Frederik Dahlmann
University of Warwick, Warwick Business School, Faculty Member
- Renewable Energy, Organizational Behavior, Energy, Natural Resources, Corporate Strategy, Organizations as complex adaptive systems, and 10 moreUtilities, Public Utilities Regulation, Electric Utilities, Global Energy and Financial Crisis, Corporate (environmental) strategy, Complexity Theory, Green Infrastructure, Complex Adaptive Systems Theory - in social systems, Environmental Sustainability, and Public Policy(Utilities, Public Utilities Regulation, Electric Utilities, Global Energy and Financial Crisis, Corporate (environmental) strategy, Complexity Theory, Green Infrastructure, Complex Adaptive Systems Theory - in social systems, Environmental Sustainability, and Public Policy)edit
- As Associate Professor of Strategy and Sustainability in the Strategy & International Business group at WBS, my resea... moreAs Associate Professor of Strategy and Sustainability in the Strategy & International Business group at WBS, my research and teaching activities are driven by a focus on understanding how companies respond to and integrate global sustainability challenges into their business strategies and management practices.(As Associate Professor of Strategy and Sustainability in the Strategy & International Business group at WBS, my research and teaching activities are driven by a focus on understanding how companies respond to and integrate global sustainability challenges into their business strategies and management practices.)edit
Purpose-driven businesses have a stated objective to contribute to the welfare of society and the planet alongside generating shareholder value. As interest in purpose-driven businesses grows, an emerging “purpose ecosystem” of advisers,... more
Purpose-driven businesses have a stated objective to contribute to the welfare of society and the planet alongside generating shareholder value. As interest in purpose-driven businesses grows, an emerging “purpose ecosystem” of advisers, investors, and enablers offers different types of support for businesses wanting to transition to sustainability. This paper examines how the transition towards purpose-driven business in Australia and the United Kingdom requires addressing challenges facing this support ecosystem at three levels. First, at the individual level where support providers need to build the capabilities of managers who are experiencing tensions around integrating societal and environmental purpose while facing pressure for maximizing shareholder value. Second, the support providers working within the purpose ecosystem offering professional advice and finance face their own tensions between environmental or social objectives and commercial pressures. Third, there are challenges facing actors in the ecosystems aiming to change the wider policy and institutional environment but facing lobbying from those wanting to keep “business as usual.” We identify practical implications for those parts of the purpose-driven business ecosystem providing support. This includes building capabilities to combine social, environmental, and commercial purpose; coordination among support providers; and creating an institutional environment to avoid “purpose wash.”
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Complex and urgent challenges including climate change and the significant decline in biodiversity provide a broad agenda for interdisciplinary scholars interested in the implications facing businesses, humanity, and other species. Within... more
Complex and urgent challenges including climate change and the significant decline in biodiversity provide a broad agenda for interdisciplinary scholars interested in the implications facing businesses, humanity, and other species. Within this context of sustainability, persistent conflicts between key paradigms create substantial barriers against-but also opportunities fordeveloping new conceptual approaches and theoretical models to understand and respond to these critical issues. Here, I revisit paradigmatic tensions to assess their impact on research and debate on sustainability, ethics, and business. Drawing on relational ontology and values of nature that recognise humanity's tight embeddedness within the planetary ecosystem, I examine how conceptualising sustainability as the pursuit of life might generate new insights for research and practice into the wider transformation needed to sustain and restore socioecological systems. The aim here, however, is not to reconcile these paradigmatic tensions but instead use them as a fruitful lens for examining the implications for sustainability, while acknowledging the inherent ethical dilemmas for individuals, organisations, and society.
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Today's sustainability challenges require significant transformative shifts in the private sector, particularly driven by new, potentially also more informal, forms of governance. A variety of sustainability-oriented intermediary... more
Today's sustainability challenges require significant transformative shifts in the private sector, particularly driven by new, potentially also more informal, forms of governance. A variety of sustainability-oriented intermediary organisations encourage and support businesses to become purpose-driven to address social and environmental sustainability issues beyond maximising profit. We conduct interviews with these intermediaries to theorise how and why the broad concept of purpose might be used as an informal means to steer and transform business-society relations. We find that by invoking notions of systemic goal alignment and individual goal alignment, the simultaneous use of two contrasting but complementary frames allows intermediaries to appeal to and potentially engage a variety of audiences in their efforts to changing businesses and the economic system. Our research contributes to literatures on how the framing of purpose in business is used as an informal governance approach for driving a sustainability transformation.
