Put Your Money where Your Mouth is: The Difference between Real Commitment to Sustainability and Mere Rhetoric

Titolo Rivista FINANCIAL REPORTING
Autori/Curatori Laura Bini, Marco Bellucci, Francesco Giunta
Anno di pubblicazione 2017 Fascicolo 2016/2
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 27 P. 5-31 Dimensione file 278 KB
DOI 10.3280/FR2016-002001
Il DOI è il codice a barre della proprietà intellettuale: per saperne di più clicca qui

Qui sotto puoi vedere in anteprima la prima pagina di questo articolo.

Se questo articolo ti interessa, lo puoi acquistare (e scaricare in formato pdf) seguendo le facili indicazioni per acquistare il download credit. Acquista Download Credits per scaricare questo Articolo in formato PDF

Anteprima articolo

FrancoAngeli è membro della Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA)associazione indipendente e non profit per facilitare (attraverso i servizi tecnologici implementati da CrossRef.org) l’accesso degli studiosi ai contenuti digitali nelle pubblicazioni professionali e scientifiche

Companies exhibit growing interest in sustainability rhetoric. Such an interest is alternatively justified by a company’s need to address legitimacy instances, rather than to satisfy stakeholders’ requests about its sustainability performance. Whatever the case, a main debated issue concerning sustainability rhetoric deals with the difficulties in understanding whether companies’ commitment towards sustainability is "real", or it only consists of "empty words" that hide opportunistic strategies. Our paper contributes to this debate, proposing a methodological approach, which is based on a company’s business model (BM) representation. We argue that the inclusion of adequate sustainability information in a company’s BM representation can testify to a real company’s engagement, as it illustrates how sustainability affects its value creation process. Compared to extant methodological proposals, mainly based on linguistic analyses, our approach does not require specific competences to be applied. Moreover, it saves user’s time, as it allows the assessment of entire company’s sustainability rhetoric through the analysis of the information reported in its BM. Our approach is consistent with previous contributions that propose a company’s BM as a representation device able to illustrate strategic information that cannot be represented in the traditional corporate reporting. Our approach proposes a possible answer to address the challenges faced by regulators and standard setters involved in the regulation of sustainability disclosure. Such approach has found a first step of implementation in the UK, where since 2013, listed companies are requested to describe their BM in Strategic Reports.

Keywords:Sustainability rhetoric, business model, corporate social responsibility, non-financial disclosure, mining industry.

