Gracious Growth: How to Manage the Trade-off between Corporate Greening and Corporate Growth

Tahiru Liedong, Paolo Taticchi, Tazeeb Rajwani, Niccolo Pisani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Organizations are increasingly turning to sustainable practices. A significant challenge in the endeavour to embrace sustainability relates to the trade-off between corporate greening and corporate growth – i.e., the difficult task of achieving growth while being truly sustainable. Through an in-depth study of Brunello Cucinelli, one of the world’s leading companies in the luxury fashion industry, we introduce the management philosophy of “gracious growth” to help organizations manage the green-growth trade-off and pursue substantial rather than symbolic sustainability. We offer actionable recommendations and present a process framework that organizations can adopt to implement “gracious growth”. Generating new insights about how growth and sustainability can be simultaneously achieved, this article provides ideas that can help managers enhance their organizations’ economic and environmental performance while also avoiding the legitimacy risks associated with greenwashing.
Original languageEnglish
Article number100895
JournalOrganizational Dynamics
Volume51
Issue number3
Early online date11 Mar 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2022

Keywords

  • Brunello Cucinelli
  • gracious growth
  • humanistic capitalism
  • humanistic sustainability
  • sustainability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

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