Sustainable business management
Sustainable corporate management represents an integrative and holistic management approach that focuses on the consideration and management of sustainability in the company. The three dimensions of sustainability - economy, ecology and social issues - are taken into account.
Definition
The term sustainable corporate management is only used in this way in German. Internationally, however, one speaks of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The National CSR Forum 2009 defines CSR as
"[...] sustainable corporate management in the core business, which is anchored in the company's business strategy."
Furthermore, the European Commission describes CSR as a concept
"[...] which serves as a basis for companies to voluntarily integrate social and environmental concerns into their business activities and into their interactions with stakeholders."
The concepts of corporate philanthropy and global citizenship show similarities to CSR and sustainable corporate management and are increasingly being used synonymously. Since there are only a few explicit definitions of these terms, one often speaks of corporate or social responsibility.
Principles for sustainability in corporate management
According to Grüninger (2009), there are five principles of sustainability in corporate management:
- Goal: long-term maintenance of the company
- Implementation of sustainability in strategic and operational business
- Formation of own indicators of sustainable corporate management
- Success of sustainable corporate management through orientation to values and compliance with rules
- Implementation of the basic principles of sustainable corporate governance: solidarity, transparency and risk management
Opportunities to take responsibility for sustainable development
If a company wants to take responsibility for sustainable development, it must determine how this is to be implemented. Sustainable corporate management can be measured by how companies develop adequate solutions in order to preserve economic, social and natural resources. The following points according to Figge u. a. (2004) should take into account:
- Making decisions for the object under consideration: Products, processes or services can be designed to be sustainable. The industry and region influence the concrete implementation of the measures.
- Inclusion of sustainable development in entrepreneurial decision-making: Economic (physical and financial capital), ecological ( natural capital ) or social ( human capital ) goals can be pursued. The most important categories for determining the consequences of actions should be determined.
- Determination of sustainability for a certain period and life cycle: When considering social and ecological goals, optimizations should be pursued for longer periods of time instead of a short-term increase in financial and physical capital. Furthermore, it must be determined for which phase of the life cycle (extraction of raw materials, production, transport, use, disposal, recycling) an improvement is sought.
- Extent of the involvement of responsibility for more sustainable development in decisions: Based on the decisions on the period and life cycle, action targets are to be developed, for the implementation of which numerous instruments are available: Social management standards such as AA1000, environmental cost accounting and environmental management according to DIN EN ISO 14001 and EMAS are just a few examples. The most important thing is that sustainability is strategically anchored in the company and in the corporate culture through the company's management . The inclusion of important stakeholders and holistic thinking, the reinforcement through organizational learning processes as well as the manner of sustainability measurement and environmental reporting are not negligible.
Integration of sustainability into the functional areas of the company
procurement
In the case of ecologically-oriented materials management, the required input goods are procured in such a way that both the operational commitment to resources and the impact on the environment are identified and reduced. This is of increasing importance especially in view of the increasingly scarce, non-renewable resources. Environmentally- oriented procurement management therefore increasingly uses regenerative raw materials, implements environmentally friendly production processes and products, and avoids processes and substances that have a negative impact on the environment.
The orientation towards a circular economy , in which waste and by-products are reused in the manufacturing process, is of particular importance . It is based on natural ecosystems in which circular processes predominate. The environmental impact can be reduced considerably through an efficient circular economy.
production
The provision of services in the company places two demands on the environment. Resources are taken from it as input for the production process and, in addition to the products that have to be disposed of at the end of their life, undesired by-products are generated as output.
The company can implement operational adaptation measures to protect the environment in the areas of input, processes or production and output. In addition to the measures for ecologically oriented procurement, environmentally harmful input factors can be replaced by environmentally friendly input factors , quantities used can be reduced and materials can be reused or reused in connection with recycling concepts. Furthermore, it is possible to design production processes in an environmentally friendly manner, to adapt material and energy flows to a circular economy and to implement strategies for the disposal of non-reusable materials.
Sales and marketing
In the area of sales, there is the possibility of integrating the customer and his buying behavior into the approaches of ecologically-oriented corporate management. In ecological marketing , strategies and measures are implemented which take environmental protection issues into account. Depending on the specific situation of the individual company, it may be necessary to adapt individual marketing instruments or even align the entire marketing mix .