  1. Adams W.M. (1995), Green development theory: environmentalism and sustainable development, in J. Crush (Ed.), Power of Development (London: Routledge).
  2. Amit R. and Zott C. (2001), Value creation in e-business. Strategic Management Journal, 22, pp. 493-520.
  3. Aras G., Crowther D. (2009), Corporate sustainability reporting: a study in disingenuity?, Journal of Business Ethics, 87 (1), pp. 279-288.
  4. Arevalo J.A., Castelló I., de Colle S., Lenssen G., Neumann K. (2011). Introduction to the special issue: integrating sustainability in business models. Journal of Management Development, 30 (10), pp. 941-954.
  5. Ariansen P. (1999), Sustainability, morality, and future generations. In W.M. Lafferty, O. Langhelle (Eds.), Towards sustainable development: On the goals of development and the conditions of sustainability (pp. 84-96). (London: Mcmillan).
  6. Azapagic A. (2004). Developing a framework for sustainable development indicators for the mining and minerals industry. Journal of Cleaner Production 12 (6), pp. 639-662.
  7. Barkemeyer R., Comyns B., Figge F., Napolitano G. (2014), CEO statements in sustainability reports: Substantive information or background noise?, Accounting Forum, 38 (4), pp. 241-257,
  8. Barth R., Wolff F. (Eds.) (2009), Corporate social responsibility in Europe: Rhetoric and realities (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar).
  9. Beattie V., Smith S.J. (2013), Value creation and business models: Refocusing the intellectual capital debate. The British Accounting Review 45 (4), pp. 243-254.
  10. Beattie V., McInnes B., Fearnley S. (2004), A methodology for analysing and evaluating narratives in annual reports: a comprehensive descriptive profile and metrics for disclosure quality attributes. Accounting Forum, 28 (3), pp. 205-236.
  11. Bebbington J. (2007), Changing organizational attitudes and culture through sustainability accounting, in J. Unerman, J. Bebbington, B. O’Dwyer (Eds.), Sustainability Accounting and Accountability (pp. 226-242) (London: Routledge).
  12. Beder S. (1997). Global spin: The corporate assault on environmentalism (London: Green Books).
  13. Blombäck A., Scandelius C. (2013), Corporate heritage in CSR communication: A means to responsible brand image? Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18 (3), August, pp. 362-382, DOI: 10.1108/CCIJ-07-2012-0048
  14. Boulding K.E. (1966), The economics of the coming Spaceship Earth, in Jarrett H (Ed.), Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy (pp. 3-14) (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press/Resources for the Future).
  15. Buhr N., Reiter S. (2006), Ideology, the environment and one world view: A discourse analysis of Noranda’s environmental and sustainable development reports, in M. Freedman, B. Jaggi (Eds.), Advances in environmental accounting and management (pp. 1-48, Vol. 3) (Bingley, West Yorkshire: Emerald).
  16. Bukh N. (2003), The relevance of intellectual capital disclosure: a paradox?, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 16 (1), pp. 49-56.
  17. Bukh N.P., Nielsen C., Gormsen P., Mouritsen J. (2005), Disclosure of information on intellectual capital in Danish IPO prospectuses. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 18 (6), pp. 713-732.
  18. Burke K. (1969), A Grammar of Motives. (Berkeley: University of California Press).
  19. Carroll A.B., Shabana K.M. (2010). The business case for corporate social responsibility: a review of concepts, research and practice. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12 (1), pp. 85-105,
  20. Castelló I., Lozano J.M. (2011). Searching for new forms of legitimacy through corporate responsibility rhetoric, Journal of Business Ethics, 100 (1), pp. 11-29,
  21. Cho C.H., Roberts R.W., Patten D.M. (2010), The language of US corporate environmental disclosure, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 35 (4), pp. 431-443.
  22. Cowell S.J., Wehrmeyer W., Argust P.W., Graham J., Robertson S. (1999), Sustainability and the primary extraction industries: theories and practice, Resources Policy, 25 (4), pp. 277-286.
  23. Dahlsrud A. (2008). How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions. Corporate social responsibility and environmental management, 15 (1), pp. 1-13.
  24. Daly H. (1996). Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development. (Boston, MA: Beacon).
  25. Deegan C. (2002), Introduction: The legitimising effect of social and environmental disclosures – a theoretical foundation, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 15 (3), pp. 282-311, DOI: 10.1108/09513570210435852
  26. Dobele A.R., Westberg K., Steel M., Flowers K. (2014), An examination of corporate social responsibility implementation and stakeholder engagement: A case study in the Australian mining industry, Business Strategy and the Environment, 23 (3), pp. 145-159.
  27. Dobson A. (1995), Green Political Thought, 2nd Ed. (London: Routledge).
  28. Durden C. (2008), Towards a socially responsible management control system, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 21 (5), pp. 671-694.
  29. Eccles R.G., Saltzman D. (2011), Achieving sustainability through integrated reporting, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer, 59.
  30. Eccles R.G., Nohria N., Berkley J.D. (1992), Beyond the Hype: Rediscovering the Essence of Management. (Boston: Harvard Business School Press).
  31. Ekins P. (1993), Making development sustainable, in W. Sachs (Ed.), Global Ecology: A New Arena of Political Conflict. (London: Zed Books).
  32. Elkington J. (1997), Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business. (Oxford: Capstone Publishing).
  33. Elkington J. (2004). Enter the Triple Bottom Line, in A. Henriques, J. Richardson (Eds.), The Triple Bottom Line, does it all add up? (pp. 1-16) (London: Earthscan Publications).
  34. Epstein E.M. (2007). The good company: Rhetoric or reality? Corporate social responsibility and business ethics redux, American Business Law Journal, 44 (2), pp. 207-222,
  35. Evans T.L. (2012), Occupy Education: Living and Learning Sustainability. (New York: Peter Lang).
