Helen Tregidga

Beyond Corporate Environmental Management to a Consideration of Nature in Visionary Small Enterprise

This article examines the potential for visionary small-enterprise to operate with a fundamentally different conception of nature from the environmental management mode offered within the business case for sustainable development. Corporate environmental management is critiqued for not offering any fundamental reassessment of the business—nature relationship, which would be required to achieve ecological sustainability. Three contrasting cases of visionary small-enterprise in New Zealand are described in terms of the entrepreneurs’ expressed understandings of nature and constructions of the business—nature relationship. The entrepreneurs in this study readily made connections between nature and their businesses and were aware of value judgments they made either in favor of nature, or with some regret against it where supporting infrastructure was absent, or economic rationalities prevailed. A nature-centered and not overly growth-focused outlook appears an essential element of business aligned with the new ecological paradigm.

Biodiversity offsetting: problematisation of an emerging governance regime

Purpose – The paper aims to analyse accounting rationalities and practices which lie behind biodiversity offsetting. The way in which accounting functions as a technology of government through the practice of biodiversity offsetting is to be considered and its effects examined.Design/methodology/approach – Governmentality is drawn upon to examine ways in which power and authority are exercised in a single case study setting. Data analysed comprise corporate and industry websites and documents, corporate reports, public documentation and interviews. The arena concept is utilised to highlight contestation in the case, and signal concerns regarding the wider impact of the use of particular accounting rationalities and technologies in the context of biodiversity offsetting.Findings – The paper provides empirical insights into how accounting for biodiversity offsetting rationales and practices constitute an attempt to reproduce power relations in favour of particular parties and foster disciplinary effects. Th...

The Politics of Knowing “Organizational Sustainable Development”

We critically examine organizational representations of sustainable development in 197 publicly available corporate reports. Using a discourse theoretical approach, we analyze how these organizations have come to “know” sustainable development, and we consider the conditions that made this knowledge possible. Themes identified are (a) enlightened self-interest and the business case, (b) organizational sustainable development as a balancing act, (c) organizational sustainable development as necessary and important, (d) being sustainable as responsibility and/or obligation, (e) organizational sustainable development as challenge and opportunity, and (f) sustainable development as a new and an old concept. Taken-for-granted assumptions in corporate reports emphasize organizational ability to manage sustainably underpinned by optimism about technological advancements, continuous improvement, and efficiencies. The organizational construction of sustainable development “accommodates” current organizations and systems of organizing. More extensive and compelling engagement with the discourse is required by both practitioners and academics, and with each other—if an environmentally, socially, and economically enabling construction of sustainable development is to be realized.

Analyzing the quality, meaning and accountability of organizational reporting and communication: Directions for future research

Abstract The aim of this paper is to promote further research that analyzes the quality, meaning and accountability of organizational reporting and corporate communication. These issues are critical if accounting is to satisfy its role by providing information to the public. In this paper, we conclude this special issue by reiterating the potential for research that takes interpretive and qualitative approaches, in their various guises, to the study of organizational reporting and communication. We briefly outline this growing field of research and then highlight the areas where we believe future research is needed. In doing so, we draw on Thompson’s (1990) tripartite framework. This paper provides an overview of some of the avenues for future research, which will hopefully encourage and guide researchers in this area.

HR managers and environmental sustainability: strategic leaders or passive observers?

In this paper, we explore the challenges posed to, and reactions of, human resource (HR) managers by the concept of environmental sustainability. From interviews with 14 New Zealand HR managers, we explore three related aspects of morality identified by Fineman: private, conventional, and enacted. Findings indicate that while the HR managers note a private position of environmental concern, they take a passive approach to environmental sustainability within their organizations. We note that this passive position is not without potentially adverse effects in relation to the role of HR as a strategic partner and for the advancement of environmental sustainability within organizations.

Ramping Up Resistance: Corporate Sustainable Development and Academic Research:

We argue the need for academics to resist and challenge the hegemonic discourse of sustainable development within the corporate context. Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory provides a useful framework for recognizing the complex nature of sustainable development and a way of conceptualizing counter-hegemonies. Published empirical research that analyzes sustainable development discourse within corporate reports is examined to consider how the hegemonic discourse is constructed. Embedded assumptions within the hegemonic construction are identified including sustainable development as primarily about economic development, progress, growth, profitability, and “responsibly” managed levels of resource depletion. We call for multiple voices in the discursive field to debate and to resist closure and highlight the possibilities for academic researchers to actively resist the hegemonic construction. Specifically, we advocate vigilance and awareness, critical and reflective analyses, challenge and resistance based on other frames of reference, and strategies for communicating both within and outside the academy.

