Leadership Decision Making in an Era of Corporate Sustainability
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) matured over the last years. We have entered an era of global business responsibility where a growing number of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) laws and regulations are pushing multinational corporations (MNCs) to ‘adapt or die’. This evolution appears to be based on two primary arguments. The first being the case for the long-term survival of our species: a compelling case, with an abundance of mounting environmental evidence to support it. The second is more subtle: a global shift in orientation towards ‘post-materialist values’, such as social justice, self-expression, and tolerance (Inglehart, 1997). This shift, recorded by social scientists since the 1970s, was largely driven by a younger population while their parents still cared for ‘materialist’ values such as financial success, security and individual achievements (Diermeier, 2022). The new context for doing business, is a situation numerous companies have embraced and some continue to reject. Many more may still be ‘on the fence’. Regardless, the evidence suggests that the strategic questions for business have moved on from understanding the need to change, to the realities of how it can, and should, be done (IBM Institute for Business Value, 2022).