Jem Bendell

Public policies for scaling corporate responsibility standards: Expanding collaborative governance for sustainable development

Purpose – This paper seeks to provide an overview and context for the emerging field of public policies for scaling voluntary standards, or private regulations, on the social and environmental performance of business and finance, to promote sustainable development; in order to stimulate more innovation and research in this field.Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the approach of a literature review of texts from intergovernmental and non‐governmental organisations, to develop a synthesis of issues, before literature review from management studies, development studies and international relations, to revise the synthesis and identify policy relevant future research.Findings – Governance at all levels but particularly the international level involves corporations and their stakeholders. Together they have created non‐statutory corporate social responsibility (CSR) standards which now influence significant amounts of international trade and investment, thereby presenting new benefits, risks and cha...

Evolving Partnerships: A Guide to Working with Business for Greater Social Change

Foreword Professor Malcolm McIntosh, Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, Griffith University Introduction 1. A Planet of Partnerships 2. Generations of Partnership 3. Transcending Limitations with a Third Generation of Partnerships 4. Assessing Your Partnering 5. Evolving to the Next Generation of Partnership 6. The Challenges Facing Third-Generation Partners 7. The Particular Opportunities and Challenges of 3rd Generation Partnerships for Development Conclusions References

In the company of revolutionaries: reviving radical innovation 20 years after the contemporary era of cross-sector partnering began

This article provides a personal reflection on 20 years of practice and research on cross-sector partnering for sustainable development. It coincides with the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first book on the subject, In the Company of Partners (Murphy and Bendell, 1997). The approach by staff in both business and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) on partnering in the mid 1990s is summarised, including the emphasis on purposeful experimentation. How the same approach might lead to more adventurous partnerships today between start-ups and grassroots networks is discussed. The beginning of such collaborations on changing economic fundamentals, such as monetary systems, is highlighted.

Beyond unsustainable leadership: critical social theory for sustainable leadership

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to prepare the conceptual groundwork for the future study of leadership for sustainable development. The paper demonstrates the relevance of Critical Leadership Studies to future research on sustainable development policies and practices. A critical approach is also applied to concepts of sustainable development, with three paradigms of thought described. Design/methodology/approach The approach taken is an extensive literature review in fields of leadership and sustainable development, with a focus on some of the broad assumptions and assertions in those literatures. Findings A key finding is that leadership studies drawing from critical social theory can provide important insights into future research and education on leadership for sustainability. This literature shows that some assumptions about leadership may hinder opportunities for social or organisational change by reducing the analysis of factors in change or reducing the agency of those not deemed to be leading. These limitations are summarised as “seven unsustainabilities” of mainstream leadership research. Research limitations/implications The paper calls for the emerging field of sustainable leadership to develop an understanding of significant individual action that includes collective, emergent and episodic dimensions. The paper then summarises key aspects of the papers in this special issue on leadership for sustainability. Practical implications The implications for practice are that efforts to promote organisational contributions to sustainable development should not uncritically draw upon mainstream approaches to leadership or the training of leaders. Originality/value The authors consider this the first paper to provide a synthesis of insights from Critical Leadership Studies for research in sustainability.

Collaborative engagement for sustainability in the Asia Pacific region

The formation of strategic alliances between companies for mutual commercial benefit is a widely used approach by contemporary business. The development of such alliances with non-commercial organisations, such as government agencies and voluntary associations, to deliver social and environmental outcomes, is a more recent phenomenon. In the past decade such cross-sectoral strategic alliances have become a key mechanism for pursuing corporate sustainability and responsibility. By bringing together their respective competencies and resources for the greater good, people in governments, business, civil society and multilateral agencies have sought innovative ways to respond to many contemporary sustainable development challenges: climate change; human security; the prevention and treatment of major diseases; ethics, governance and responsible investment; entrepreneurship and employment; pension and superannuation funds management; and, sustainable financing for development. Globally, the appetite for such strategic alliances and stakeholder engagement appears strong. Over 90% of corporate executives responding to a World Economic Forum survey felt that in future ‘partnerships between business, government, and civil society would play either a major role or some role in addressing key development challenges.’ This interest is paralleled by an expanding literature on inter-organisational relations in management, organisation and international development studies, among other disciplines.