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The aim of this research project was to explore the role and agency of the ‘purpose ecosystem’ in contributing to Earth System Governance. Specifically, we examined if, and how, this emerging purpose ecosystem could represent an... more
The aim of this research project was to explore the role and agency of the ‘purpose ecosystem’ in contributing to Earth System Governance. Specifically, we examined if, and how, this emerging purpose ecosystem could represent an innovative form of private governance to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on in-depth interviews with 12 Australian organisations and 6 based in the UK we explored open-ended questions on: the definition of purpose; organisations’ respective theory of change; interactions among the purpose ecosystem intermediaries; barriers and challenges towards achieving progress; and, how the organisations address or contribute to the UN SDGs. Key findings from both the Australian and the UK organisations include: • Organisations employ a variety of definitions for purpose which all relate to supporting the achievement of business outcomes beyond profit. • Organisations also use a variety of different engagement methods that often target key decision makers through theories of change based on awareness raising, education and individual support as well as new financial and organisational tools. • Interactions among actors in the purpose ecosystem are characterised by mutual respect and recognition, but also a growing realisation that there is a significant degree of inefficiency and a need for some form of consolidation. • Lack of funding and other resources are key barriers towards achieving greater progress and impact. Other challenges include persistent norms and habits among businesses as well as a need for greater coordination among the organisations in the purpose ecosystem. • All organisations share an explicit awareness of the UN SDGs as a clear, comprehensive and useful framework within which to locate their efforts. While actors pursue different strategies and theories of change, their work directly supports the achievement of the UN SDGs through partnership with business.
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In response to a myriad of stakeholder pressures most organisations nowadays employ some sort of environmental manager. This relatively new business function is undergoing increased professionalization – a process commonly associated with... more
In response to a myriad of stakeholder pressures most organisations nowadays employ some sort of environmental manager. This relatively new business function is undergoing increased professionalization – a process commonly associated with institutional work efforts and improved outcomes for the role’s beneficiaries. Much less, however, is known about how this process of professionalization is shaped by and personally affects the professional individual, the perceptions of their role and of their wider contributions to the organisation. Drawing on a longitudinal interview study conducted with environmental managers in the UK, in this paper we examine how institutional work shapes professionalization and, in turn, explore how this process of professionalization impacts on the profession’s target audience or remit. The findings suggest that, despite severe internal and external challenges, many environmental managers are creating and maintaining role designs aligned with legislative compliance and commercial...
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In this paper, we investigate the role that managerial incentives play in improving corporate environmental performance. Drawing on a large dataset of multinational enterprises we study the extent to which incentives help companies with... more
In this paper, we investigate the role that managerial incentives play in improving corporate environmental performance. Drawing on a large dataset of multinational enterprises we study the extent to which incentives help companies with reducing their corporate carbon footprints, an area of environmental performance coming under increasing pressure from a range of stakeholders. Specifically, we test whether incentives at different organizational levels are either complementary or incompatible in terms of their effects on promoting organizational outcomes. Furthermore, we examine the role that firm size plays in moderating these relationships between incentives and organizational performance.
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This article advances research on voluntary environmental practices and environmental performance by evaluating the motivations that underpin firms’ decision to implement and certify environmental ...
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Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Economics, Research Design, Stakeholders, and 13 moreEnvironmental Management, United Kingdom, Social Desirability, Business and Management, Environmental Issues, Legislation, Incentive, Environmental Impact, Firm Size, Risk Reduction, Environmental Management System, Mixed Method, and Management decision
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Research Interests: Business, Supply Chain Management, Climate Change, Sustainable Development, Supply Chain, and 10 moreSupply Chain Risk Management, Business and Management, Stakeholder Engagement, International business and management, Sustainable supply chain management, Information Asymmetry, Carbon Disclosure Project, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT, Strategy and Management, and Organizational Information Processing(Supply Chain Risk Management, Business and Management, Stakeholder Engagement, International business and management, Sustainable supply chain management, Information Asymmetry, Carbon Disclosure Project, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT, Strategy and Management, and Organizational Information Processing)
(Supply Chain Risk Management, Business and Management, Stakeholder Engagement, International business and management, Sustainable supply chain management, Information Asymmetry, Carbon Disclosure Project, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT, Strategy and Management, and Organizational Information Processing)
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PurposeDrawing on paradox theory and the category of the “performing-organizing” paradox, the study investigates the tensions firms experience in the context of organizing the processes involved in managing their indirect GHG... more
PurposeDrawing on paradox theory and the category of the “performing-organizing” paradox, the study investigates the tensions firms experience in the context of organizing the processes involved in managing their indirect GHG emissions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop hypotheses to explain why the paradox elements of supply chain transparency and supply chain coordination affect firms' ability to reduce their indirect supply chains GHG emissions. Using a two-stage method based on data from Refinitiv and CDP for 2002 to 2021, the authors test this study’s hypotheses through panel regression analyses.FindingsWhile greater transparency experience with scope 3 emissions disclosure, GSCM practices and broader supply chain engagement are all associated with higher levels of scope 3 emissions levels, both long-term transparency experience and GSCM practices are also associated with relative reductions in scope 3 emissions over time.Practical implicationsGiven growing pressures on firms to demonstrate both transparency and legitimacy regarding their scope 3 emissions, firms must understand the characteristics of this paradox as this has implications for how emissions performance is perceived and managed. This study's results suggested that firms need to take both a long-term perspective and effectively communicate the differences involved in reporting their emissions performance to avoid unwarranted criticism.Originality/valueFilling a gap in sustainable OSCM studies by providing large-scale quantitative insights into the relationships between organizing and performing, the authors demonstrate that the processes involved in firms' efforts of measuring and managing their indirect scope 3 emissions are paradoxically affected by whether performance outcomes are specified as annual absolute levels of scope 3 emissions, or relative changes over time.
