School Research Seminar Series: Hosted by Prof Frances Bowen

14 January 2015

Time: 1:00 - 2:00pm
Venue: FB4.04/4.08, Mile End Campus, E1 4NS

Speaker name & affiliation

Dr Lutz Preuss
Reader in Corporate Social Responsibility
School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London

Seminar title

Beyond the Business Case: Managing Corporate Sustainability through Paradoxical Thinking

Abstract

Much writing on corporate sustainability advocates a business case, according to which sustainability initiatives will lead to financial gain for the firm. However given the complexities and multi-level dependencies around sustainability, such win-win opportunities are likely to be rare. Hence there is a need for alternative ways of making sense of sustainability that are based on paradoxical thinking. The presentation will discuss under what conditions we can expect paradoxical thinking to emerge and to become the dominant logic in an organisation to address the tensions in sustainability.