shows that the implementation of sustainability raises both expectations and skepticism in the African continent.

According to Al-Hamndou Dorsouma, armed conflicts and the recent crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are compromising Africa’s achievement of the SDGs by 2030.

Aissatou Sy addresses the question of sustainability in the African nations in relation to the development of oil and gas resources. She examines the contradictions between economic development and injunctions concerning sustainable development.

Through an analysis of two industries – renewable solar energy and the cleanup of industrial plastic – Emmanuel Kamdem explores the potential to promote sustainable development in Africa.

The diversity of these chapters’ approaches and styles bears witness to the kaleidoscopic nature of the reflections and analyses presented in this book.

1. A recent study showed that over half of the DBA theses defended at theBusiness Science Institute are linkrelated to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Part I. Concepts & Sustainability

Chapter 4. Sustainability and ethics: creators of meaning and good managerial practices?

Emmanuel Caillaud

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