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Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that firms are responding differently to the mounting concerns over environmental degradation and climate change. While a few studies at individual firm level do exist, relatively little is known about... more
Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that firms are responding differently to the mounting concerns over environmental degradation and climate change. While a few studies at individual firm level do exist, relatively little is known about the longitudinal development of corporate environmental strategy at the population level of firms. Employing KLD data we explore the evolution of environmental strategy among a sample of S&P500 corporations over the period 1997 to 2006. We theoretically ground our study in Burgelman’s (1991) autonomous and induced perspectives of strategy-making. Our findings suggest widespread inertia among firms to adjust to the changing socio-institutional environment.17 page(s
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Research Interests: Business, Economics, General Management, GE, General, and 4 moreBusiness and Management, Td, Empirical evidence, and HD
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PurposeDrawing on paradox theory and the category of the “performing-organizing” paradox, the study investigates the tensions firms experience in the context of organizing the processes involved in managing their indirect GHG... more
PurposeDrawing on paradox theory and the category of the “performing-organizing” paradox, the study investigates the tensions firms experience in the context of organizing the processes involved in managing their indirect GHG emissions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop hypotheses to explain why the paradox elements of supply chain transparency and supply chain coordination affect firms' ability to reduce their indirect supply chains GHG emissions. Using a two-stage method based on data from Refinitiv and CDP for 2002 to 2021, the authors test this study’s hypotheses through panel regression analyses.FindingsWhile greater transparency experience with scope 3 emissions disclosure, GSCM practices and broader supply chain engagement are all associated with higher levels of scope 3 emissions levels, both long-term transparency experience and GSCM practices are also associated with relative reductions in scope 3 emissions over time.Practical implicationsGiven growing pres...
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Purpose Drawing on paradox theory and the category of the “performing-organizing” paradox, the study investigates the tensions firms experience in the context of organizing the processes involved in managing their indirect GHG emissions.... more
Purpose
Drawing on paradox theory and the category of the “performing-organizing” paradox, the study investigates the tensions firms experience in the context of organizing the processes involved in managing their indirect GHG emissions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop hypotheses to explain why the paradox elements of supply chain transparency and supply chain coordination affect firms' ability to reduce their indirect supply chains GHG emissions. Using a two-stage method based on data from Refinitiv and CDP for 2002 to 2021, the authors test this study’s hypotheses through panel regression analyses.
Findings
While greater transparency experience with scope 3 emissions disclosure, GSCM practices and broader supply chain engagement are all associated with higher levels of scope 3 emissions levels, both long-term transparency experience and GSCM practices are also associated with relative reductions in scope 3 emissions over time.
Practical implications
Given growing pressures on firms to demonstrate both transparency and legitimacy regarding their scope 3 emissions, firms must understand the characteristics of this paradox as this has implications for how emissions performance is perceived and managed. This study's results suggested that firms need to take both a long-term perspective and effectively communicate the differences involved in reporting their emissions performance to avoid unwarranted criticism.
Originality/value
Filling a gap in sustainable OSCM studies by providing large-scale quantitative insights into the relationships between organizing and performing, the authors demonstrate that the processes involved in firms' efforts of measuring and managing their indirect scope 3 emissions are paradoxically affected by whether performance outcomes are specified as annual absolute levels of scope 3 emissions, or relative changes over time.
