Corporate Sustainability Strategies And Decision Support Methods: A .
sustainabilityArticleCorporate Sustainability Strategies and DecisionSupport Methods: A Bibliometric AnalysisFotis Kitsios 1 , Maria Kamariotou 1 and Michael A. Talias 2, *12*Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 156 Egnatia st., 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece;kitsios@uom.gr (F.K.); mkamariotou@uom.edu.gr (M.K.)Healthcare Management Postgraduate Program, Open University Cyprus, P.O. Box 12794,Nicosia 2252, CyprusCorrespondence: michael.talias@ouc.ac.cyReceived: 21 November 2019; Accepted: 5 January 2020; Published: 10 January 2020 Abstract: Sustainability is becoming an increasing issue for decision-makers and scholars worldwideand many managers understand the significance of the strategic approach of corporate sustainability.However, they face difficulties in aligning sustainable development and strategic management as wellas to implement it in practice. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to conduct a bibliometric analysisexploring the integration of strategic management, decision-making and corporate sustainability,providing a framework of interrelated issues according to the current literature in this area.72 peer-reviewed papers were analyzed based on Webster’s and Watson’s (2002) methodology.The results of this review revealed that the number of publications in this domain has increased in thelast decade, and there is a need to foster research (especially empirical) in this field because managersshould find out ways to implement, in action, corporate sustainability strategies and integrate theiraction plans with their business strategy. This review concludes with a framework that includesthe most commonly addressed issues of this topic and provides opportunities and challenges forfurther research.Keywords: corporate sustainability; sustainable development; business strategy; decision-making;decision support systems1. IntroductionExisting researchers [1–3] have noticed that sustainability is becoming an increasing issue fordecision-makers and scholars worldwide because it is concerned with the sustainable development ofan organization in terms of environmental, economic and social views. In organizations, managersformulate and implement sustainability strategies in order to respond to environmental and socialissues [1]. Corporate sustainability presents the strategic position of a business with regard to sustainabledevelopment and provides many benefits for businesses that are becoming more sustainability-oriented,use resource-efficient technologies and offer products and services that are eco-friendlier. Unfortunately,the results of the existing literature show that many managers ignore the significance of the strategicapproach of corporate sustainability and they face difficulties in aligning sustainable development andstrategic management [4,5].The formulation and implementation of a suitable corporate sustainability strategy is a challengingissue for businesses because each firm has specific characteristics (e.g., the industry sector, organizationalstructure and internal processes, capabilities, business policies, stakeholder interests, market changes,effects of external environment, etc.) [6]. The formulation and implementation of corporatesustainability strategies, as well as the alignment between corporate sustainability and businessSustainability 2020, 12, 521; ability
Sustainability 2020, 12, 5212 of 21strategy, help businesses to deal with environmental and social challenges [7]. Thus, decision-makersshould select the appropriate sustainability strategy in order to be aligned with the business strategy [6].An important challenge for decision-makers who decide to formulate a corporate sustainabilitystrategy is how to plan and implement it. Managers have already recognized the significance offormulating a corporate sustainability strategy but they face difficulties regarding the action plan [4,8,9].How will they translate the corporate sustainability strategy into action in order to implementit? This translation should include appropriate plans, programs, management systems, decisionsupport systems, organizational factors, policies, ethics and performance indicators [4,8,9]. Althoughdecision-makers have paid attention to the formulation of corporate sustainability strategies, they donot focus on the practical implementation. Issues regarding sustainable development are not consideredas a strategic decision by managers. Thus, there is a gap between the formulation and implementationof corporate sustainability strategies and there is a demand for more theoretical research by academicsin this field [6,10].In this view, limited structured literature reviews have been conducted in the area of strategicmanagement and sustainability [7,11]. As the knowledge body in this area is growing, scholars havenoticed that a literature review which will provide a better understanding about the state-of-the-artin this field is required. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to map studies regarding corporatesustainability, strategic management and decision-making. More specifically, this paper answers thefollowing questions: How many papers are published each year? Which journals have publishedpeer-reviewed publications and which have published the highest number of publications? Whichare the most active institutions in the integration of the following fields: corporate sustainability,strategic management and decision-making based on number of publications? Who are the mostactive researchers in this domain by considering only journal publications? What is the frequency ofkeywords? What methods are used in empirical papers? What are the main concepts in this domainand how many papers are published in each one?The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, the structured methodological frameworkwhich was used demonstrates how the academic interest in corporate sustainability strategy anddecision-making has evolved over the years and it highlights areas that need further research. Secondly,this literature review can be useful for managers in