  36. Fawcett S.E., Magnan G.M. (2002). The rhetoric and reality of supply chain integration, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 32 (5), pp. 339-361.
  37. Field L., Ford B. (1995), Managing Organizational Learning: From Rhetoric and Reality. (Melbourne: Longman).
  38. FRC (2014), Guidance on the Strategic Report, The Financial Reporting Council, available at https://www.frc.org.uk/Our-Work/Publications/Accounting-and-Reporting-Policy/Guidance -on-the-Strategic-Report.pdf (accessed 20 September 2016).
  39. Freeman R.E. (1984). Strategic Management: a Stakeholder Approach. (Boston, MA: Pittman).
  40. Fuller R.B. (1968). Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. (New York: Dutton).
  41. Garriga E., Melé D. (2004). Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory, Journal of Business Ethics, 53 (1-2): 51-71.
  42. Gladwin T.N., Krause T.-S., Kennelly J.J. (1995), Beyond eco-efficiency: Towards socially sustainable business, Sustainable Development, 3, pp. 35-43.
  43. Göbbels M. (2002), Reframing Corporate Social Responsibility: The Contemporary Conception of a Fuzzy Notion.
  44. Gond J.P., Grubnic S., Herzig C., Moon J. (2012), Configuring management control systems: Theorizing the integration of strategy and sustainability, Management Accounting Research, 23(3), pp. 205-223,
  45. Gond J.P., Palazzo G., Basu K. (2009), Reconsidering instrumental corporate social responsibility through the Mafia metaphor, Business Ethics Quarterly, 19 (1), pp. 55-58.
  46. Googins B.K., Rochlin S.A. (2000), Creating the partnership society: understanding the rhetoric and reality of cross‐sectoral partnerships, Business and Society Review, 105 (1), pp. 127-144.
  47. Gray R. (2010), Is accounting for sustainability actually accounting for sustainability... and how would we know? An exploration of narratives of organisations and the planet, Accounting Organizations and Society, 35 (1), pp. 47-62,
  48. Gray R.H., Milne M. (2002), Sustainability reporting: Who’s kidding whom? Chartered Accountants Journal of New Zealand, 81(6), pp. 66-70.
  49. Gray R. (2006). Does sustainability reporting improve corporate behaviour?: Wrong question? Right time? Accounting and Business Research, 36 (supp. 1), pp. 65-88.
  50. GRI (2011), Sustainability Reporting Guidelines & Mining and Metals Sector Supplement. Global Reporting Initiative. Available from: https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/G3-English-Mining-and-Metals-Sector-Supplement.pdf [Accessed 18 February 2016].
  51. GRI (2013), Reporting principles and standard disclosure. Global Reporting Initiative. Available from: https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/GRIG4-Part1-Reporting-Principles-and-Standard-Disclosures.pdf [Accessed 18 February 2016].
  52. GRI (2014), A role for market regulators and operators in advancing corporate transparency on sustainability. Global Reporting Initiative. Available from: https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/Paper-Market-Regulators-and-Operators.pdf [Accessed 18 October 2016].
  53. Hahn R., Lülfs R. (2014), Legitimizing negative aspects in GRI-oriented sustainability reporting: A qualitative analysis of corporate disclosure strategies, Journal of Business Ethics, 123 (3), pp. 401-420.
  54. Holder-Webb L., Cohen J.R., Nath L., Wood D. (2009), The supply of corporate social responsibility disclosures among U.S. firms, Journal of Business Ethics, 84, pp. 497-527.
  55. Holland J. (2006), A Model of Corporate Financial Communications. (Edinburgh: Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland).
  56. Hopwood A.G. (2009). Accounting and the environment. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 34 (3-4), pp. 433-439. International Journal, 18, pp. 362-382 DOI: 10.1108/CCIJ-07-2012-0048
  57. Ihlen Ø. (2009), The oxymoron of ‘sustainable oil production’: the case of the Norwegian oil industry, Business Strategy and the Environment, 18(1), pp. 53-63.
  58. Ihlen Ø., Roper J. (2014), Corporate reports on sustainability and sustainable development: “We have arrived”, Sustainable Development, 22, pp. 42-51
  59. IIRC (2013), The International <IR> Framework, London: International Integrated Reporting Committee. Available from http://integratedreporting.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/13-12-08-THE-INTERNATIO NAL-IR-FRAMEWORK-2-1.pdf [Accessed 20 November 2015].
  60. Jenkins H., Yakovleva N. (2006), Corporate social responsibility in the mining industry: Exploring trends in social and environmental disclosure, Journal of Cleaner Production, 14 (3), pp. 271-284.
  61. Kennedy G.A. (1991), Aristotle on Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
  62. KPMG (2008), KPMG International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2008. (Amsterdam: KPMG International).
  63. KPMG (2013), KPMG International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2011. (New York: KPMG International).
  64. Laine M. (2010). Towards sustaining the status quo: Business talk of sustainability in Finnish corporate disclosures 1987-2005, European Accounting Review, 19 (2), pp. 247-274, DOI: 10.1080/09638180903136258
  65. Levy D.L. (1997), Environmental management as political sustainability, Organization & Environment, 10 (2), pp. 126-147,
  66. Livesey S.M., Kearins K. (2002), Transparent and caring corporations? A study of sustainability reports by The Body Shop and Royal Dutch/Shell, Organization and Environment, 15(3), pp. 233-258.
  67. Lougee B., Wallace J. (2008), The corporate social responsibility (CSR) trend, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 20 (1), pp. 96-108.
  68. Luke T.W. (2013), Corporate social responsibility: an uneasy merger of sustainability and development, Sustainable Development, 21 (2), pp. 83-91,
  69. Magretta J. (2002), Why Business Models Matter, Harvard Business Review, 80 (5), pp. 86-92.
  70. Mäkelä H., Laine M. (2011), A CEO with many messages: Comparing the ideological representations provided by different corporate reports, Accounting Forum, 35 (4), pp. 217-231.