Drawing on paradox theory and the category of the “performing-organizing” paradox, the study investigates the tensions firms experience in the context of organizing the processes involved in managing their indirect GHG emissions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop hypotheses to explain why the paradox elements of supply chain transparency and supply chain coordination affect firms' ability to reduce their indirect supply chains GHG emissions. Using a two-stage method based on data from Refinitiv and CDP for 2002 to 2021, the authors test this study’s hypotheses through panel regression analyses.
Findings
While greater transparency experience with scope 3 emissions disclosure, GSCM practices and broader supply chain engagement are all associated with higher levels of scope 3 emissions levels, both long-term transparency experience and GSCM practices are also associated with relative reductions in scope 3 emissions over time.
Practical implications
Given growing pressures on firms to demonstrate both transparency and legitimacy regarding their scope 3 emissions, firms must understand the characteristics of this paradox as this has implications for how emissions performance is perceived and managed. This study's results suggested that firms need to take both a long-term perspective and effectively communicate the differences involved in reporting their emissions performance to avoid unwarranted criticism.
Originality/value
Filling a gap in sustainable OSCM studies by providing large-scale quantitative insights into the relationships between organizing and performing, the authors demonstrate that the processes involved in firms' efforts of measuring and managing their indirect scope 3 emissions are paradoxically affected by whether performance outcomes are specified as annual absolute levels of scope 3 emissions, or relative changes over time.
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Based on interviewees with incubators and accelerators as well as entrepreneurs from BC, this report summarises findings from a research project to develop understanding and insight into whether and how the BC innovation ecosystem is... more
Based on interviewees with incubators and accelerators as well as entrepreneurs from BC, this report summarises findings from a research project to develop understanding and insight into whether and how the BC innovation ecosystem is effectively designed towards steering new business activities that address complex interconnected sustainability issues. Findings suggest a strong overlap and agreement between both incubators and accelerators on the one hand and entrepreneurs on the other. In fact, themes emerging were surprisingly consistent between both sets of interviews and yet also pointed at persistent tensions and challenges. Interviewees not only identified numerous barriers and concerns but also provided a comprehensive list of ideas and recommendations for different stakeholders across the innovation ecosystem. The report concludes with five calls to action as useful starting points for further debate and consideration among all readers: 1. Recognise and leverage the uniqueness of British Columbia's context as a key driver of and benefit for the wider innovation ecosystem 2. Create a purpose-driven innovation ecosystem around entrepreneurship for sustainability 3. Encourage and drive partnerships across sectors, organisations, and institutions 4. Develop and promote new models of sustainable financing that better reflect the needs of impact and purpose-driven entrepreneurs 5. Significantly address and integrate equality, diversity and inclusion questions and concerns across organisational cultures and working practices
Research Interests: Entrepreneurship, Environmental Sustainability, British Columbia and the Canadian West, Canada, Impact Investing, and 9 moreClimate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Nexus, Business Incubators, Cleantech, Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Accelerators, Venture Capital and Private Equity, Sustainability, Understand the organizational purposes of businesses, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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Today's sustainability challenges require significant transformative shifts in the private sector, particularly driven by new, potentially also more informal, forms of governance. A variety of sustainability-oriented intermediary... more
Today's sustainability challenges require significant transformative shifts in the private sector, particularly driven by new, potentially also more informal, forms of governance. A variety of sustainability-oriented intermediary organisations encourage and support businesses to become purpose-driven to address social and environmental sustainability issues beyond maximising profit. We conduct interviews with these intermediaries to theorise how and why the broad concept of purpose might be used as an informal means to steer and transform business-society relations. We find that by invoking notions of systemic goal alignment and individual goal alignment, the simultaneous use of two contrasting but complementary frames allows intermediaries to appeal to and potentially engage a variety of audiences in their efforts to changing businesses and the economic system. Our research contributes to literatures on how the framing of purpose in business is used as an informal governance approach for driving a sustainability transformation.
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Today's sustainability challenges require significant transformative shifts in the private sector, particularly driven by new, potentially also more informal, forms of governance. A variety of sustainability-oriented intermediary... more
Today's sustainability challenges require significant transformative shifts in the private sector, particularly driven by new, potentially also more informal, forms of governance. A variety of sustainability-oriented intermediary organisations encourage and support businesses to become purpose-driven to address social and environmental sustainability issues beyond maximising profit. We conduct interviews with these intermediaries to theorise how and why the broad concept of purpose might be used as an informal means to steer and transform business-society relations. We find that by invoking notions of systemic goal alignment and individual goal alignment, the simultaneous use of two contrasting but complementary frames allows intermediaries to appeal to and potentially engage a variety of audiences in their efforts to changing businesses and the economic system. Our research contributes to literatures on how the framing of purpose in business is used as an informal governance approach for driving a sustainability transformation.
