Seminar – Time Matters to Business Sustainability

Professor Pratima (Tima) Bansal, Western University

Business sustainability has moved from the marginal to the mainstream. Businesses claim to be managing their triple bottom line – environmental, social and financial performance. Yet, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) defined sustainable development, not as the triple bottom line, but development that meets the needs of present generations without compromising the needs of future generations. In a world of increasing short-termism, businesses may be espousing sustainability, but I argue that few are practicing it. In my presentation, I will discuss ‘time’ in organisations and how it relates to sustainability, specifically its ontology and epistemology. Drawing from my own research and that of others, I argue that the pressures for short-termism and the epistemological bias of organisational studies is producing a countervailing force to sustainability. Sustainability is becoming an ever more elusive ideal in a short-term world. To advance sustainable development, organisational studies need to embrace the temporal aspects of sustainable development and consider their implications on business practice.

This seminar is organised in association with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).

Speaker bio

Tima Bansal is a Professor of Strategy at the Ivey Business School. She is also the Director of Ivey’s Centre on Building Sustainable Value and the Executive Director (and Founder) for the Network for Business Sustainability, a growing network of more than 5000 researchers and managers from nations around the world committed to advancing sustainable business.

She has received significant accolades for her scholarship in business sustainability: most recently, in 2017, she was presented with the Organizations and Natural Environment Distinguished Scholar Award by the Academy of Management; in 2012, she was awarded a Canada Research Chair to pursue her efforts to make business both profitable and sustainable; in 2008, she was awarded the title of Faculty Pioneer for Academic Leadership by the Aspen Institute, a global forum for business and society headquartered in Washington, DC.

Her research targets the interplay between business strategy and sustainability. Her TedX talk describes some of her recent ideas. She has published in several top research journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, and the Strategic Management Journal. She has co-edited two books about business and the natural environment. Her research has also been cited in the popular press, including The Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and The Independent.

Registration

A drinks reception will be held after the seminar, so please sign up to give us an indication of numbers.

Contact Luke Slater to register