Encouraging Investors to Enable Corporate Sustainability Transitions: The Case of Responsible Investment in France. (June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Crifo, Patricia; Durand, Rodolphe; Gond, Jean-Pascal
• Other Names: Delmas Magali A. guest-editor.; Lyon Thomas P. guest-editor.; Maxwell John W. guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Organization & environment. Volume 32:Number 2(2019:Apr.)
• Page Start: 125
• Page End: 144
• Publication Date: 2019-06
• Subjects: responsible investing -- sustainability transition -- investors -- category -- calculative devices -- public good; Associations, institutions, etc -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Business enterprises -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental management -- Periodicals; Environmental responsibility -- Periodicals; Sustainability -- Periodicals; 658.408305
• DOI: 10.1177/1086026619848145
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1086-0266

Abstract

This article studies the case of the socially responsible investment industry in France. This case accounts for how the socially responsible investment category and practices have successfully moved from the margins of the industry in the late 1990s to become mainstream over two decades. We bring to the forefront the importance of three complementary factors in the process of causing corporations to transition toward more sustainable businesses: the role of investors and, in particular, institutional investors; the importance of the presence of a clear category definition and of intermediary organizations, providing ratings, scores, and other calculative devices; and the role of governments and regulators . With other studies, this case stresses the fundamental influence of investors in how corporations manage sustainability transitions.