order to increase the understanding of the complexityof areas regarding strategic management, corporate sustainability and decision-making.The added value of this paper is the useful overview of the state of strategic management insustainable development, which highlights issues among sustainability strategies research domains,while providing a complete overview of the literature from a different perspective, not implemented inexisting analyses and, thus, it is a good starting point for further research. In contrast with previousliterature reviews that are systematic mapping studies and provide narrative amount of knowledge inthe area of corporate sustainability strategy and strategic management, this paper is a bibliometricstudy that provides a macro picture of a research field, its evolution and connections among studies,in order to be a starting point for future research. This literature review may be of interest to academicswho are already studying corporate sustainability strategies and decision-making, or researchers whohave been introduced to the field but are interested in examining more specific insights into wherecurrent research topics in this literature can be located, and how they may contribute to them.The structure of the rest of the paper is as follows: Section 2 analyzes the methodology usedfor conducting the literature review. Then, the results of the analysis of the papers are provided inSection 3. Finally, the conclusion and suggestions for future research conclude the paper.2. Materials and MethodsAs it has already been stated, the aim of this paper is to examine the current state of corporatesustainability strategies and the decision-making process. Studies were identified using a three-phasedliterature review methodology, which was suggested by Webster and Watson (2002) [12], and has beenpreviously used in the field of strategic management and Information Systems [13–22]. First, a search
Sustainability 2020, 12, 5213 of 21of the extant literature reviews was done to select the databases and keywords of the basic search.Then, the backward search was implemented to examine the references of the selected papers andfinally, the forward search to examine the citations of the selected papers in order to increase theiramount. After the selection of the papers, these were classified according to their content.2.1. Previous Literature ReviewsThe existing literature review papers from 2013 to 2016 are presented to place the current literaturereview alongside the existing knowledge about the field of strategic management and sustainabledevelopment and to examine the previous knowledge of this area, as well as to discuss the identifiedresearch questions based on the findings of previous studies. Additionally, previous literature reviewsgive an overview of the literature review methodologies used by researchers and highlight theirimportance and gaps in their implementation. Table 1 presents a summary of the existing literaturereviews on this field.Table 1. Previous literature reviews.AuthorsCrutzen and HerzigEngert et al.YearMethodologyResults2013Searching for empirical papers in 2databases using keywords regarding tosustainability, social, responsibility,environment, strategy, planning,decision-making, decision support, control,management system and accounting27 papers2016Searching for peer-reviewed papers in 3databases using keywords regarding tostrategic management, corporatesustainability, responsibility, social,ethical, environment114 papersCrutzen and Herzig (2013) [11] conducted a literature review in order to examine the relationshipbetween strategy, sustainability and management control. They concluded that many models andframeworks have emerged but companies have limited knowledge of the design or implementationof management control which will support corporate sustainability strategy. They analyzed papersin twelve peer-reviewed journals in the field of sustainability, and they categorized them based onthe countries and the type of companies, the research methodology and the operationalization ofmanagement control and strategy. Except from this analysis, authors provided some avenues for furtherresearch about the use of management control in the process of sustainability strategy formulationand implementation.Later, Engert et al. (2016) [7] conducted a content analysis in 114 peer-reviewed scientific journalpapers in order to analyze the integration of strategic management into sustainability. They focusedon organizational influences, internal and external drivers and supporting and hindering factors.Their analysis has been conducted on how companies integrate strategic management into corporatesustainability, the benefits for companies when they address stakeholders’ requirements and the use ofmanagement tools and systems in this integration. Their literature review provides to academics astate-of-the-art in the fields of corporate sustainability and strategic management, and to managers,some guidelines about the process of integration. Authors support that future researchers should focuson whether or not companies need to integrate corporate sustainability into strategic management andhow this process could be implemented.2.2. Article Selection ProcessThe search was done in Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science databases using combinationsof the following keywords ‘sustainability OR sustainable development’, ‘strategy OR strategic
