“You get what you measure”: evaluation, reporting and measurement of sustainability in large companies in Italy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s98.2015.20Keywords:
sustainability quantification, sustainability reporting, environmental and social indicators, large companiesAbstract
Purpose of the paper: This research has the aim to explore which are the main sustainability quantitative tools, how some of the largest companies in Italy quantify their “degree” of responsibility and if there is a balance between the environmental and the social aspect.
Methodology: This is an explorative study conducted through a content analysis. Three Sustainability Reports published by three large companies (Eni, Fiat and Barilla, selected considering data provided by Mediobanca) have been analyzed, examining in particular the sustainability indicators.
Findings: The study reveals that large companies report their sustainability information following the GRI guidelines, through a series of indicators related both to the environmental and social dimension of sustainability.
Research limits: There are two main limits: firstly the explorative nature of this study, secondly those findings reflect the approach of the largest companies only, which follow the GRI guidelines.
Practical implications: The attention shown by the selected companies demonstrates that sustainability is becoming an increasingly relevant matter for companies, for their relationships with stakeholders and for their reputation as well.
Originality of the paper: Research on sustainability quantification is internationally in a developing phase: its application to an Italian context represents the originality of this study.
References
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ALBERTI F., BUBBIO A. (2000), “La «Balanced Scorecard»: alcune esperienze a confronto”, Amministrazione e Finanza Oro, n. 1, pp. 64-86.
ARTIACH T., DARREN L., NELSON D., WALKER J. (2010), “The determinants of corporate sustainability performance”, Accounting and Finance, vol. 50, n. 1, pp. 31-51.
BALDASSARRE F. (2006), “Le prospettive della Balanced Scorecard”, in Scicutella M., La gestione d’impresa, Cacucci, Bari.
BERELSON B. (1952), Content Analysis in Communication Research, The Free Press, Glencoe.
BEÇA P., SANTOS R. (2014), “A comparison between GDP and ISEW in decoupling analysis”, Ecological Indicators, vol. 46, November 2014, pp. 167-176.
BOWEN H.R. (1953), Social responsibilities of the businessman, Harper & Row, New York.
CARROLL A. (1979), “A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 4, n. 4, pp. 497-505.
CASTELLANI G. (2011), Responsabilità sociale d’impresa e bilancio di sostenibilità, Maggioli Edfitore, Santarcangelo di Romagna - RN.
CRANE A., MCWILLIAMS A., MATTEN D., MOON J., SIEGEL D.S. (2008), The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
DALY H., COBB J. (1989), For the Common Good, Beacon Press, Boston.
DAUB C.H. (2007), “Assessing the quality of sustainability reporting: an alternative methodological approach”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 15, n. 1, pp. 75-85.
DAHLSRUD A. (2006), “How Corporate Social Responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, vol. 15, n. 1, pp. 1-13.
DIAS SARDINHA I., REIJNDERS L. (2001), “Environmental performance evaluation and sustainability performance evaluation of organizations: an evolutionary framework”, Eco-Management and Auditing, vol. 8, n. 2, pp.71-79.
DIAS SARDINHA I., REIJNDERS L., ANTUNES P. (2007), “Developing Sustainability Balanced Scorecards for Environmental Services: A Study of Three Large Portuguese Companies”, Environmental Quality Management, vol. 16, n. 4, pp. 13-34.
DYLLICK T., HOCKERTS K. (2002), “Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability”, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 11, n. 2, pp. 130-141.
EPSTEIN E.M. (1987), “The corporate social policy process: beyond business ethics, corporate social responsibility and corporate social responsiveness”, California Management Review, vol. 29, n. 3, pp. 99-114.
EPSTEIN M.J., ROY M. (2001), “Sustainability in action: identiifying and measuring the key performance drivers”, Long Range Planning, vol. 34, n. 5, pp. 585-604.
EPSTEIN M.J., WISNER P.S. (2001), “Using a Balanced Scorecard to Implement Sustainability”, Environmental Quality Management, vol. 11, n. 2, pp. 1-10.
FIGGE F., HAHN T., SHALTEGGER S., WAGNER M. (2002), “The sustainability Balanced Scorecard - linking sustainability management to business strategy”, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 11, n. 5, pp. 269-284.
