Research - Centre for Sustainability and Business

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Our research focuses on helping organisations innovate and make sustainability a core part of their strategy.

By leveraging our research strengths with that of the University of Melbourne, the Centre is working toward developing leading-edge research on all aspects of business and sustainability – enabling us to translate findings into actionable business frameworks and insights.

We work with individual companies or groups of companies on mission-based research projects, which provide managers with new and practical approaches to address their current challenges, while advancing the scholarship of business sustainability.

Meet our Experts

Our business experts are working toward being the first port of call for governments and industry in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region
when it comes to sustainability and business. Discover their areas of expertise in the videos below.

JAMES FREDERICKSON

James is a Professor of Accounting at Melbourne Business School. In this video, he looks at how a company's activities in corporate social responsibility and its disclosures affect share market values, and how investors' social value orientation affects their investment judgements.

Kwanghui Lim

Kwanghui is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at Melbourne Business School. In this video he looks at how a 100 year old Taiwanese firm has become more sustainable over a decade by embracing new technology and creating an enzyme to breakdown product waste.

BRANDON LEE

Brandon is an Associate Professor Business Strategy at Melbourne Business School. In this video, he discusses ideas around collective action and social movements to inform our understanding of how markets are formed and the dynamics that occur through that process.

Industry Engagement

Executive Roundtable on Cross Sector International Development Partnerships

In July 2019, the Centre hosted the Executive Roundtable on Cross Sector International Development Partnerships.

Bringing together 18 executives across the corporate, NGO, philanthropic, government and academia/medical research communities, the Roundtable set the stage for ongoing research and discussion to drive collaborative efforts towards sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific.

The centre is supporting an ongoing working group and looks forward to hosting the next edition of the Roundtable.

Current Research

road with green trees on one side and brown trees on another side

Dark side of bright vision?

Ambitious environmental goals in a firm’s vision statement can spur action and pride. But can poor follow-up offset those benefits by confusing employees about the firm’s goals?

Man playing giant chess in a green courtyard

Context matters: The link between green product strategy and financial performance

Green product strategy can enhance financial performance, but often doesn’t. How do the most successful firms match their execution to their context?

Partnering for sustainability

Achieving sustainability often requires accessing capabilities and changing routines that span firm boundaries. How should firms pick partners and manage relationships to maximise business and sustainability outcomes?