Sustainability 2020, 12, 5214 of 21management OR strategic planning’, and ‘decision-making OR decision support’ for papers publishedSustainability 2020, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW4 of 23in peer-reviewed journals. These were selected without limiting them to a specific period. Books,bookchapters, andconferenceproceedings,and workingpapers werenot includedinmanagementcontributedto thetechnicalsubject reportsof agement,sustainabilityandmanagement and sustainable development, decision-making and corporate sustainability. Articlesdecision-making.Articles includedonlythosea focuson businessmanagementandwith a focus on environmentalissues,wereethicalissuesor witheconomicissuesof sustainabledevelopmentcontributedto thesubjectof twere excludedfromthe analysis.Finally,published paperswereonly inEnglish. and sustainability.Articleswithfocus onenvironmentalDuring the data collection, a set of variables was extracted for eachapaper.Thefirst variableissues,ethicalissuesor economicof Thesustainabledevelopmentexcludedfrom the analysis.refers tothe listof authorsof eachissuespaper.second variablereferswereto thelist of institutionsof . The third variable refers to the title of each paper. The fourth variable refers to the year ofDuring thedata collection,of variablevariables referswas extractedfor eachpaper.The firstvariablepublicationof eachpaper. Thea setfifthto istofinstitutionsofeachpaper.published. The sixth variable refers to the h-index of each journal. The seventh variable refers to theThethirdofvariablerefersto thetitleinoftheeachpaper.database.The fourthvariableto theyear ofpublicationnumbercitationsof eachpaperScopusTheeighth refersvariablepresentstheage of nameswherepapershavebeenpublished.sixthpaper in years and is an indicator because it was calculated by extracting the fourth ionsofcurrent date. The ninth variable is also an indicator that presents the impact of each paper and it resentstheageofthepaperinyearsandisancalculated by dividing the number of citations in Scopus with the age of the paper in years [23,24].indicatorbecausecalculatedby extractingthe keywordsfourth variablefromthe currentdate. ThetoninthOverall,3067it wasarticleswere gatheredusingin bydividinglimitations of language and the source of publication, the articles were reduced to 428. DuplicatethenumbercitationsininScopuswiththeirthe ageof 107the articlespaper gtitles,foundrelevant with the aim of nalldatabases.Accordingthe limitationspaper. Next, examining their abstract, 72 were accepted. A number of eweretheir full text was not accessible. A prompt investigation was conducted to verify them.articlesThis seconddeletedandin werethe aimof this paper.Next,overviewhighlightedthatall titles,of thembewereincluded.57 theirfulltexttheir full text. In these 57 articles, 6 were added from the backward search. Additionally, 9 morewasnotwereaccessible.A promptinvestigationthem.wereThisrevealedsecond (Figureoverviewarticlesadded fromthe ‘forwardsearch’wasandconductedthus, a totaltoofverify72 articles1).highlightedthat allthem shouldbe included.57 articleswere fromexaminedaccordingto theirfullThe searchwasofcompletedwhenit came toSo,commonarticlesall databasesanddifferenttext.In these 576 wereadded fromtheconcludedbackwardthatsearch.Additionally,9 erefore,it wasthe criticalmass ources had been collected (Webster and Watson, 2002) [12].Searching for previous literature reviews:Report gaps and avenues for future researchConducting search:Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science databasesCorporate sustainability, strategic management, decision makingPeer-reviewed journalsExclusion criteria:Articles focusing only on environmental, social and economic issues of sustainabilityConference proceedings, technical reports, working papers, books, book chaptersPanel assessmnet:Review of titles, abstracts, full textsFinal articles to review: 57Backward search: 6Forward search: 9Analysis and Synthesis of literature reviewFigure 1.1. Article selection process.process.Figure
Sustainability 2020, 12, 5215 of 21The search was completed when it came to common articles from all databases and differentcombinations of keywords. Therefore, it was concluded that the critical mass of relevant literatureSustainability12,collectedx FOR PEERREVIEW and Watson, 2002) [12].5 of 23sourceshad2020,been(Webster2.3. Classification Framework for Analysispapers werewereanalyzedanalyzedbasedbasedonona eswereanalyzed72 papersframework.Thesearticleswereanalyzedon tandingoftheintegrationbetweencorporatebroad dimensions which will provide a better understanding of the integration between ntdecision-makingresearch,also helpfuturesustainability,managementand anddecision-makingresearch,and willandalso willhelp ar,to expand the knowledge in this field. Papers were classified based on publication year, journalsjournalsand publishers,universitiesand countriesinvolved,authors,numberof citations,keywordsandpublishers,universitiesand countriesinvolved,authors,numberof citations,keywordsused,used, researchadopted,decision-makingtechniques,of sustainability,drivers niques,aspects ofaspectssustainability,drivers for sustainablesustainable egyand performance.development,sustainabilitystrategies, le A1 inTable A1 inA presentsthe mainconceptsof theanalyzed papers.AppendixAAppendixpresents themain conceptsof theanalyzedpapers.3. Results3.1.Number ofof PublishedPublished Articles3.1. NumberArticles perper YearYearAlthoughAlthough researchersresearchers inin corporatecorporate sustainabilitysustainability andand thethe strategicstrategic managementmanagement areaarea ofthepapershaveonlybeenpublishedinthelast sevenstudies two decades ago, the majority of the papers have only been published in the last ublishedeachyear.Especially,intheearly2000s,Figure 2 presents the number of papers published each year. Especially, in the early 2000s,thetheawarenessof asfoundfoundtotobebeveryvery lowlow asas theawarenessof ajoritymajority ofof researchersresearchers focusedfocused onlyonly onon thethe aspectsaspects ofof sustainablesustainable development,development, andand theythey ignoreignore nificance of the strategic aspect of sustainability. The strong practice of corporate n whenresearchersrealizedrealizedthe significanceof the integrationstrategy camecameintointoexistencearoundresearchersthe significanceof ilityandstartedexaminingdriversthat affectintegration between strategic management and corporate sustainability and started examiningsustainablecombinedwith decision-makingtechniques.Such a findinghighlightsbothadrivers thatperformanceaffect sustainableperformancecombined aclearincreasingfinding highlights both the importance of the field and its continuous development. Figure 3 presentsdirectionin the lastdirectionfive years.a clear increasingin the last five years.year.Figure 2. Number of papers per year.Figure 3. Papers based on the year of publication.