FREEMAN R.E. (1984), Strategic Management: A stakeholder approach, Pitman, London.
FREEMAN R.E., VELAMURI S.R., MORIARTY B. (2006), “Company Stakeholder Responsibility: a new approach to CSR”, available at http://www.corporate-ethics.org/pdf/csr.pdf.
GARRIGA E., MELÈ D. (2004), “Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory”, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 53, n. 1-2, pp. 51-71.
GLADWIN T.N., KENNELLY J.J., KRAUSE T. (1999), “Shifting paradigms for sustainable development: implications for management theory and research”, Academy of management Review, vol. 20, n. 4, pp. 874-907.
GILBERT D.U., RASCHE A. (2007), “ Discourse ethics and social accountability: The ethics of SA 8000”, Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 17, n. 2, pp. 187-216.
HART S.L., AHUJA G. (1996), “Does it pay to be green? An empirical examination of the relationship between emission reduction and firm performance”, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 5, n. 1, pp. 30-37.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION (2013), ISO 14031: Environmental management. Environmental performance evaluation, Guidelines.
JAGGI B., FREEDAMAN M. (1992), “An examination of the impact of pollution performance on economic and market performance: pulp and paper firms”, Journal of Business and Finance and Accounting, vol. 19, n. 5, pp. 697-713.
JASCH C. (2000), “Environmental performance evaluation and indicators”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 8, n. 1, pp.79-88.
JOHNSTON P., EVERARD M., SANTILLO D., ROBERT K.H. (2007), “Reclaiming the Definition of Sustainability”, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 14, n. 1, pp. 60-66.
KAPLAN R.S., NORTON D.P. (1992), “The Balanced Scorecard - Measures that drive performance”, Harvard Business Review, vol. 70, n. 1, pp. 71-79.
KAPTEIN M.(2007), “Ethical guidelines for compiling corporate social reports”, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, vol. 27 (October), pp. 71-90.
KOLK A. (2004), “A decade of sustainability reporting: developments and significance”, International Journal of Environmental and Sustainable Development, vol. 3, n. 1, pp. 51-64.
LAUFER W.S. (2003), “Social Accountability and Corporate Greenwashing”, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 43, n. 3, pp. 253-261.
LAWN P.A. (2003), “A theoretical foundation to support the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), and other related indexes”, Ecological Economics, vol. 44, n. 1, pp. 105-118.
LEE K.-H., FARZIPOOR SAEN R. (2012), “Measuring corporate sustainability management: A data envelopment analysis approach”, International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 140, n. 1, pp. 219-226.
LINDGREEN A., SWAEN V. (2010), “Corporate Social Responsibility”, International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 12, n. 1, pp. 1-7.
LODHIA S., MARTIN N. (2014), “Corporate Sustainability Indicators: an Australian mining case study”, Journal of Cleaner Production, in press, available on www.sciencedirect.com.
LOZANO R., HUISINGH D. (2011), “Inter-linking issues and dimensions in sustainability reporting”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 19, n. 2-3, pp. 99-107.
MCGUIRE J.B., SUNDGREN A., SCHNEEWEIS T. (1998), “Corporate social responsibility and firm financial performance”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 31, n. 4, pp. 854-872.
MOLLER A., SCHALTEGGER S. (2005), “The Sustainability Balanced Scorecard as a Framework for Eco-efficiency Analysis”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 9, n. 4, pp. 73-83.
MORHARDT J.E., BAIRD S., FREEMAN K. (2002), “Scoring corporate environmental and sustainability reports using GRI 2000, ISO 14031 and other criteria”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, vol. 9, n. 4, pp. 215-233.
MOSCARINI F. (2009), “Lo sviluppo degli studi sulla Corporate Social Responsibility nella dottrina internazionale”, Rivista Italiana di Ragioneria e di Economia Aziendale, Marzo-Aprile.
NIKOLAOU I.E., TSALIS T.A. (2013), “Development of a sustainable balanced scorecard framework”, Ecological Indicators, vol. 34 (November), pp. 76-86.
