مشارکت زیست محیطی به طور جدی  Taking environmental partnerships seriously

1. Business sustainability: Opportunity and challenge Strategically addressing sustainability issues–—such as climate change, energy and resource efficiency, and natural resource depletion–—is a critical part of the managerial agenda. Sustainability has become more important, at least in part, because executives realize the potential of sustainability for competitive advantage (Gordon, 2014; Porter & Kramer, 2011). The complexity of many sustainability issues, though, requires companies to develop environmental partnerships (EPs) with other organizations to access the strategically critical resources they need to influence market, social, and political forces. A key aspect of any successful EP is choosing the right type of partner. A well-chosen partner can supercharge a company’s sustainability efforts, while a poorly chosen one can scuttle even the best of intentions, potentially destroying firm value in the process. However, it is often difficult for firms to successfully engage in environmental partnerships because sustainability issues are multifaceted and require processing data from non-traditional business sources (Hahn, Preuss, Pinkse, & Figge, 2014). EP decisions are further complicated by the interaction of potentially divergent strategic goals at various levels, be they local, national, international, operational, functional, business, or corporate. This may be problematic to the extent that even traditional strategic alliances often begin ‘‘on an operational level as ad hoc responses to local business issues’’ (Wassmer, Dussauge, & Planellas, 2010, p. 78). Based on a broad review of the literature, interviews with executives responsible for EPs, and publicly available data (press releases, media reports, etc.), we found that firms often develop EPs to: Reduce negative or generate positive environmental impact in ways that strengthen their competitive position; and Access specific resources that cannot otherwise easily be acquired or internally developed. We also found three primary challenges complicating EP success: 1. Defining an EP’s objectives; 2. Choosing an appropriate type of partner for the EP; and 3. Managing multiple EPs or an EP portfolio. First, defining an EP’s objective is crucial to selecting a partner. In exploring these challenges, firms tend to engage in three distinct types of EPs based on different sets of objectives–—innovation-seeking, legitimacy-building, and policy-influencing–—each requiring different partner qualities that, in turn, help clarify which types of partners to seek out.