Sophie Morin-Delerm

Adoption of sustainable development reporting by universities

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to study the issuance of sustainable development reports by French universities, based on two dimensions proposed by Ansari Design/methodology/approach - – Three complementary data sources were used: an extensive literature review, exploratory interviews with sustainable development (SD) officers from French universities, and the four editions of the Responsible Campus Guide (Guide des Campus Responsables). The empirical data collected were then subjected to a dynamic multi-level analysis drawing on three theoretical frameworks. Findings - – Four different profiles of universities appear, suggesting that the many isomorphic pressures exerted on universities influence the characteristics (extensiveness and fidelity) of their SD reports. Research limitations/implications - – Further research is required to explore whether these findings are generalisable to business schools and universities in different contexts. Practical implications - – This study will be of interest to other higher education institutions seeking to embark on a similar sustainability reporting track. It is also a way to observe the characteristics of SD reports, to analyse what and how first-time reporters communicate. Originality/value - – This paper adds to existing research by focusing on a managerial innovation that is still relatively new in French universities. Its second contribution lies in its comparative approach introducing a distinction between early and later adopters of SD reporting. It also contributes to extending the existing theorisation of SD reporting.

The Distribution of Monastic Products: The Online Merchant Space, a Potential to Extend Physical Place Attachment—An Extended Abstract

French monasteries and abbeys played a religious, cultural, political, and economic role throughout the Middle Ages (Le Goff 1994). Today, their local, spiritual, and architectural secular anchorage has made of them a major factor of national heritage (Heinich 2009). The contemplative monastic orders integrate work into their life of prayer (Nursie de, sixth century) and their tie with the contemporary world through trade is most real. Nowadays, so as to survive autonomously, monasteries produce and sell today’s consumer products through innovative multichannel distribution. Offline and online channels coexist, embodied by a variety of religious and secular points of sale. This research concerns the distribution of monastic products on the Internet, and seeks to discover whether the virtual channel conveys to cyber-purchasers the heritage power of a physical monastic place. To answer this question, we focused our study on the purchasing experience felt by those using the virtual marketplace Les Boutiques de Theophile, managed by a cooperative of 14 abbeys. We first present the contemporary monasteries’ economic activity and the characteristics of today’s monastic consumer products. We then anchor the research in the works linking marketing and place, and describe the qualitative methodology employed when interviewing cyber-purchasers. We demonstrate that the results reveal the potential that the Internet has to extend the physical place attachment for people who already know the monastic heritage place. A segmented usage of this channel will be recommended.