Sustainability 2020, 12, 5216 of 21Figure 2. Number of papers per year.Sustainability 2020, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW7 of 23Polish Academy ofManagement and Production Engineering11.399SciencesReviewFigure 3. Papers based on the year of publication.Management Sage11.393.2. Number of Articles per JournalOrganization Management JournalTaylor & Francis11.39PapershaveandbeenEngineeringpublished in35 peer-reviewed43journals. Journalof Cleaner teSocialResponsibilitySystemic Practice and Action Research31Springer11.39and Environmental inessStrategyandTotal72100Technological Forecasting and Social Change have published three papers each. Table 2 presents thedistributionof papersbased onthejournals.Regardingto publishers,majority of papers were published in Elsevier journals (44.4%).Regardingtopublishers,themajorityof paperswere publishedin Elsevierjournals(44.4%).Then,Then, 12 papers were published in Emeraldand s(16.7%).Springercontributedcontributed 6.95% followed by Taylor & Francis (5.56%) and Inderscience (4.17%). Other publishers6.95%publishedfollowed byTaylorFrancis(5.56%)and andIndersciencepublishershave publishedhavelessthan&threepapers.WileyTaylor &(4.17%).FrancisOthermainlyhave Francismainlyhavepublishedpapersbasedon sustainablebased on sustainable development. On the other hand, Elsevier has published papersrelated todevelopment. Onthecorporateother hand,Elsevier haspapers relatedjournalsto publishedEmerald peer-reviewedhave rategic management and sustainability. The classification of papers according to publishers isand sustainability.presentedin FigureThe4. classification of papers according to publishers is presented in Figure 4.Figure 4. Papers per method.3.3. Number of Articles per Country and UniversitiesTo develop the corporate sustainability and strategic management domain, a total of 101universities across the world contributed through 72 papers. Table 3 presents the leading universitiesinvolved in strengthening corporate sustainability and strategic management oriented research. TheUniversity of Graz is among the top universities involved in corporate sustainability and strategicmanagement research followed by Åbo Akademi University, Blekinge Institute of Technology, KedgeBusiness School, Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, Rice University, Ryerson University,University of Kassel, University of Leoben and Utrecht University.Table 3. Leading universities.UniversitiesCountriesNo. of Articles
Sustainability 2020, 12, 5217 of 21Table 2. Distribution of papers based on journals.Journal Nameh-IndexPublisherNo. ofPapers%Journal of Cleaner ProductionBusiness Strategy andthe EnvironmentCorporate Social Responsibility andEnvironmental ManagementJournal of Business StrategyTechnological Forecasting andSocial ChangeEuropean Journal ofOperational ResearchJournal of Science and TechnologyPolicy ManagementLong Range PlanningSustainable DevelopmentConstruction Managementand EconomicsEngineering, Construction andArchitectural ManagementEURO Journal on Decision ProcessesEuropean Business ReviewIndustrial Management andData SystemsInternational Business ManagementInternational Journal of Business andSystems ResearchInternational Journal of BusinessPerformance ManagementInternational Journal of EnergySector ManagementInternational Journal of LogisticsSystems and ManagementInternational Journal ofProduction EconomicsInternational Journal of Productivityand Performance ManagementInternational Journal ofProject ManagementInternational Journal of PublicSector ManagementJournal of Business Economicsand ManagementJournal of Business EthicsJournal of Change ManagementJournal of Engineering andTechnology ManagementJournal of Managementand merald22.788951ElsevierWiley222.782.7881Taylor & .39Journal of Small Business StrategyManagement and ProductionEngineering ReviewManagement DecisionOrganization and EnvironmentOrganization Management JournalScience and Engineering EthicsSystemic Practice andAction ier11.3948Emerald11.3930Taylor & Francis11.3914722SpringerTaylor & 3911.39824843Middle TennesseeState UniversityPolish Academy ofSciencesEmeraldSageTaylor & 72100593.3. Number of Articles per Country and UniversitiesTo develop the corporate sustainability and strategic management domain, a total of 101 universitiesacross the world contributed through 72 papers. Table 3 presents the leading universities involved in