PERRINI F., TENCATI A. (2006), “Sustainability and stakeholder management: the need for new corporate performance evaluation and reporting systems”, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 15, n. 5, pp. 296-308.
PERRINI F., TENCATI A. (2008), “La responsabilità sociale d’impresa: strategia per l’impresa relazionale e innovazione per la sostenibilità”, Sinergie, n. 77, pp. 23-43.
POLLIFRONI M. (2007), Public sector social responsibility. Strumenti di rendicontazione etico-sociale per l’azienda pubblica, Giuffrè Editore, Milano.
RUSCONI G. (2006), Il bilancio sociale. Economia, etica e responsabilità dell’impresa, Ediesse, Roma.
RUSSO M.V., FOUTS P.A. (1997), “A resource based perspective on corporate environmental performance and profitability”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 40, n. 3, pp. 534-559.
SALZMANN O., IONESCU-SOMERS A., STEGER U. (2005), “The Business Case for Corporate Sustainability: Literature Review and Research Options”, European Management Journal, vol. 23, n. 1, pp. 27-36.
SCIARELLI M. (2012), Corporate Social Performance. Il valore allargato nella prospettiva degli stakeholder, Cedam, Padova.
SEN A. (1987), On Ethics and Economics, Blackwell, Malden.
SEN A. (1993), “Does Business Ethics Make Economic Sense?”, Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 3, n. 1, pp. 45-54.
SEN A. (1997), “Economics, Business Principles and Moral Sentiments”, Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 7, n. 3, pp. 5-15.
SETHI S.P. (1975), “Dimensions of Corporate Social Performance: An Analytical Framework”, California Management Review, vol. 17, n. 3. pp. 58-64.
SHALTEGGER S., BENNETT M., BURRITT R. (2006), Sustainability Accounting and Reporting, Springer, Dodrecht.
SIANO A. (2012), “La comunicazione della sostenibilità per il management delle imprese”, Sinergie, n. 89, pp. 3-23.
SZEJNWALD BROWN H., DE JONG M., LEVY D.L. (2009), “Building institutions based on information disclosure: lessons from GRI’s sustainability reporting”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 17, n. 6, pp. 571-580.
VAN MARREWIJK M. (2003), “Concepts and definitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: between agency and communion”, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 44, n. 2, pp. 95-105.
WARTICK S.L., COCHRAN P.L. (1985), “The evolution of the Corporate Social Performance model”, The Academy of Management Review, vol. 10, n.4, pp. 758-769.
WEBER R.P. (1990), Basic Content Analysis, Sage, Newbury Park.
WOOD D.J. (1991), “Corporate Social Performance revisited”, The Academy of Management Review, vol. 16, n. 4, pp. 691-718.
ALBERTI F., BUBBIO A. (2000), “La «Balanced Scorecard»: alcune esperienze a confronto”, Amministrazione e Finanza Oro, n. 1, pp. 64-86.
ARTIACH T., DARREN L., NELSON D., WALKER J. (2010), “The determinants of corporate sustainability performance”, Accounting and Finance, vol. 50, n. 1, pp. 31-51.
BALDASSARRE F. (2006), “Le prospettive della Balanced Scorecard”, in Scicutella M., La gestione d’impresa, Cacucci, Bari.
BERELSON B. (1952), Content Analysis in Communication Research, The Free Press, Glencoe.
BEÇA P., SANTOS R. (2014), “A comparison between GDP and ISEW in decoupling analysis”, Ecological Indicators, vol. 46, November 2014, pp. 167-176.
BOWEN H.R. (1953), Social responsibilities of the businessman, Harper & Row, New York.
CARROLL A. (1979), “A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 4, n. 4, pp. 497-505.
CASTELLANI G. (2011), Responsabilità sociale d’impresa e bilancio di sostenibilità, Maggioli Edfitore, Santarcangelo di Romagna - RN.
CRANE A., MCWILLIAMS A., MATTEN D., MOON J., SIEGEL D.S. (2008), The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
DALY H., COBB J. (1989), For the Common Good, Beacon Press, Boston.
DAUB C.H. (2007), “Assessing the quality of sustainability reporting: an alternative methodological approach”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 15, n. 1, pp. 75-85.
