James J. Kennelly

Sustainability and Place-Based Enterprise

In this article, we critique the “placeless” character of enterprise sustainability research and introduce the concept of the place-based enterprise (PBE), arguing that such enterprises offer a potentially important means of fostering ecological and social sustainability in local communities. Drawing on a variety of disciplinary perspectives, we offer a specification of the concept of place and explore the relationships between places and enterprises. We maintain that PBEs, whose resources, productive activities, and ownership are anchored in specific local places, and who themselves possess a sense of place, may be more likely than conventional enterprises to pursue locally beneficial economic, social, and environmental outcomes. A typology of PBEs and suggestions for future research are proposed.

The sustainable executive: antecedents of managerial long-term orientation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain how managers incorporate long-term thinking in their decision-making processes as an antipode to a widely criticized managerial short-termism. For this purpose, the authors present a model of the influence of institutional, cultural and individual temporal factors on managerial long-term orientation (LTO). Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper is based on a multidisciplinary review of the literature on the causes of managerial LTO. Findings It is proposed that managerial LTO is influenced by cultural and institutional factors on both a societal and an organizational level, as well as by managers’ individual temporal predispositions and the strengths of relational commitments with different stakeholder groups. It is further expected that managerial LTO has an influence on sustainability-related managerial behavior. Practical implications As the presented model reveals the main factors that orient managers toward the long run in their decisions, it can also be used as a framework to evaluate policies to curb managerial myopia on both an organizational and a societal level. Social implications As sustainability is intrinsically linked with the ability to think and act in the long term, understanding the factors that influence managerial LTO can also contribute to building more sustainable organizations. Originality/value One of the main contributions of this paper is that it highlights the link between reciprocal relationships and LTO, an aspect that has not yet been the focus of the literature on the temporal orientation of managers.