Meffert and Kirchgeorg (2000) formulate the following possible starting points for the design of an ecological marketing policy:
Product policy
- Reducing the environmental impact caused in the manufacturing process
- Replace scarcer with sufficient available resources
- Ensuring environmentally friendly use of the products by customer service
- Manufacture of products that conserve raw materials and are recyclable
Pricing policy
- Ecological orientation of price discrimination
- Including scarcity of resources and environmental pollution in the price calculation
- Compensation calculation in favor of environmentally friendly products
Communication policy
- Widening awareness of ecological problems
- Information about environmentally friendly processes and products
- Sales promotion with an environmental focus
- Information on the environmental impact of the marketing program
- Ecology-related public relations
Distribution policy
- Ensuring the return flow of used products (retrodistribution)
- Implementation of a resource-saving organization of sales
- Avoidance of landscape destruction through sales organization measures
Environmental cost accounting and management
In addition to the type and level of environmental pollution, decision-making in the company also requires information about the costs of the environmental impact. The transparent design of the mutual dependency on financial and ecological goals is the task of environmental cost accounting , while environmental costs are not taken into account in conventional cost accounting . It is " single and overhead costs incurred through operational measures to avoid, reduce and eliminate environmental impact such. B. Personnel costs for the environmental protection officer, depreciation on environmental protection investments, consultancy fees for setting up an environmental management system , waste and sewage charges as part of public taxes, etc. "
In environmental cost accounting, new cost types and points are created for environmental protection- induced costs that are split off from conventional costs and considered independently . These must be allocated to the final cost centers according to the originator and offset against the cost units using suitable quantity and value keys.
Personnel and organization
If an environmental management system is to be implemented in a company, the personnel is a decisive factor for its success. The organizational change must be carefully planned, taking into account an improvement in efficiency. There are two ways in which an ecological orientation can be implemented in a company: The staff can be influenced by standards and values in the direction of an environmental culture or information, instruction and control competencies are assigned. Because of the strong interaction of both approaches, hybrid forms between culture and structure are realistic.
According to Pfriem (1996) and others, environmental aspects are taken into account in decisions, routines and actions of everyday company life. a. certain organizational framework conditions are essential:
- Integration of ecological aspects in specialist functions and tasks of employees
- Implementation of environmentally-oriented personnel development
- Integration of ecological aspects into the target and assessment system of the decision makers
- Integration of the ecological specialist functions
- Necessity of implementing a control, planning and control instrument based on ecological considerations
PESTEL analysis as a model for sustainable corporate management
The PESTEL analysis (also referred to as PESTLE) is a model for analyzing the macro environment of a company and represents an extension of the STEP analysis . The model describes six different factors influencing the effectiveness of a company's strategy:
- Political Factors
- Economic factors (Economic)
- Socio-cultural factors
- Technological factors
- Ecological factors (Environmental)
- Legal factors (Legal)
When carrying out the PESTEL analysis, a manager must ensure that current and future changes in the individual influencing factors are also taken into account during the investigation. This can ultimately lead to a high level of complexity in the analysis, especially since the individual factors are related to one another and cannot be viewed separately from one another.
The role of stakeholders
Stakeholders or stakeholder groups play a major role in the planning and design of sustainable corporate management. The term stakeholder includes
"[...] all persons, groups and institutions who have an influence on the achievement of corporate goals or whose own achievement of goals is influenced by the company."
A distinction must be made between two types of stakeholder groups, external and internal stakeholders. External stakeholders correspond to market (e.g. customers, suppliers, trade unions), political-legal (e.g. authorities, parties, courts) and public (public, churches, media) stakeholders, whereas internal stakeholders correspond to the individual corporate units (locations, Daughters) as well as the individual employees.
It is essential for the company to identify relevant internal and external stakeholders and to define strategies and options for dealing with them. Such a procedure primarily serves to define how to deal with individual stakeholder groups in order to identify possible cooperation partners and to recognize potential dangers from the possible influence of individual parties at an early stage.
To determine relevant stakeholder groups, two concepts have been established, the strategic stakeholder group concept and the normative-critical stakeholder concept. The former is primarily based on the strength of a stakeholder's influence on the company and its activities. Influential stakeholder groups are therefore preferred. In the normative-critical stakeholder concept, on the other hand, the claims of all stakeholders are treated equally if they can be ethically justified. In terms of a rationally acting company, however, a clear separation of the concepts should not necessarily be recommended, but rather a link between them.
literature
- Nicolas Fuchshofen, Wiltrud Terlau, Franz W. Peren, Dirk Uwer: A testing and certification standard for the social responsibility of organizations: A discussion proposal based on DIN EN ISO / IEC 26000. 2019.
- C. Kind, J. Savelsberg, O. Lühr, JP Kramer, J. Lambert: Klimacheck. Guide to the management of climate risks in industrial SMEs. BMWi, Berlin 2014. (PDF)
- K. Marsden, E. Carceller, D. Weiss, M. Hammerl, H. Hamele, S. Hörmann: Integration of biological diversity in CSR processes in the tourism industry. Basic study (short version) . adelphi, Berlin 2014.
