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The purpose of this paper is to canvass the views of villagers from a remote region of Papua New Guinea (PNG) on food security issues in their community and their level of satisfaction with food security initiatives provided by the extractive company that operated on their land.

Qualitative design: data gathered through 14 semi-structured, face-to-face interviews and a discussion forum with 20 villagers from Pawa. Purposive sampling. Snow-balling method of recruitment.

Food security was identified as a growing concern among the villagers, who also expressed dissatisfaction with the food security projects offered through the corporate social responsibility (CSR) program offered by the company operating on their land. Communication problems between company and community and lack of trust were evident.

Possibility of self-selection bias among participants. The perspective of the company was under-represented.

The study highlights the need for CSR practitioners to be mindful of the importance of effective communication with local communities.

The study reveals the importance of meaningful dialogue between company and host communities, which can lead to a more efficient allocation of resources and empowerment of host communities.

The study bridges a research gap in the field of CSR in developing countries because food security, as a CSR issue in PNG communities, is under-researched. The study contributes to a better understanding of company –community relations in PNG and how these relations can be improved through a more normative approach to CSR. It also highlights the importance of empowering host communities through meaningful dialogue.

This paper aims to explore the views of employees from a local government organization in Brazil regarding the status of “sustainability learning” in their workplace. Sustainability learning refers to knowledge produced to address environmental risks.

Case study design highlighting the personal experience of participants in relation to sustainability learning. Data collected through seven face-to-face, semi-structured interviews during a six-week fieldwork. Purposive sampling was used, and recruitment was carried out through the snow balling method. Deductive and inductive logic were used in data analysis.

Sustainability-focused learning only took place informally in the organization studied. The organization did not have formal systems to embed sustainability learning in its rules, processes and practices. It was also found that organizational politics acted as an impediment to sustainability learning, as people in power often blocked support for sustainability related initiatives.

Data would have been richer if more than one case study was developed, as this would have enabled inter-organizational comparisons and richer analysis.

This research is useful for practitioners, as it contributes to a better understanding of desirable sustainability learning practices and processes, and challenges that prevent it from occurring effectively in organizations.

This research contributes to a better understanding of sustainability learning in an “emerging economy” such as Brazil. The implementation of sustainability learning practices in emerging economies poses particular challenges given their emphasis on economic growth. Understanding these challenges can enable managers working with sustainability to formulate better strategies to ensure a smoother transition to a sustainable future.

The originality of this research is twofold: first, it examines sustainability learning in the specific context of a government institution in an emerging economy; second, it draws attention to organizational politics as a major impediment to the systematic implementation of sustainability learning practices.

This is the story of an ageing fitness fanatic and the financial sharks who circled his empire before destroying it. Peter Gosnell, The Daily Telegraph 17/4/2003:29. In 2001, Australian company HIH Insurance was placed into liquidation, with severe financial losses and devastating consequences for its employees and policyholders. Dubbed as ‘Australia’s biggest corporate collapse’ (Westfield 2003:241), the HIH case attracted a great deal of attention, not only because of its adverse economic and social impacts but also because it reads like a moral tale in which senior executives of a major business corporation infringe ethical principles and are chastised in the end for their greed, hubris and lack of social responsibility. An examination of media texts published as the case unfolded reveals a strong sense of moral indignation with the social consequences of the HIH collapse, reflected in particular in representations of the shamed executives as greedy, dishonest, arrogant and ruthless. This paper examines the discursive processes that generate representations of HIH senior executives in such dysfunctional terms. Its main contention is that these negative representations can be linked to the growing influence of discourses such as corporate social responsibility (CSR), conceptualised here as a counter‐hegemonic discourse that emerges in an era of increased reflexivity to challenge the legitimacy of dominant discourses of global capitalism. The structuring effects of these discourses are explored in this paper through a methodological framework that borrows from discourse analysis and narrative analysis. This framework reveals links between texts, discourses and macro‐systemic context ‐ or ‐ to borrow from Schegloff (1992) ‐ between proximate and distal contexts The first section of the paper discusses the methodological framework used in the study; the second section provides a brief overview of the broad social context within which the HIH narrative unfolds, and the third part examines the textual construction of the HIH narrative as a moral tale of advanced capitalism, paying particular attention to the portrayal of its key protagonists.

Based on a study carried out in 2004‐2005 in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, this paper explores the theme of CSR strategy formation, investigating how three companies from different industry sectors ‐ a chemical products manufacturer, a diesel engine technology development company and a large multi‐media enterprise ‐ have shaped and institutionalised CSR strategies. The data revealed three major categories of interrelated factors that lead to CSR strategy formation, namely, delineating events; stakeholder influence, and drivers for CSR strategies. Delineating events are chronologically ordered events that trigger a process of reflection on CSR issues. Stakeholders such as the company’s president, stockholders, employees, community, customers, and competitors exert considerable influence in the formation of CSR strategies. Drivers are events and processes emerging from the company’s environment, which create the conditions to shape CSR strategies. The first part paper provides a brief discussion of the notion of CSR and examines a selection of management theoretical models that provide essential insights to understand CSR as strategy; the second part focuses on the findings of the exploratory study which provides the basis for this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of studying ethics in a business management degree.

The method used is qualitative design with some quantitative elements. Data were collected through an anonymous survey with 119 students from a management subject, and analysed in the light of deontological and theological theories of ethics.

A large majority of the students surveyed (95 percent) believed that the study of ethics in management is important, and that they had personally benefited from studying ethics in the subject surveyed (84 percent). Four major thematic patterns emerged in the responses: a teleological view of ethics; a “hybrid” view of ethics; a link between ethical behaviour and leadership; and a gap between the ideal and practice of ethics.

