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Sustainable Development Pathway of Corporate Social Responsibility and Economic Efficiency

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 7773

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Tourism Guidance, Istanbul Gelisim University, Istanbul 34310, Turkey
Interests: tourism; organization behaviour; human resource management
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Guest Editor
Department of Economics, School of Accounting and Finance, University of Vaasa, 65200 Vaasa, Finland
Interests: economics; energy; environmental economics; sustainable development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Economics and Finance, South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk 454080, Russia
Interests: economics; corporate finance; innovations in industry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent times, there has been increasing integration of socioeconomic, environmental, and other aspects of human existence. This is because large institutions and multinational establishments are extensively persuaded by societal groups, governments and non-governmental agents to engage in activities that impact society in a responsible manner.

Considering the complexity associated with societal needs, the discourse of individual, collective, and corporate responsiveness remains an important contemporary subject because of its relevance to all human aspects including environment, socioeconomic status, health, and others. Thus, it suffices to reason that ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Economic Efficiency’ is a necessary pathway to attaining Sustainable Development’.

Specifically, McWilliams and Siegel (2001) opined that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to actions that supposedly propel the elements of social good, such as compliance with environmental or social regulations far beyond short-term interests. On the other hand, while confirming that efficiency and sustainability are not mutually exclusive aspects of the economy, Bishop (1993) inferred that an economy can be as sustainable as it is efficient but that its efficiency is not a guarantee for its sustainability. Thus, CSR and economic efficiency are formidable pathways to sustainable development, as captured in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (UNDP, 2020). These aspects of integration through social responsibilities in human behaviour, corporate practices, cultural and societal norms (Cop et al., 2020a&b), and many more, are vital to sustainable development.

Therefore, with the launch of this Special Issue, ‘Sustainable Development pathway of Corporate Social Responsibility and Economic Efficiency’, we aim to provide a collection of scientific contributions from authors on the subject of economic productivity, individual and corporate responsiveness, and other human activities in the framework of sustainable development. It is expected that manuscripts should address individual, societal, corporate, and economic activities in the areas of development, health, waste management, land, environmental quality, and innovation.

Dr. Uju Violet Alola
Dr. Andrew Adewale Alola
Dr. Maria V. Podshivalova
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • corporate social responsibility
  • societal behaviour
  • economy
  • environmental quality
  • organizational practice
  • sustainable development

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 566 KiB  
Article
At the Frontier of Sustainable Finance: Impact Investing and the Financial Tradeoff; Evidence from Private Portfolio Companies in the United Kingdom
by Gimede Gigante, Emiliano Sironi and Caterina Tridenti
Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 3956; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15053956 - 22 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3110
Abstract
Drawing from the extremely novel impact investing landscape and the limited existing literature on the topic, it appears that investing in social enterprises should come at the cost of partially sacrificing financial returns to invested capital. This paper investigates the existence of this [...] Read more.
Drawing from the extremely novel impact investing landscape and the limited existing literature on the topic, it appears that investing in social enterprises should come at the cost of partially sacrificing financial returns to invested capital. This paper investigates the existence of this tradeoff by assessing how the performance of impact investing funds compares to that of traditional private equity and venture capital operators. Focusing on portfolio firm operating performance, we construct a dataset of 85 impact-investing observations and 5310 traditional observations over the period ranging from 2009 to 2020, in order to compare the performance of the traditional investor-backed firms with those of sustainable companies participated by social impact investors. Advanced matching methods such as Radius and Kernel matching suggest that the composition of the shareholding structure significantly affects the profitability of the company, with traditional firms outperforming their socially-concerned counterparts. Looking instead within the subsample of impact investor portfolio companies, and focusing only on the post-investment observations, we analyze how the percentage owned by the impact investors impacts the performance of the owned companies. The results show that, similarly to traditional ownership, a greater share controlled by impact investors leads to higher returns. Full article
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23 pages, 1709 KiB  
Article
A Schematic Model for Implementing Industries High Risk Projects through the Agent of Human Capital
by Irina Soloveva, Irina Mostovshchikova, Darya Baeva and Andrew Alola
Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11778; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811778 - 19 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1739
Abstract
Given the global drive for more sustainable industrial practices, the goal of this paper is to develop and test an algorithm to diagnose the readiness of industrial enterprises to implement team management in innovation projects. Our model was tested at a large industrial [...] Read more.
Given the global drive for more sustainable industrial practices, the goal of this paper is to develop and test an algorithm to diagnose the readiness of industrial enterprises to implement team management in innovation projects. Our model was tested at a large industrial enterprise in the food industry. To study the peculiar features of the perception of a company image by different functional groups of participants (within the framework of the proposed structural model of the image), we used the in-depth interview method. The study involved a total of 60 people making up three groups of company employees (managers, brand sellers, workers). The data were complemented by a documentary analysis. Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability, thus researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further. The results reveal significant discrepancies in the company image formed among different groups of current and potential employees. An analysis showed that the enterprise under study is not ready for the implementation of team management, and additional training is required. The proposed approach will allow us to identify the factors that somewhat (inwardly) impede the implementation of investments at the enterprise and restrain its sustainable innovation and development. The scientific and business significance of the developed correctional and diagnostic model lies in its ability to assess the level of consistency in the perception of the goals and development prospects of the company. As such, the potential participants in project teams are identified, and, through the implementation of corrective measures, we create a basis for the formation of effective teams. Full article
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24 pages, 948 KiB  
Article
Models and Methods of Formation of the Foresight-Controlling Mechanism
by Anatoliy Alabugin, Sergei Aliukov and Tatyana Khudyakova
Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 9899; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169899 - 10 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1604
Abstract
The necessity of mechanisms for long-term forecasting and regulation of high-tech enterprise development strategies has been determined. This paper discusses how managers and designers can create models and methods for sustainability management mechanisms. The elements of novelty of this study and contribution to [...] Read more.
The necessity of mechanisms for long-term forecasting and regulation of high-tech enterprise development strategies has been determined. This paper discusses how managers and designers can create models and methods for sustainability management mechanisms. The elements of novelty of this study and contribution to the existing theory of managing objects of socio-economic systems are: the development of the principle of a single mechanism of foresight-controlling, which made it possible to increase the efficiency and sustainability of the organizational behavior of objects; the development of theoretical and methodological models for the formation of a foresight-controlling management mechanism; the improvement of the management mechanism based on the combined application of mechanical and organic models of organizational behavior of socio-economic systems; the development of methods for regulating the management mechanism according to stability criteria in accordance with the characteristics of the enterprise’s innovation cycle; finally, the modernization of mathematical models and methods for studying the processes of functioning of the control mechanism. The following results of the implementation of the methods at the enterprise-object of research were obtained: the assessment and adjustment of planned and target indicators of the quality of management were carried out on the basis of an examination of the parameters of the quality of regulation; recommendations were developed for adjusting the planned and target indicators of the quality of the formation of development strategies, taking into account the factors of the knowledge economy. The results’ validations were implemented in projects and plans for the innovative development of the facility based on the transformation factors of the 5–6th modes of the economy. Full article
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