Environmental management and corporate social responsibility in corporate organisations - an integrated management system and balanced scorecard framework for corporate sustainability
This research investigated environmental management and corporate social responsibilitypractices to identify the implementation and operational problems that organisations face insetting up and operating their systems. The aim was to develop an integrated managementsystem so that corporate organisations can link separate environmental management andcorporate responsibility frameworks under one management administration. The studyreviewed a range of research literature related to key areas that form the core foundation ofthe research. These were environmental management, corporate social responsibility, andcorporate strategy for competitive advantage. A set of criteria was developed and adoptedfor searching, selecting and reviewing the research literature related to these areas. Themethodology developed in the thesis rest on extensive review of the research and businessresearch papers and from undertaking analysis of over 266 Financial Times Top 500 CSRand Environment Reports supplemented by a 85 questionnaires and 12 case studies ofcompanies in Greater Manchester, UK. A set of appraisal criteria were developed foranalysing and evaluating the company's reports and web-based information. Further to this,a method was developed by which to transfer qualitative information collated from contentanalysis of the company reports into numeric data for extracting principal factors using theSPSS advanced statistical procedure.The thesis then develops an integrated management approach by which organisations canimprove sustainability in corporate social responsibility terms based on informedcommitment from top levels. The thesis analyses the balance scorecards of Kaplan andNorton (1996) and Figge, Hahn et al. (2001) and presents an alternative model to promotecorporate sustainability under an integrated management framework. The thesis integrateKaplan and Norton's' Learning and Growth perspectives into each of five new perspectivesas we argue that each are separate areas of strategy and operations and each must learn andgrow with corporate commitment at its foundation. The model developed essentiallyprovides an effective means by which corporate enterprise can integrate their managementsystems across a wider set of organisational functions.
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