Sustainability 2020, 12, 5218 of 21strengthening corporate sustainability and strategic management oriented research. The Universityof Graz is among the top universities involved in corporate sustainability and strategic managementresearch followed by Åbo Akademi University, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Kedge BusinessSchool, Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, Rice University, Ryerson University, University ofKassel, University of Leoben and Utrecht University.Table 3. Leading universities.UniversitiesCountriesNo. of ArticlesUniversity of GrazÅbo Akademi UniversityBlekinge Institute of TechnologyKedge Business SchoolPontifical Catholic University of ParanaRice UniversityRyerson UniversityUniversity of KasselUniversity of LeobenUtrecht aGermanyAustriaThe Netherlands42222222223.4. Authors Actively Involved in PublishingA total of 167 authors contributed to the 72 papers. Table 4 presents the main authors (three ormore that two papers each) who have published articles on sustainability and strategic management.Baumgartner [2,4,6,25] appears to be a more prolific author in the field of corporate sustainability andstrategic management and has published six papers, followed by Hahn with four published papers.Figge contributes to the research topic with three papers followed by four authors. Hallstedt, Lozanoand Searcy published two papers. The results show that a vast majority of authors have contributed tojust one article in the set of journals comprising the dataset.Table 4. Main authors.AuthorNo. of Articlesh-Index (Retrieved from Scopus)Baumgartner R.J.Hahn T.Figge F.Hallstedt S.I.Lozano R.Searcy C.643222162122133025Table 5 presents the most cited papers comprising this dataset in the field of corporate sustainabilityand strategic management. The number of citations were retrieved from Scopus for each one of thesepapers. Then, the age of each paper was calculated by extracting the year of publication from thecurrent year (2019). Finally, the average annual number of citations was calculated by dividing thenumber of citations in Scopus with the age of the paper.
Sustainability 2020, 12, 5219 of 21Table 5. Top cited papers.Title of PaperNo. of Citations (Retrievedfrom Scopus)Age of the Paper(in Years)Average AnnualNumber of CitationsThe Sustainability BalancedScorecard—Linking SustainabilityManagement to Business Strategy4581726.94Sustainability in Action: Identifying andMeasuring the Key Performance Drivers2611814.5Corporate Sustainability Strategies:Sustainability Profiles and Maturity Levels234926Strategy Development in Small andMedium- Sized Enterprises forSustainability and Increased Value Creation1691016.9Tensions in Corporate Sustainability:Towards an Integrative Framework168442A Holistic Perspective on CorporateSustainability Drivers148437132526.4Managing Corporate Sustainability andCSR: A Conceptual Framework CombiningSustainability2020, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEWValues, Strategies and InstrumentsContributing to Sustainable DevelopmentBuildingCorporateSocial Responsibility intoBuildingCorporateSocial Responsibility116into StrategyStrategy11610109 of 2311.611.63.5.Frequency ofof KeywordsKeywords3.5. FrequencyFigureshowsthethefrequencyof keywordsthatusedare inusedeach Thepaper.The ofmajorityofFigure 55showsfrequencyof keywordsthat abilityandcorporatesocialrefer to sustainability, sustainable development, corporate sustainability and corporate socialresponsibility.Other keywordskeywords regardingregarding toto strategy,responsibility. Otherstrategy, strategicstrategic planningplanning andand strategystrategy suchaswere also used. Finally, keywords regarding to decision-making or decision-making chers.as Analytic Network Process were used by researchers.Figure 5. Frequency of keywords.VOSviewer was used to indicate the most frequently used keywords of the 72 papers and therelationships among them. TheThe net
Keywords: corporate sustainability; sustainable development; business strategy; decision-making; decision support systems 1. Introduction Existing researchers [1-3] have noticed that sustainability is becoming an increasing issue for decision-makers and scholars worldwide because it is concerned with the sustainable development of
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These educators volunteered to serve on eleven (11) English Languag e Arts grade level writing teams that met in Columbus, Ohio monthly from January to June 2017 to review the model curriculum and make updates to all current sections based on the need for clarity, detail, and relevance to the recently revised learning standards. Specialists also volunteered for resource teams that met .