  71. Marais M. (2012), CEO rhetorical strategies for corporate social responsibility (CSR), Society and Business Review, 7 (3), pp. 223-243.
  72. Marrewijk Van M. (2003), Concepts and definitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: Between agency and communion, Journal of Business Ethics, 44(2), pp. 95-105,
  73. Milne M.J. (2012), Phantasmagoria, sustain-a-babbling, and the communication of corporate social and environmental accountability, in J.L. Davison, R. Craig (Eds.), The Routledge companion to accounting communication (pp. 135-153). (London: Routledge).
  74. Milne M.J., Kearins K.N., Walton S. (2006), Creating adventures in wonderland? The journey metaphor and environmental sustainability, Organization, 13 (6), pp. 801-839.
  75. Morris L. (2013), Business Model Warfare. The Strategy of Business Breakthroughs, Journal of Business Models, 1 (1), pp. 13-37,
  76. Mouritsen J., Larsen H.T., Bukh P.N. (2001), Intellectual capital and the `capable firm’: narrating, visualising and numbering for managing knowledge, Accounting, Organisations and Society, 26 (7), pp. 735-762.
  77. Neu D., Warsame H., Pedwell K. (1998), Managing public impressions: environmental disclosures in annual reports, Accounting, organizations and society, 23 (3), pp. 265-282.
  78. Newton T., Harte G. (1997), Green business: technicist kitsch? Journal of Management Studies, 34 (1), pp. 75-98.
  79. Nidumolu R., Prahalad C.K., Rangaswami M.R. (2009), Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation, Harvard Business Review, 87 (9), pp. 56-64.
  80. Nielsen C., Bukh P.N. (2011), What constitutes a Business Model: The perception of financial analysts, International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 8 (3), pp. 256-271.
  81. Nielsen C. (2008), Through the Eyes of Analysts: A content analysis of the narratives supporting recurrent and fundamental research, Working paper series (6). Aalborg University: Department of Business Studies.
  82. Nielsen C. (2010), Conceptualizing, analyzing and communicating the business model, Working paper series (2), Aalborg University: Department of Business Studies.
  83. Osterwalder A. (2004), The Business Model Ontology – a proposition in a design science approach. Ph.D. thesis, University of Lausanne: Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales HEC, available from: http://www.hec.unil.ch/aosterwa/ PhD/Osterwalder_PhD_BM_Ontology.pdf [Accessed 20 February 2016].
  84. Palazzo G., Scherer A.G. (2006), Corporate legitimacy as deliberation: a communicative framework, Journal of Business Ethics, 66 (1), pp. 71-88.
  85. Patten D.M. (1992), Intra-industry environmental disclosures in response to the Alaskan oil spill: a note on legitimacy theory, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 17 (5), pp. 471-475.
  86. Patten D.M. (2002), The relation between environmental performance and environmental disclosure: a research note, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 27 (8), pp. 763-773.
  87. Peck P., Sinding K. (2003), Environmental and social disclosure and data richness in the mining industry, Business Strategy and the Environment, 12 (3), pp. 131-146.
  88. Perkmann M., Spicer A. (2010), What are business models? Developing a theory of performative representations, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 29, pp. 269-279.
  89. Petrovic O., Kittl C., Teksten R.D. (2001), Developing Business Models for E-Business, International Conference on Electronic Commerce Munich, Germany, 2001, available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1658505 (accessed 20 November 2014).
  90. Redclift M. (2005), Sustainable development (1987-2005): An oxymoron comes of age. Sustainable Development, 13, pp. 212-227,
  91. Rhee S.K., Lee S.Y. (2003), Dynamic change of corporate environmental strategy: rhetoric and reality, Business Strategy and the Environment, 12 (3), pp. 175-190,
  92. Schaltegger S., Harms D., Windolph S.E., Hörisch J. (2014), Involving corporate functions: Who contributes to sustainable development?, Sustainability, 6 (5), pp. 3064-3085.
  93. Schaltegger S., Lüdeke-Freund F., Hansen E.G. (2012), Business cases for sustainability: the role of business model innovation for corporate sustainability, International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 6 (2), pp. 95-119.
  94. Shrivastava P. (1995), The role of corporation in achieving ecological sustainability, Academy of Management Review, 20 (4), pp. 936-960.
  95. Slack K. (2012), Mission impossible?: Adopting a CSR-based business model for extractive industries in developing countries, Resources Policy, 37 (2), pp. 179-184.
  96. Stubbs W., Cocklin C. (2008), Conceptualizing a ‘sustainability business model’, Organization & Environment, 21 (2), pp. 103-127.
  97. Suchman M.C. (1995), Managing legitimacy: strategic and institutional approaches, Academy of Management Review, 20 (3), pp. 571-611.
  98. Thurner T., Proskuryakova L.N. (2014), Out of the cold-the rising importance of environmental management in the corporate governance of Russian oil and gas producers, Business Strategy and the Environment, 23 (5), pp. 318-332.
  99. Van Marrewijk M. (2003), Concepts and definitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: Between agency and communion, Journal of Business Ethics, 44 (2), pp. 95-105.
  100. Viveros H. (2016), Examining stakeholders’ perceptions of mining impacts and corporate social responsibility, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 23 (1), pp. 50-64,
  101. Ward B. (1966), Spaceship Earth. (New York: Columbia University Press).
  102. Warhurst A. (2001), Corporate citizenship and corporate social investment: drivers of tri-sector partnerships, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 1 (1), pp. 57-73.
  103. Widiarto Sutantoputra A. (2009), Social disclosure rating system for assessing firms’CSR reports, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 14 (1), pp. 34-48.
  104. Zbaracki M.J. (1998), The rhetoric and reality of TQM, Administrative Science Quarterly, 43, pp. 602-636.