DAHLSRUD A. (2006), “How Corporate Social Responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, vol. 15, n. 1, pp. 1-13.
DIAS SARDINHA I., REIJNDERS L. (2001), “Environmental performance evaluation and sustainability performance evaluation of organizations: an evolutionary framework”, Eco-Management and Auditing, vol. 8, n. 2, pp.71-79.
DIAS SARDINHA I., REIJNDERS L., ANTUNES P. (2007), “Developing Sustainability Balanced Scorecards for Environmental Services: A Study of Three Large Portuguese Companies”, Environmental Quality Management, vol. 16, n. 4, pp. 13-34.
DYLLICK T., HOCKERTS K. (2002), “Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability”, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 11, n. 2, pp. 130-141.
EPSTEIN E.M. (1987), “The corporate social policy process: beyond business ethics, corporate social responsibility and corporate social responsiveness”, California Management Review, vol. 29, n. 3, pp. 99-114.
EPSTEIN M.J., ROY M. (2001), “Sustainability in action: identiifying and measuring the key performance drivers”, Long Range Planning, vol. 34, n. 5, pp. 585-604.
EPSTEIN M.J., WISNER P.S. (2001), “Using a Balanced Scorecard to Implement Sustainability”, Environmental Quality Management, vol. 11, n. 2, pp. 1-10.
FIGGE F., HAHN T., SHALTEGGER S., WAGNER M. (2002), “The sustainability Balanced Scorecard - linking sustainability management to business strategy”, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 11, n. 5, pp. 269-284.
FREEMAN R.E. (1984), Strategic Management: A stakeholder approach, Pitman, London.
FREEMAN R.E., VELAMURI S.R., MORIARTY B. (2006), “Company Stakeholder Responsibility: a new approach to CSR”, available at http://www.corporate-ethics.org/pdf/csr.pdf.
GARRIGA E., MELÈ D. (2004), “Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory”, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 53, n. 1-2, pp. 51-71.
GLADWIN T.N., KENNELLY J.J., KRAUSE T. (1999), “Shifting paradigms for sustainable development: implications for management theory and research”, Academy of management Review, vol. 20, n. 4, pp. 874-907.
GILBERT D.U., RASCHE A. (2007), “ Discourse ethics and social accountability: The ethics of SA 8000”, Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 17, n. 2, pp. 187-216.
HART S.L., AHUJA G. (1996), “Does it pay to be green? An empirical examination of the relationship between emission reduction and firm performance”, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 5, n. 1, pp. 30-37.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION (2013), ISO 14031: Environmental management. Environmental performance evaluation, Guidelines.
JAGGI B., FREEDAMAN M. (1992), “An examination of the impact of pollution performance on economic and market performance: pulp and paper firms”, Journal of Business and Finance and Accounting, vol. 19, n. 5, pp. 697-713.
JASCH C. (2000), “Environmental performance evaluation and indicators”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 8, n. 1, pp.79-88.
JOHNSTON P., EVERARD M., SANTILLO D., ROBERT K.H. (2007), “Reclaiming the Definition of Sustainability”, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 14, n. 1, pp. 60-66.
KAPLAN R.S., NORTON D.P. (1992), “The Balanced Scorecard - Measures that drive performance”, Harvard Business Review, vol. 70, n. 1, pp. 71-79.
KAPTEIN M.(2007), “Ethical guidelines for compiling corporate social reports”, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, vol. 27 (October), pp. 71-90.
KOLK A. (2004), “A decade of sustainability reporting: developments and significance”, International Journal of Environmental and Sustainable Development, vol. 3, n. 1, pp. 51-64.
LAUFER W.S. (2003), “Social Accountability and Corporate Greenwashing”, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 43, n. 3, pp. 253-261.
LAWN P.A. (2003), “A theoretical foundation to support the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW), Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), and other related indexes”, Ecological Economics, vol. 44, n. 1, pp. 105-118.
LEE K.-H., FARZIPOOR SAEN R. (2012), “Measuring corporate sustainability management: A data envelopment analysis approach”, International Journal of Production Economics, vol. 140, n. 1, pp. 219-226.
LINDGREEN A., SWAEN V. (2010), “Corporate Social Responsibility”, International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 12, n. 1, pp. 1-7.