- R. Rieckhof, H. Klapper: Verorte sustainable corporate management. In: E. Günther, RX Ruter (Hrsg.): Principles of sustainable corporate management: Success through responsible management. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2012.
- S. Grüninger: 5 principles for sustainability in corporate management. 2009.
- KH Prammer: Integrated environmental cost management. Frame of reference and conception for ecologically sustainable corporate management. Habilitation thesis. Gabler, Wiesbaden 2008.
- J. Schwalbach, A. Schwerk: Corporate Governance and Corporate Citizenship. In: A. Habisch, R. Schmidpeter, M. Neureiter (eds.): Manual Corporate Citizenship: Corporate Social Responsibility for Managers. Springer, Berlin 2008.
- H. Dyckhoff, R. Souren: Sustainable corporate management. Basics of industrial environmental management. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008.
- C. Burschel, D. Losen, A. Wiendl: Business administration of sustainable companies. Oldenbourg, Munich 2004.
- F. Figge, T. Hahn: Environmental Shareholder Value Matrix: Concept, Application and Calculation. In: Econ Papers. 2004.
- European Commission (Ed.): Green Paper - European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility. COM (2001) 366 final.
- WF Schulz u. a .: Lexicon of Sustainable Management . 2001.
- E. Günther, H. Schuh: Definitions, concepts and criteria for sustainable development. Dresden 2000.
- P. Letmathe: Environmental cost accounting: Theoretical foundations and practical concepts. Vahlen, Munich 1998.
- H. Meffert, M. Kirchgeorg: Market-oriented environmental management. Schäffer-Poeschel, Stuttgart 2000.
- R. Pfriem: Company policy in socio-ecological perspectives. 1996.
- L. Wicke u. a .: Corporate environmental economics. Vahlen, Munich 1992.
Individual evidence
- ^ R. Rieckhof, H. Klapper: Verorte sustainable corporate management. In: E. Günther, RX Ruter (Hrsg.): Principles of sustainable corporate management: Success through responsible management. Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2012, pp. 9-20.
- ↑ CSR Forum, In: Common Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Germany.
- ↑ European Commission - In: Green Paper - European Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility , COM (2001)
- ↑ A. Hardtke: The CSR universe. In: A. Hardtke, A. Kleinfeld (Hrsg.): Social responsibility of companies: From the idea of corporate social responsibility to successful implementation. Gabler, Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 13–70.
- ^ J. Schwalbach, A. Schwerk: Corporate Governance and Corporate Citizenship. In: A. Habisch, R. Schmidpeter, M. Neureiter (eds.): Manual Corporate Citizenship: Corporate Social Responsibility for Managers. Springer, Berlin 2008, pp. 71–86.
- ↑ E. Günther, H. Schuh: Definitions, concepts and criteria for sustainable development. Dresden 2000.
- ^ F. Figge, T. Hahn: Environmental Shareholder Value Matrix: Concept, Application and Calculation. In: Econ Papers. 2004, pp. 1–22.
- ↑ C. Burschel, D. Losen, A. Wiendl: Business economics of sustainable companies. Oldenbourg, Munich 2004.
- ↑ H. Meffert, M. Kirchgeorg: Market-oriented environmental management. Schäffer-Poeschel, Stuttgart 2000.
- ↑ P. Letmathe: Environmental cost accounting: Theoretical foundations and practical concepts. Vahlen, Munich 1998.
- ↑ P. Letmathe: Environmental cost accounting: Theoretical foundations and practical concepts. Vahlen, Munich 1998.
- ↑ J. Cadle, D. Paul, P. Turner: Business Analysis Techniques. 72 Essential Tools for Success. Bcs-Verlag, Swindon, UK 2010, pp. 3-5.
- ^ G. Johnson, K. Scholes, R. Whittington: Strategic Management - An Introduction: Analysis, Decision, and Implementation. 9th edition. Pearson Studium, Munich 2011, pp. 80–81.
- ↑ M. Schulze: Process-oriented design of value chains. Dissertation . Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2007, p. 8.
- ^ KH Prammer: Integrated environmental cost management. Frame of reference and conception for ecologically sustainable corporate management. Habilitation thesis . Gabler, Wiesbaden 2008, p. 190.
- ↑ H. Dyckhoff, R. Souren: Sustainable Management. Basics of industrial environmental management. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2008, pp. 123–125.
- ↑ P. Ulrich: Integrative business ethics, foundations of a life-serving economy. 3. Edition. Haupt-Verlag, Bern 2001, pp. 442f.