Corporate sustainability strategy deployment: A case study on the implementation of corporate sustainability using hoshin kanri

Abstract

Companies face difficulties when attempting to implement corporate sustainability (CS), especially linking operational activities to their overall sustainability strategy remains a main challenge. The present study applies a single-case study approach to contribute to literature on CS implementation and to provide a framework for the deployment of CS strategies. The company under study is a medium-sized company that has set sustainability targets using a typical management system for strategy deployment, namely hoshin kanri. The data collected is derived from company documents, observations, and 12 semi-structured interviews with department managers and employees, and qualitative content analysis was used for data analysis. The results illustrate that clear definition of sustainability, measurability of sustainability targets, employee involvement, and motivation, and prioritization of long-term sustainability objectives are necessary prerequisites for successful CS strategy deployment. Challenges relate to lack of time capacity (workload), specific industry-context, and the difficulty of social impact assessment. Finally, a framework for CS implementation is proposed which incorporates stakeholder, systems, and dynamic capabilities perspectives. This research contributes to the literature linking CS strategy to practice, illustrating the related prerequisites and challenges in implementation, and provides a practical approach towards the deployment of CS strategies.