  • Corporate governance: Search for the advanced practices Francesco De Luca, Ho-Tan-Phat Phan, pp.177 (DOI:10.22495/cpr19p9)
  • How Cheap Talk in Climate Disclosures relates to Climate Initiatives, Corporate Emissions, and Reputation Risk Julia Bingler, Mathias Kraus, Markus Leippold, Nicolas Webersinke, in SSRN Electronic Journal /2022
    DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4000708
  • Cheap Talk in Corporate Climate Commitments: The Role of Active Institutional Ownership, Signaling, Materiality, and Sentiment Julia Anna Bingler, Mathias Kraus, Markus Leippold, Nicolas Webersinke, in SSRN Electronic Journal /2022
    DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3998435
  • Beyond financial reporting disclosures Bruce K. Behn, Francesca Rossignoli, Silvano Corbella, in FINANCIAL REPORTING 2/2019 pp.5
    DOI: 10.3280/FR2019-002001
  • Informativeness Assessment of Risk and Risk-Management Disclosure in Corporate Reporting: An Empirical Analysis of Italian Large Listed Firms Francesco De Luca, Ho-Tan-Phat Phan, in FINANCIAL REPORTING 2/2019 pp.9
    DOI: 10.3280/FR2019-002002
  • Integrated Sustainability Reporting Laura Bini, Marco Bellucci, pp.9 (ISBN:978-3-030-24953-3)

Laura Bini, Marco Bellucci, Francesco Giunta, Put Your Money where Your Mouth is: The Difference between Real Commitment to Sustainability and Mere Rhetoric in "FINANCIAL REPORTING" 2/2016, pp 5-31, DOI: 10.3280/FR2016-002001