The study had a small sample and referred only to one subject. Further studies should be done with larger samples, comparing different cohorts of students, or students at different stages of a degree.

The study draws attention to issues that emerge from the teaching of ethics in management, in particular the need for sustained efforts to foster critical thinking and reflexivity among management students.

The paper is based on an original study that addresses the current gap in studies investigating management students’ attitudes to studying ethics. It is particularly valuable for ethics teachers.

This research paper seeks to explore two narratives identified in a project focusing on CSR in Brazil: the “official view” promoted by the company, and “divergent voices” that called into question the legitimacy of the official view.

This takes the form of a qualitative design and interpretive approach. Semi‐structured, face‐to‐face interviews supplemented with corporate materials, web searches, informal conversations with external stakeholders, and non‐participant observation are also used.

The study revealed that the official narrative emerging from the “corporate performances” organized by the key informant was consistently positive. The divergent narrative portrayed the company in a negative light, and was unveiled through web searches and further reflection in the post‐fieldwork period.

Data collection could have been carried out more systematically if the researcher had had greater control over the situation, especially with regard to recruitment of participants, which was done by the key informant.

The study contributes to a better understanding of the concept of “CSR as organizational culture”, which has not been significantly explored in the literature. It addresses the scarcity of works on CSR in the Brazilian mining sector and stresses the importance of going beyond the official view when researching CSR cultures, to consider a diversity of perspectives.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Businesses are under growing pressure to act more responsibly toward society and the environment. Together with appropriate leadership, a strong emphasis on communication and open-mindedness can help overcome challenges and increase the effectiveness of sustainability learning.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This study aims to investigate the moderating effects of brick-and-mortar (BM) store characteristics and customer satisfaction on the relationship between ship-to-store (STS) retailing and BM store performance in an emerging economy. The purpose is to explore how BM store characteristics and customer satisfaction influence online buying behaviour when customers visit the stores to pick up their products.

This study collected secondary longitudinal data from 615 BM stores from one of Brazil's largest retailers and performed a panel-data regression analysis using the following moderating variables: customer satisfaction with BM stores, BM store's size, convenience and inventory transparency.

Customer satisfaction with BM stores moderates the effect of STS transactions on the revenue per store. Results also show that BM store's convenience, size and inventory transparency moderate STS online customers' impact on BM store cross-sales.

The STS strategy can increase online and BM store performance. Some BM store characteristics and customer satisfaction influence online customers to buy more products when they visit BM stores to pick up their products, providing a more complex model for the relationship between STS strategy and BM store performance.

Companies in emerging economies can use the BM store more strategically in combination with the STS strategy to increase overall retailer performance. By managing some BM store characteristics, managers can improve retail sales.

This study demonstrates how new moderating factors expand the understanding of the relationship between online and physical retailing in emerging economies. Also, the panel data regression results control for extraneous variables and provide more robust evidence of the relationships observed.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and social distancing, the Virtual Mobility Program (Promover) implemented in 2021 in Brazil aimed to allow students enrolled in Brazilian federal universities to take curricular components at other institutions of the system remotely. The main objective of this research was to identify the most important factors, in students' perception, that affected their satisfaction with virtual mobility (VM) and the factors that drive the intention to continue mobility.

Data collection was performed through 433 questionnaires answered online. R software was used for descriptive analysis and SmartPLS to examine the relationship between independent and dependent variables through Structural Equation Modeling.

A positive relationship was verified between the constructs, and the hypothesized relations were confirmed at statistically significant level, revealing the students' satisfaction with VM and their intention to continue exploring this online learning option through Promover. The results showed that the motivations for VM are linked to the pursuit of knowledge and more opportunities for training and work. Plus, the use of VM proved to be a motivator for student engagement and e-learning effectiveness.

The findings can be useful as they highlight the opportunity to expand VM programs for students, even after the return to on-campus academic activities.

Lean and agile are essential supply chain management (SCM) strategies that enhance companies' performance. Previous studies have reported the capabilities of different SCM strategies to enhance performance; however, the emergence of Industry 4.0 technologies has bred focus on the possibility of attaining more levels of operational performance. Despite being demonstrated helpful at enabling supply chain (SC) strategies, the literature linking Industry 4.0 with SCM strategies is still in its infancy. Thus, this work investigates the degree to which “Industry 4.0 technologies” enable the implementation of lean and agile practices and subsequently assesses the potential performance implications of integrating Industry 4.0 technologies with the SC operations.

The work employs an exploratory case study approach using empirical data from selected organisations drawn from an Estonian manufacturing cluster and digital solution providing companies. The data collected via interviews were used to assign numerical scores and subsequently aggregated across the five cases for the research variables of interest. The work is crowned with a model grounded on the cross-case analysis to depict which technologies impact each of the lean and agile practices.

The analysis enabled comprehension of the potential impact and level of importance of the main Industry 4.0 technologies on lean and agile practices and ultimately the potential implication on performance. The findings revealed that the technologies have a high impact on the practices. Although the impacts are of varying degrees, the analysis provides means to identify the technologies with the most significant impact on lean and agile SCM and the sets of practices with the greatest likelihood of being enabled by various digital technologies.

The work presents various lean and agile practices that practitioners can deploy to operations, alongside the technologies that could support the implementation of the practices towards achieving the various performance measures. Also, it provides some guides for the digital solution providing companies towards understanding the SCM practices that can be improved upon by various digital technologies. This enables them to have more saleable proposals for intending companies who might be sceptical about transiting into the digital operation phase.

This is the first attempt to empirically address the connection between Industry 4.0 technologies and the integrated lean and agile strategies despite literature backing of the complementary nature of the two SCM strategies.