LODHIA S., MARTIN N. (2014), “Corporate Sustainability Indicators: an Australian mining case study”, Journal of Cleaner Production, in press, available on www.sciencedirect.com.
LOZANO R., HUISINGH D. (2011), “Inter-linking issues and dimensions in sustainability reporting”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 19, n. 2-3, pp. 99-107.
MCGUIRE J.B., SUNDGREN A., SCHNEEWEIS T. (1998), “Corporate social responsibility and firm financial performance”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 31, n. 4, pp. 854-872.
MOLLER A., SCHALTEGGER S. (2005), “The Sustainability Balanced Scorecard as a Framework for Eco-efficiency Analysis”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 9, n. 4, pp. 73-83.
MORHARDT J.E., BAIRD S., FREEMAN K. (2002), “Scoring corporate environmental and sustainability reports using GRI 2000, ISO 14031 and other criteria”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, vol. 9, n. 4, pp. 215-233.
MOSCARINI F. (2009), “Lo sviluppo degli studi sulla Corporate Social Responsibility nella dottrina internazionale”, Rivista Italiana di Ragioneria e di Economia Aziendale, Marzo-Aprile.
NIKOLAOU I.E., TSALIS T.A. (2013), “Development of a sustainable balanced scorecard framework”, Ecological Indicators, vol. 34 (November), pp. 76-86.
PERRINI F., TENCATI A. (2006), “Sustainability and stakeholder management: the need for new corporate performance evaluation and reporting systems”, Business Strategy and the Environment, vol. 15, n. 5, pp. 296-308.
PERRINI F., TENCATI A. (2008), “La responsabilità sociale d’impresa: strategia per l’impresa relazionale e innovazione per la sostenibilità”, Sinergie, n. 77, pp. 23-43.
POLLIFRONI M. (2007), Public sector social responsibility. Strumenti di rendicontazione etico-sociale per l’azienda pubblica, Giuffrè Editore, Milano.
RUSCONI G. (2006), Il bilancio sociale. Economia, etica e responsabilità dell’impresa, Ediesse, Roma.
RUSSO M.V., FOUTS P.A. (1997), “A resource based perspective on corporate environmental performance and profitability”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 40, n. 3, pp. 534-559.
SALZMANN O., IONESCU-SOMERS A., STEGER U. (2005), “The Business Case for Corporate Sustainability: Literature Review and Research Options”, European Management Journal, vol. 23, n. 1, pp. 27-36.
SCIARELLI M. (2012), Corporate Social Performance. Il valore allargato nella prospettiva degli stakeholder, Cedam, Padova.
SEN A. (1987), On Ethics and Economics, Blackwell, Malden.
SEN A. (1993), “Does Business Ethics Make Economic Sense?”, Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 3, n. 1, pp. 45-54.
SEN A. (1997), “Economics, Business Principles and Moral Sentiments”, Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 7, n. 3, pp. 5-15.
SETHI S.P. (1975), “Dimensions of Corporate Social Performance: An Analytical Framework”, California Management Review, vol. 17, n. 3. pp. 58-64.
SHALTEGGER S., BENNETT M., BURRITT R. (2006), Sustainability Accounting and Reporting, Springer, Dodrecht.
SIANO A. (2012), “La comunicazione della sostenibilità per il management delle imprese”, Sinergie, n. 89, pp. 3-23.
SZEJNWALD BROWN H., DE JONG M., LEVY D.L. (2009), “Building institutions based on information disclosure: lessons from GRI’s sustainability reporting”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 17, n. 6, pp. 571-580.
VAN MARREWIJK M. (2003), “Concepts and definitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: between agency and communion”, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 44, n. 2, pp. 95-105.
WARTICK S.L., COCHRAN P.L. (1985), “The evolution of the Corporate Social Performance model”, The Academy of Management Review, vol. 10, n.4, pp. 758-769.
WEBER R.P. (1990), Basic Content Analysis, Sage, Newbury Park.
WOOD D.J. (1991), “Corporate Social Performance revisited”, The Academy of Management Review, vol. 16, n. 4, pp. 691-718.
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2015-12-30
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