The Distribution of Sustainable Decision-Making in Multinational Manufacturing Enterprises

Therese Fagerlind, Martin Stefanicki, Andreas Feldmann and Jouni Korhonen
Additional contact information
Therese Fagerlind: Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Martin Stefanicki: Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Andreas Feldmann: Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden
Jouni Korhonen: Department of Sustainable Production Development, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 18, 1-17

Abstract: In order to contribute to research on implementing business sustainability, this study aims to explore the distribution of decision-making authority related to economic, environmental, and social sustainability. Sustainability objectives between different organizational levels in multinational manufacturing enterprises (MMEs) are investigated. The research is fundamentally exploratory. We conducted a multiple case study endeavor with nine participating case organizations. The study identified five different decision-making approaches to sustainability in multinational manufacturing enterprises. The findings showed that there was no consistent way of deciding upon sustainability issues. Some case organizations seemed to regard sustainability as a global concern, while others regarded it as a more local concern. In general, the economic sustainability dimension was regarded as more of a global concern, while the environmental dimension was more of a local concern, and the social dimension more of an integrated concern. The findings of this study can act as guidance for managers when implementing or improving sustainability strategies. The findings will also serve as a map to navigate and understand what should be given the strongest priority in different situations concerning decision-making relating to sustainability in manufacturing processes and networks.

Keywords: sustainability strategy; decision-making; multinational manufacturing enterprises; manufacturing networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/18/4871/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/18/4871/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:18:p:4871-:d:264672

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().