A good sustainability strategy must first be a
good business strategy that fits an organization’s
unique value-chain opportunities and
threats, while providing a competitive advantage
(Porter & Kramer, 2006; Siegel, 2009).
What is distinctive about a sustainability
strategy is that strategic thinking and action
become more holistic, balanced and complex.
Planning takes on more short- and long-term
balance (Slawinsky & Bansal, 2009). A larger,
more diverse array of external stakeholders
becomes deeply engaged, so that the organization
can better discover opportunities and
anticipate challenges.
management, there is little research on
whether HR executives can seize a place in the
discussion and exert powerful influence. The
types of people and change-management
challenges associated with developing and
executing sustainability strategies would
appear to offer HR leaders a great opportunity
to enhance their strategic roles. However,
results from our study suggest they are not yet
capitalizing on that opportunity, even as their
organizations progress toward sustainability