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The purpose of this paper is to provide advice on how organizations can facilitate a culture of sustainable innovation from a cooperative advantage perspective.

This paper is written for practitioners and academics focused on sustainable innovation. It includes specific advice for production & operations and accounting & finance functions and how they can contribute to sustainable innovation from a cooperative advantage perspective.

By emphasizing the importance of stakeholder wellbeing, creating opportunities for collaboration and empowering employees, human resources (HR) departments can help organizations cultivate a culture of sustainable innovation and navigate the complex challenges of addressing environmental concerns to build a more sustainable future.

This paper offers HR practitioners a unique approach to encourage a culture that promotes care and community, intentional dialogue and action-oriented consensus-building among employees in different departments to facilitate sustainable innovation from a cooperative advantage perspective within their respective organizations.

This paper, via the use of management and entrepreneurial philosophies from Charles Clinton Spaulding, aims to advocate the integration of African-American Entrepreneurship and Management History into the business curriculum at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as well as predominantly white institutions (PWIs). Along with this curriculum update, the use of critical pedagogy as a form of critical thinking is also recommended to complement the learning process.

Articles from early and recent newspapers, magazines, journals and books were examined and synthesised to clarify how curriculum modification and critical pedagogy could aid in increased entrepreneurial success.

The paper concludes with a framework that demonstrates the curriculum interface, including Spaulding’s insights and critical pedagogy, to connect black students to entrepreneurial success.

Although African-Americans surpass Caucasian-Americans in entrepreneurial attempts, blacks lag behind whites in entrepreneurial success. A reason for their higher failure rate is a lack of exposure to positive images who are also black. Integrating African-American Entrepreneurship and Management History into the business curriculum will help ensure that these positive images are sufficiently introduced and explored as a source of learning. Critical pedagogy is also endorsed as a complementary strategy to aid learning, as it is associated with processes that deviate from traditional instruction that often ignores student diversity, to facilitate the expansion of the mind as well as social transformation.

The article aims to explore the transformative journey of AcmeTech Manufacturing, a fictional company influenced by real-life events, from environmental negligence to adopting sustainable and responsible business practices. By examining AcmeTech's strategic communication and sustainability initiatives, the study seeks to highlight the importance of integrating sustainability within global supply chains and the role of strategic communication in building stakeholder trust and achieving corporate sustainability goals.

This research adopts a case study methodology, focusing on AcmeTech Manufacturing as a representative example. The case study approach allows for an in-depth exploration of AcmeTech's challenges, strategies and outcomes in its pursuit of corporate sustainability. Drawing from real-life events, the study delves into the company's transformation, its commitment to transparent communication and its efforts to incorporate sustainable practices within its global supply chains.

AcmeTech Manufacturing, once criticized for its environmental negligence, has embarked on a comprehensive sustainability journey. Recognizing the erosion of stakeholder trust due to past actions, the company has prioritized transparent and strategic communication of its sustainability efforts. AcmeTech's commitment extends beyond internal changes, emphasizing the importance of its global supply chains in its overall environmental impact. By adopting a Cooperative Advantage approach, rooted in the philosophy of ubuntu, AcmeTech not only addresses its environmental challenges but also strives to become a leader in sustainable manufacturing practices.

The article offers a unique perspective by combining the concepts of strategic communication and corporate sustainability within the context of global supply chains. Using the fictional case of AcmeTech Manufacturing, influenced by real-world scenarios, the study introduces the Cooperative Advantage approach, rooted in the African philosophy of ubuntu. This approach emphasizes the interconnectedness of all stakeholders, promoting a people-centered strategy to sustainability, making the article a novel contribution to the discourse on corporate sustainability.

This paper aims to examine the black beauty industry from a historical perspective and consider the fairness heuristic theory to determine if organisations in this industry are engaging in and promoting social entrepreneurship or contributing to social injustice. The paper explores the work of Annie Turnbo-Malone and Madame C.J. Walker, pioneers and stalwart entrepreneurs in the black beauty business, to discuss the controversial issue. Current and future applications are also investigated and presented.

Papers from earlier as well as more contemporary journals, news media and books were examined and synthesised to render a balanced view to aid in the entrepreneurship or injustice debate.

The paper concludes that decisions about fairness and justice involve perception and thus vary by individual, allowing a substantial case for the black beauty industry to both be commended for social entrepreneurship and condemned as a proponent of social injustice (distributive, procedural and interactional).