Analyzing the quality, meaning and accountability of organizational reporting and communication

Abstract This paper provides a critical introduction to the issue about Analyzing the quality, meaning and accountability of organizational reporting and communication. The present paper begins by addressing why such analyses are important and then introduces each of the papers that appear in the issue. The contribution involves identifying and reviewing how each paper contributes to the literature on issues of quality, meaning and accountability associated with organizational reporting and communication.

“Speaking truth to power”: analysing shadow reporting as a form of shadow accounting

Purpose - To empirically investigate the act of shadow reporting by a social movement organisation as a form of shadow accounting within a sustained campaign against a target corporation. Situated within a consideration of power relations, the rationales underlying the production of the shadow report and the shadow reports perceived value and limits as a shadow accounting mechanism are investigated. Design/methodology/approach - A Foucauldian approach to power/knowledge and truth is drawn upon in the analysis of a single case study. Alongside a consideration of the shadow report itself, interviews with both the preparers of the report and senior management of the corporation targeted comprise the main data. Findings - The paper provides an empirical investigation into shadow reporting as a form of shadow accounting. While a range of insights are garnered into the preparation, dissemination and impact of the shadow report, key findings relate to a consideration of power relations. The perceived ‘truth’ status of corporate accounts compared to accounts prepared by shadow accountants is problematised through a consideration of technologies of power and power/knowledge formations. Power relations are subsequently recognised as fundamental to the emancipatory potential of shadow reporting. Research limitations/implications - Results from a single case study are presented. Furthermore, given the production of the shadow report occurred several years prior to the collection of data, participants were asked to reflect on past events. Findings are therefore based on those reflections. Originality/value - While previous studies have considered the preparation of shadow reports and their transformative potential, this study is, the author believes, the first to empirically analyse the preparation, dissemination and perceived impacts of shadow reporting from the perspectives of both the shadow report producers and the target corporation.

Sustainability reporting – more global than local?

Purpose In recognition of the potential for Buddhism to advance sustainability, this paper aims to investigate whether Buddhism appears to be informing the sustainability practices of corporations within a particular national context. Corporate sustainability reports are used as a site of analysis. Design/methodology/approach Sixteen corporate sustainability reports from a set of sustainability award-winning corporations in Sri Lanka, a country with a strong Buddhist presence, are analysed. Evidence of Buddhist principles and values related to sustainability is sought to ascertain the extent to which Buddhism is evident in disclosures within the reports. The influence of global institutions is also considered. Findings Analysis reveals surprisingly little evidence of Buddhist principles and values in the corporate sustainability reports of these award-winning corporations. Sustainability reporting practices are revealed to be highly institutionalised by global influences, with the majority of the reports examined explicitly embracing global standardisation. The standardisation of corporate sustainability reporting through the pursuit of globally accepted reporting frameworks is argued to have caused a disconnect between Buddhism as a prevalent institutional force in the local culture and context and the corporate representations evident in such reporting. Potential consequences of this disconnect in relation to the ability for Buddhism to inform sustainability practices at the organisational level are considered. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature on corporate sustainability reporting through considering whether local cultural context is represented within such reports and possible reasons and consequences.

Exiting in a State of Grace: can death be sustainable?

By August 2007, Deborah Cairns and Fran Reilly had been in business just a year and their alternative, family-directed funeral business had already won a regional sustainable business award. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, State of Grace offered clients socially and environmentally friendly alternatives including involving families where possible in keeping the deceased at home without embalming, and the use of natural products including eco-caskets. Deborah and Fran appreciated there were plenty of challenges in providing more socially responsible, natural alternatives to traditional funerals and current modes of burial and cremation. Now their fledgling business is gaining momentum, the two women were trying to find the balance between how much and how fast to grow the business, and at the same time meet their family commitments and stay true to their sustainability values. There is an underlying issue surrounding their prioritisation of whom and what needed sustaining most.