Conference Agenda

Firms increasingly engage in business models for sustainability. While most research has previously focused on typologies or challenges of stakeholder management business models for sustainability, their specific networks roles have not been studied so far. This work presents a multiple case study analysis in five companies aimed at depicting a managerial perspective for the design of the network of business model for sustainability. We use data from those cases to explore this question and identify five phases of network building of business models for sustainability and ten roles. The results represent an overview that can support companies in understanding which are the most important issues to be addressed when facing the challenge to build a network while starting sustainable. We thereby provide first guidelines for practitioners in choosing the right form of network of business model for sustainability for their company.

Non-financial disclosures, including those related to employee matters and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), are of increasing interest to stakeholders and regulators. As one of the world’s largest professional services networks, PwC is exposed to, and potentially influences, business and disclosure practices worldwide. PwC’s disclosures may also serve as a signal to clients, competitors, regulators, and other stakeholders. Thus, its stated goals, employment practices, and DEI disclosures may reflect more than the practices of a single firm in a single industry. We conduct a longitudinal study of employee and DEI disclosures provided in PwC’s voluntary purpose and inclusion reports. We quantitatively and qualitatively analyze disclosure practices, metrics, and conclusions. Considered in the context of social, economic, and regulatory environments, results of this analysis provide insights about the firm and its human capital-intensive industry, as well as the potential for voluntary disclosures to meet demands for non-financial employee and DEI information.

Sustainable programs have the potential to improve the environmental sustainability of supply chains, however there is an ongoing debate regarding their influence on firm’s performances. This research investigates the impact of sustainable programs on firms' operational efficiency and innovativeness. By collecting secondary data from multiple sources (CDP, Orbis, USPTO, Insights by Greib), a panel dataset of 774 observations across 9 years (2012-2020) is constructed. Subsequently, two-step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) models are applied. The findings indicate that sustainable programs improve company’s operational efficiency, while hindering innovativeness. The role of financial constraints and time is sought. The former significantly influences the relationship between sustainability and innovativeness, creating a trade off where, most of the times, sustainability is prioritized due to the mounting external pressures on environmental issues. The role of time has been observed to sooths the negative effects and to render them positive in the years following the implementation.

Nowadays, the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises seems to be very complicated due to the dynamically changing economic and political reality. One of the current challenges facing small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of logistics are issues related to sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. In this context, the aim of the study is to identify possible changes that have occurred in the area of conditions for the development of sustainable logistics in small and medium-sized enterprises in the postpandemic period. To achieve the intended goal, a comparative analysis of research results from 2020 and 2024 was carried out in a group of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in Poland.