Organisations have substantial impact on individuals, groups, the community and society. A meaningful organisation encourages expression, perceptions of worth and constructive attitudes and behaviour, and refrains from reflecting excessive dictatorship or dehumanisation. This paper highlights both positive and negative organisational and societal issues concerning the business of black beauty, a relatively understudied topic in management in general and management history in particular, and it provides a unique lens from which to build awareness about entrepreneurship and justice and to effect needed change.

This article aims to depict the pivotal role Octavia Hill, Jane Addams and Mary Parker Follett played in the field of social entrepreneurship. The article aims to examine the contributions made by these remarkable women who made valuable theoretical and practical contributions to the emerging field of social entrepreneurship.

Synthesizing articles from history journals, writings about the figures of interest, published works by the figures themselves and other resources, this paper illustrates how Hill, Addams and Follett made valuable contributions to social entrepreneurship and questioned the rectitude of unadulterated capitalism.

This paper concludes that Hill, Addams and Follett refuted the viewpoint that self-interest and single-minded self-survival were the best ways to live and to conduct business. By their actions, the women showed that they did indeed bring “capitalism in question”, by recognizing the importance of seeking others’ interests.

This article highlights the contributions made by Hill, Addams and Follett, who made valuable contributions in the field of social entrepreneurship which is made evident by their work with housing settlements, community center development, etc.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the contributions made by Charles Clinton Spaulding, a prominent black business leader in the USA in the early 1900s. This paper highlights the management philosophies and practical work of Spaulding, an individual who considerably influenced African-American management thought and practice, and played an important role in Corporate America from the turn of the twentieth century onward.

The research was conducted by reviewing and synthesizing a number of writings including published works by Spaulding himself, as well as articles about Spaulding from sources such as history journals, newspapers and other resources.

Spaulding’s contributions were significant, from his insight regarding the fundamental necessities for the effective management of a business, to his management style and implementation of practices which reflected his recognition of the importance of transformational leadership, employee development, diversity, corporate social responsibility and a strong positive culture for the successful management of an enterprise. Thus, this paper concludes that the title of “Father of African-American Management” is a fitting tribute to this business pioneer who overcame the odds to become the most successful black business executive in the early twentieth century.

The contributions made by minorities, including African-Americans, to management thought and practice have not been adequately covered in the literature. This paper begins to fill a noticeable void by drawing from infrequently acquired sources such as Spaulding’s article “The Administration of Big Business” and highlighting his contributions to the African-American community and the business community at large.

This paper aims to depict the pivotal roles played by Mary Parker Follett and Mary Barnett Gilson, as they uniquely contributed to early management thought, theory, and practice through “spirituality” despite the chauvinism of their day.

Synthesizing articles from history journals, writings about the figures of interest, annals, published works by the figures themselves, and other resources; this paper illustrates how the input of Follett and Gilson made distinctive and valuable contributions to the management field.

This research concludes that Follett and Gilson, although from the mid‐nineteenth to mid‐twentieth century, when men were dominant in any arena relating to management, were responsive to their “spiritual” insight despite its contrariness to the credence of their day. Consequently, they initiated an understanding that significantly impacted management theory and practice. Their perceptive revelations also led to changing mindsets and actions that influenced the wellbeing of organizations, as well as their employees.

During this era, although not widely publicized, the “weaker” sex did make its mark. This is the first paper to examine, from a “spiritual” viewpoint, the contributions of these members of the “weaker” sex to management history.

This paper aims to depict the pivotal role played by Rose Schneiderman and Frances Perkins in early twentieth-century labor and safety reform in the USA. The paper also examines the contributions made by these notable women through the lens of stakeholder theory and the feminist ethic of care.

The review process commenced with a comprehensive search for women in history who advocated labor and safety reform and campaigned for safer organizational practices in the workplace. History books, academic journals and newspaper articles, including writings from Schneiderman and Perkins, were the main sources used for this research endeavor.

Schneiderman and Perkins were both instrumental in playing a major role in fighting for labor and safety reform in the early twentieth century, albeit in different ways. Through their work, there was a heightened understanding of organizations’ duties and obligations to their stakeholders and, in particular, to their employees. They also embodied the feminist ethic of care by being attentive to the needs of others, accepting responsibility and demonstrating competence, while being responsive to their needs.

The influential women in management history are often given scant recognition or not recognized at all. This article highlights the contributions of two women who greatly impacted labor and safety through their struggle for the improvement of working conditions in the USA. The originality of this manuscript also lies in the ethical perspective in which it is grounded.