Building a Theoretical Framework for Corporate Sustainability

Joaquin Sanchez-Planelles, Marival Segarra-Oña and Angel Peiro-Signes
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Joaquin Sanchez-Planelles: Management Department, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera, s/n 46022 Valencia, Spain
Marival Segarra-Oña: Management Department, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera, s/n 46022 Valencia, Spain
Angel Peiro-Signes: Management Department, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera, s/n 46022 Valencia, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-21

Abstract: Literature about sustainability and sustainable businesses has become a large field of study during the last years. This field is growing so fast that there are sub-areas or bodies of literature within the sustainability which scopes with clear boundaries between each other. This has caused the apparition of several methodologies and tools for turning traditional companies into sustainable business models. This paper aims to develop the descriptive stage of the theory building process through a careful review of literature to create the first phase of a theory about corporate sustainability. It provides the following classification of concepts retrieved from the observation of the state of art: holistic sustainability, sustainable business models, sustainable methodologies, sustainable operations, and sustainability-oriented innovation. In addition, it seeks to establish relationships between the sustainable concepts and the expected outcomes that their implementation can generate among companies and organizations. Finally, it gives an overview of possibilities for managers that want to embed sustainability in their firms and clear paths of research for keeping the building of the theory about corporate sustainability as a process of constant iteration and improvement.

Keywords: sustainability; holistic sustainability; sustainable business models; theory building process; literature review; eco-innovation; sustainable operations; sustainable methodologies; sustainability-oriented innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2020:i:1:p:273-:d:470557

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