Rask, Morten & Lauring, Jakob (2011) Patterns of Sustainability Values among Subsidiaries. AIB Annual Meeting 2011, Nagoya, Japan.

Patterns of Sustainability Values among Subsidiaries

Abstract

The increasing trend of globalization and environmental challenges make the understanding of sustainability issues in international business a growing challenge throughout the world. This study illustrates the challenge of an organization as it becomes larger and more diverse to keep the core values alive. We focused on a multinational with more than 30 years experience with sustainability issues. It is one of the worlds’ top manufacturers of renewable energy equipment. We found an extreme diversity in understanding sustainability. This exploratory study is based on a very broad sample within one company and it created new empirical insights enhancing the understanding of the sustainability theme in international business by creating a framework for describing patterns of sustainability understandings among international business units. This framework is useable by management to describe, explore and trigger new ways of thinking and to facilitate corporate culture change through coordination and configuration of the system of values and beliefs regarding sustainability among employees in the company.