IESE Research Papers
No D/577:
Sustainability in the boardroom: An empirical examination of Dow Jones sustainability world index leaders
Joan E. Ricart ()
, Miguel A. Rodriguez ()
and Pablo Sanchez
Abstract: In recent years, there has been a virtual explosion of
interest in corporate governance. Corporate scandals and the need to
protect minority shareholders' interests, for example, are some of the
reasons behind the development of corporate governance codes in numerous
countries and corporations. At the same time, the concepts of "sustainable
development", "corporate responsibility", and "corporate citizenship" have
taken root in the business world. Although an extensive body of research
treats the fields of corporate governance and sustainable development
separately, less attention has been paid to the interaction between both
fields. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by examining how corporate
governance systems are evolving in order to integrate sustainable
development thinking into them. We do so by analyzing the governance
systems of the 18 corporations that are leading the market sectors
considered by the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSWI). We present
the results of our in depth analysis of the 18 cases and propose the
Sustainable Corporate Governance Model that emerges from that analysis.
Keywords: Corporate governance; sustainable corporate governance; sustainable enterprise; sustainable development; business in society; (follow links to similar papers)
35 pages, November 17, 2004
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