Exploring the challenges of implementing a sustainable strategy : A case study
Master thesis
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Date
2016Metadata
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- Master of Science [1622]
Abstract
Sustainability has become the defining challenge of our time and companies have
started to realize the many benefits that lie within this field. However,
sustainability is known for its complexity and implementing sustainability is an
intricate process. The purpose of this thesis is to provide an empirical study on
what kind of challenges that may arise in corporate sustainability implementation.
In order to explore such challenges, we conducted a single case study on a
company within the financial industry. This financial institution has gained
international recognition for its sustainability work, and claims to have
implemented a sustainable strategy throughout the organization.
We found that an important contributing factor in the company’s sustainability
work was engaged top management. However, they had faced several challenges
in their implementation process. These challenges were related to complexity
consuming the concept of sustainability, as well as challenges within decisionmaking
processes, company mission, resource allocation and sustainability
procedures. Furthermore, our findings suggest that engaged and educated middle
managers could potentially play a vital role in terms of holistic sustainability
implementation. Managers in the pursuit of a more sustainable business may
benefit from addressing the challenges discussed in our thesis. Our research aims
to fill a gap in the existing literature, and we also suggest other unexplored areas which could benefit from future research.
Description
Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Business, Strategy - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2016