Due to your incredible response, I will now certainly gain a balanced
research-based perspective on the dark side of sustainability.
I look forward to discover the wisdom embedded in your comments, which will
certainly find its way to my next work on the Social Contract with Business
– and in particular the area marked in red in the attached essay.
As a courtesy to your generosity, herewith a summary of all the comments:
Xxxxxxxx
I found “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” by John Perkins very
illuminating on how businesses enslave developing nations through promises
of economic vitality. Earth Democracy by Vandana Shiva highlights the
social consequences of globalism. When Corporations Rule the World, and
others by David Korten address the economic inequities of our current
systems and dig deeper into the systems we’ve bought into. Finally, the work
of Pachamama Alliance shows another possibility {
<http://www.pachamama.org/> http://www.pachamama.org/}.
xxxxxxxxx
I found this article very interesting. It think it's worth a scan:
Vitali, Glattfelder & Battiston. 2011. The network of global corporate
control: http://bit.ly/1dmm2DG
Xxxxxxxxxxx
A special issue of Organization Studies on the Dark side of Organization
(co-edited by Steve Linstead, Ricky Griffin and I) will come out in the
next few months.
Xxxxxxxxxx
I’m not sure if you’ve already read it, but Bobby Banerjee’s book CSR: the
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly quite a bit of stuff concerning your interests.
<http://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Social-Responsibility-Good-Ugly/dp/18484445
40>
http://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Social-Responsibility-Good-Ugly/dp/184844454
0
Xxxxxxxx
inter alia, see the work of aaron mccright and riley dunlap on organized
support for opposition to attitudes and policies to deal with anthropogenic
global climate change . . .
xxxxxxxxxxxx
I don't know of research on "dark forces" opposing sustainability - but I'd
suggest that the reasons why people do not behave in sustainable ways are
much less nefarious or sinister than that. Simple externalities explain why
people don't behave sustainably. We don't directly bear the costs of our
own behavior, and we don't want to incur cost in order to prevent harm to
others. No conspiracy theories or dark agenda needed!
Internalizing externalities would be the way to go, but it is often hard to
figure out how to do that. And even harder to get politicians who are going
to be up for reelection to implement the policies that would accomplish it
when we know what they are.
What you might look at carefully is what differs between Europe and North
America, that the EU has been willing to require its members to take some
steps to live more sustainably, whereas the US & Canada have not.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
We have two collections of peer-reviewed case studies that will aid you in
your research. The Dark Side: Critical Cases on the Downside of Business and
The Dark Side 2 are compilations of shortlisted contributions from the
Critical Management Studies (CMS) Interest Group of the Academy of
Management (AoM) “Dark Side” case-writing competition. The cases cover bad
practice in the extractive industries, the energy industry, consumer
products, pulp and paper, movies, media, municipal affairs, academia,
banking, and the pharmaceutical industry.
Please see here for more information: www.greenleaf-publishing.com/darkside2
and www.greenleaf-publishing.com/darkside.
Xxxxxxxxx
You can look at a few of my recent papers on CSR … they typically outline
this a bit more. …
Web 1 (Academic, General): http://uts.academia.edu/TimothyDevinney
Web 2 (SSRN papers):
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=283089
Web 3 (Academic, UTS):
http://datasearch.uts.edu.au/business/staff/marketing/details.cfm?StaffId=42
13
xxxxxxxx
One place to start might be the Earth Institute at Columbia University. A
second would be the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International
Investment, also at Columbia University. Karl Sauvant, an AIB Fellow, is
connected to both
Xxxxxxx
Dr. Keith Hart, University of Cambridge, might have something on this
subject – there may be a link between his work on informal economy
(published) and your question.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
1.I am happy to know you are interested in global sustainability. The
inquiry you have made is very vital and am sorry to inform you that from the
best of my knowledge I am yet to come across any empirical findings that
goes in depth to shed light on the nature and dynamics of forces opposing
global sustainability.
2. Currently, I am having the distinct privilege as a PhD research scholar
at Taylor's University, Lakeside campus, Malaysia carrying out the doctoral
research "Enhancing global sustainability: the empirical study of
organizational commitment in international nonprofit
organization".Subsequently, I had written a book titled Mastering the art of
global sustainable competitiveness - which proposes organizational
commitment as true driving instrument in spurring productivity and
efficiency.
3. With both capacity am happy to suggest that your inquiry could be
optimized as a vital eye opening point to further empirical research and
insight to global sustainability . And in this case it call in appropriate
timing with dire need and demand.
I sincerely wish you all the best in your pursuit for excellence and I am
pleased to be contact in any areas I can help you actualize this humble
quest for purpose.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Your mail brought back to my mind what I read a few years back and noted it
down for further thought.
Here are two websites that I saw then:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/its-your-body/going-against-the-green
http://www.e-ir.info/2013/01/17/the-corporatization-of-sustainability/
and a comment article by Bill Willers (1994)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1523-1739.1994.08041146.x/abstr
act
These might not be full-length researches but it shows that scholars have
been aware of the dark side of sustainability since quite some time.
Please share what other colleagues share with you. I would be interested in
knowing more about the dark side.
Xxxxx
I worked with a Prof Amos Thomas from Singapore in Namibia was doing a bit
on this. He taught IB and was doing some research. I am not sure where he is
now but maybe he wrote about this.
Xxxxx
Thank you very much, Jopie, I'll make good use of it in my classes. I hope
we all together find a way to counter this dark actors.
xxxxx
Clearly there is a field here that I didn't know existed. That's why we're
on listservs, to learn about things we didn't know before. I hope your
research goes well!
Xxxxx
In conclusion:
You are most welcome to join an ongoing discourse amongst thought leaders at
my LinkedIn Group, titled: The Social Contract with Business
<http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Social-Contract-Business-4637291?trk=myg_ugr
p_ovr>
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Social-Contract-Business-4637291?trk=myg_ugrp
_ovr
Collegially yours,
Jopie Coetzee
http://coetzeejopie.authorsxpress.com
[log in to unmask]
23 August 2013
From: Jopie Coetzee [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 August 2013 09:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Research into the dark side of sustainability?
Dear Colleagues, perhaps you may be able to assist me.
I would like to know if any credible research has been done regarding the
nature and dynamics of forces opposing global sustainability in direct and
indirect ways, such as transnational crime and arguably ALEC (American
Legislative Exchange council)?
The reason for my enquiry is to gain a balanced research-based understanding
of who are ‘they’ and ‘them’ that keep society locked-up in a world of
destructive globalization.
And, how do ‘they’ go about their dark art?
And, what ‘us’ can do to counter/mitigate ‘their’ dark agenda?
If you can assist me in any way, I would be most grateful.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Jopie Coetzee
[Johannesburg, South Africa]
[log in to unmask]
The Social Contract with Business: beyond the quest for global
sustainability
<http://coetzeejopie.authorsxpress.com>
http://coetzeejopie.authorsxpress.com
†
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