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In the Anthropocene, humanity faces a pressing question: ‘what should we do?’ Here we are interested in the underlying sense and reference of the normative ‘should’ as it applies to ethics with respect to different actors. To excavate... more
In the Anthropocene, humanity faces a pressing question: ‘what should we do?’ Here we are interested in the underlying sense and reference of the normative ‘should’ as it applies to ethics with respect to different actors. To excavate ‘should’, we unearth the foundations of three conventional groupings of normative ethical systems: Mill’s utilitarianism, Kantian deontological ethics and Aristotelian virtue ethics. Each provides a normative basis for saying what humans ‘should’ do. We draw on specific examples from the private sector to argue that debates on the role of ethics in business are dominated by consequentialist and deontological accounts which, while essential, entail certain limitations regarding the realities of this new geological epoch. Identifying the comparative benefits of Aristotelian virtue ethics enables us to develop new insights and suggestions for ethics in the Anthropocene. We identify three distinctive features of Aristotelian virtue ethics: (i) a focus on a...
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In this paper we explore the nature of the emerging purpose ecosystem and its role in transforming and supporting business to help address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We argue that interactions among its ‘private actors’,... more
In this paper we explore the nature of the emerging purpose ecosystem and its role in transforming and supporting business to help address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We argue that interactions among its ‘private actors’, who share efforts and belief in changing and redefining the purpose and nature of business by advocating broader non-financial performance outcomes, have the potential to contribute to a wider sustainability-oriented transformation of the business sector. Through interview data collected in the UK and Australia, we identify six main roles that characterise the activities and interactions among its actors and their stakeholders. Our research contributes to expanding knowledge on the emerging phenomenon of the purpose ecosystem and how its actors support the achievement of the UN SDGs by seeking to change the purpose of business and integrating the goals into their operations and engagements with stakeholders.
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In this paper, I investigate the extent to which the financial community is aware of and integrates the notion of the ‘energywater-food nexus’ in its decision-making and investment processes. Specifically, the research explores whether... more
In this paper, I investigate the extent to which the financial community is aware of and integrates the notion of the ‘energywater-food nexus’ in its decision-making and investment processes. Specifically, the research explores whether investors and professionals in the financial sector already employ suitable strategies, frameworks and metrics or whether other, more innovative investment criteria, data and information are needed to support a nexus-based investment approach. To achieve this aim, the paper begins with a review of key initiatives, developments and reports of relevance to nexus thinking in the financial sector and then supplements these findings with responses from several openended, semi-structured (face-to-face or telephone)interviews with a variety of investment professionals. Details of the respondents and the survey questions are listed in the appendix.
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Climate change poses significant new risks and challenges for businesses and their supply chains. Additionally, in many sectors scope 3 indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the sourcing and distribution of goods and... more
Climate change poses significant new risks and challenges for businesses and their supply chains. Additionally, in many sectors scope 3 indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from the sourcing and distribution of goods and services are larger than firms’ own carbon footprints. Here we study how firms engage their key stakeholders in their supply chains in obtaining, processing and transferring relevant climate change related information designed to overcome information asymmetry and drive sustainable development. Grounded in organisational information processing theory (OIPT), we draw on data from the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) Climate Change Supply Chain initiative for a qualitative content analysis of a large sample of global firms. Consistent with OIPT, we find that while firms primarily engage their supply chain partners in a variety of ways to reduce information uncertainty around indirect emissions data, effectively interpreting and managing broader sustainability information equivocality becomes a growing priority. Our findings further suggest that firms engage suppliers, customers and other supply chain partners through basic, transactional and collaborative types of engagement. We contribute to literatures on inter-organisational information processing and sustainable supply chain management by providing a more detailed understanding of how firms engage supply chain partners in the context of climate change.
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Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing corporate organisations. In this paper we study the linkages between corporate governance and environmental performance drawing on US firms'...
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While for some the recent COVID19 pandemic already seems but a distant memory, for Beate Sjåfjell, Carol Liao and Aikaterini Argyrou it marked a significant turning point in their reflections on the role of business in responding to and... more
While for some the recent COVID19 pandemic already seems but a distant memory, for Beate Sjåfjell, Carol Liao and Aikaterini Argyrou it marked a significant turning point in their reflections on the role of business in responding to and addressing the wide range of socio-ecological sustainability issues of the 21st century. Emerging from the discussions of an international network of female business scholars, this book summarises often deeply personal and emotional perspectives and assessments of 15 almost all female contributors on the significant shifts in regulation and governance needed to transform business for sustainability.