Principles for organizations striving for sustainable degrowth: Framework development and application to four B Corps

Hankammer, Stephan; Kleer, Robin; Mühl, Lena; Euler, Johannes

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126818

Cited by 30 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…This theory advocates the growth model needs to be changed, and GDP is not the only goal of development. On the premise of economy growth, it is necessary to reduce energy consumption and protect the environment and promote members of society to enjoy the fruits of development together [ 38 , 39 ].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the Drivers of Inclusive Green Growth in China Based on the Digital Economy Represented by the Internet of Things (IoT)

Liu

Fan

Cao

et al. 2022

Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience

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With the vigorous development of digital economy based on digital technologies such as Internet of things (IoT), big data, and artificial intelligence, new vitality has been injected into China’s economic model. Inclusive green growth (IGG) supports the transformation of society towards a better quality of life and well-being, as well as environmental protection. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the main drivers of IGG. However, IGG is subject to a variety of interpretations and lacks definitional clarity. To brigade this gap, this study primarily evaluates the performance of IGG and explores the key drivers on IGG in China. Specifically, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is employed to calculate IGG for 281 cities in China during 2005–2020. Subsequently, we take advantage of a nest of machine learning (ML) algorithm to demonstrate the vital drivers of urban IGG, which avoids the defects of endogenous linear hypothesis of traditional econometric methods. The results indicate that digitization represented by the IoT and other digital technology is the core drivers of the urban IGG in the overall sample, accounting for about 50% among all of drivers. This finding provides new evidence supporting the “high-quality development” strategy in China, as well as shedding light on grasping the principal fulcrum to achieve the transformation towards IGG in developing economies similar to China.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study on the Drivers of Inclusive Green Growth in China Based on the Digital Economy Represented by the Internet of Things (IoT)

Liu

Fan

Cao

et al. 2022

Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience

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“…Degrowth scholars have also been investigating the form and role businesses play in a postgrowth society (Khmara and Kronenberg, 2018;Wells, 2018;Nesterova, 2020;Robra et al, 2020). The findings of this study are, for instance, consistent with the principle of degrowth businesses from Hankammer et al (2021). The sufficiency purpose of the businesses, the sharing possibilities and alternative forms of ownership, the dedication to improve the work-life balance of employees, or the local embeddedness of the sufficiency practitioners are all characteristics of degrowth businesses.…”

Section: Limitation To Growthsupporting

confidence: 72%

How to make more of less: Characteristics of sufficiency in business practices

Beyeler

Jaeger‐Erben²

2022

Front. Sustain.

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Sustainable transformation toward a circular society, in which all ecosystems and livelihoods are protected and sustained, requires the integration of sufficiency in circular production and consumption practices. Beyond the technological promises to decouple resource use from economic growth, sufficiency measures to reduce production and consumption volumes in absolute terms are necessary. Businesses integrating sufficiency act as agent of change to transform current unsustainable practices along the entire supply chain. By observing the operationalization of sufficiency in 14 pioneer businesses, this study identifies dimensions and practice elements that characterize sufficiency in business practices. This study observed that the sufficiency in business practices mainly represents a rethinking of business doings on three dimensions: (1) rethinking the relation to consumption; (2) rethinking the relation to others; and (3) rethinking the social meaning of the own organization. Sufficiency practitioners understand production and consumption as a mean to fulfill basic human needs instead of satisfying consumer preferences. They co-create sufficiency-oriented value with peers in a sufficiency-oriented ecosystem and they redefine growth narratives by envisioning an end to material growth. Additionally, this study revealed that care, patience and learning competences are essential characteristics of sufficiency in business practices. Sufficiency practitioners reshape their business doings by caring for others and nature; they demonstrate patience to create slow, local, and fair provision systems; and they accept their shortcomings and learn from mistakes. Integrating elements of care, patience and learning in business practices reduce the risks of sufficiency-rebound effects. Ambivalences between the sufficiency purpose and growth-oriented path dependencies persists for sufficiency-oriented businesses. Further research should investigate pathways to overcome these ambivalences and shortcomings that sufficiency practitioners experience, for instance, by exploring political and cultural settings that foster sufficiency-oriented economic activity.

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“…The "how" naturally provokes reflection on concrete practices. While many practices have been proposed by degrowth scholars (Hankammer et al, 2021), they generally relate to the three dimensions of a firm's existence (Nesterova, 2020a,b). These dimensions include (1) the environment, (2) humans and nonhumans and (3) a deviation from the profit maximization imperative.…”

Section: Being Of a Firm Toward Degrowthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Being in the World Locally: Degrowth Business, Critical Realism, and Humanistic Geography

Nesterova

2022

Front. Sustain.

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It has been argued that to achieve a genuinely sustainable society, our mode of being in the world needs to change. Understanding macro visions such as the desirable size of our economies remains essential, but concrete ways of being in the world which unite such aspects of our existence as the self, being with others (humans and non-humans) and being in and with nature deserve a much closer attention. Hence, I propose focusing our attention on being once again. But rather than contemplating being as an abstract philosophical category, this paper looks at being in the world in this dual sense: we are part of the cosmos, of the web of existence and at the same time we are in the world locally, in concrete places and locations characterized by particular cultural attributes, political-economic systems, climate and landscape. This nature of being applies to individual humans and human organizations. This paper focuses specifically on business as one type of organizations. I employ the concept of degrowth business, the philosophy of critical realism and humanistic geography as lenses to enhance and deepen our understanding of what it could mean and look like for a business to be in the world locally and more sustainably. To understand what it could mean and look like in reality, I offer a case of a firm from Northern Sweden specializing in vertical hydroponic agriculture.

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Principles for organizations striving for sustainable degrowth: Framework development and application to four B Corps

Cited by 30 publications

References 84 publications

Study on the Drivers of Inclusive Green Growth in China Based on the Digital Economy Represented by the Internet of Things (IoT)

Study on the Drivers of Inclusive Green Growth in China Based on the Digital Economy Represented by the Internet of Things (IoT)

How to make more of less: Characteristics of sufficiency in business practices

Being in the World Locally: Degrowth Business, Critical Realism, and Humanistic Geography

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