Schumacher recognized that we separate the economic system from natural and social systems at our peril. Following Schumacher's alternative “economics,” my purpose is to understand economics differently by engaging alternative ways of perceiving and knowing. Can we conceive of an economics that embodies the requisite social and environmental values, and can the associated accountings hold the responsible actors justly accountable? I compare the premises and characteristics of Schumacher's Buddhist economics with the prevailing neoclassical formulations, illustrating the narrowness of the current perspective and highlighting the critical issues. I consider the Social and Environmental Accounting project and the extent to which it has been, and potentially will be, able to move accounting, business, and society toward a more holistic conceptualization of accounting and accountability. Assimilating the two economic perspectives in developing a more holistic and integrated accounting is offered as a path to consider on our journey toward an accounting “as if people mattered.”

This article looks at social entrepreneurs that operate for-profit and internationally, offering that international for-profit social entrepreneurs (IFPSE) are of a unique type. Initially, this article utilizes the entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and international entrepreneurship literatures to develop a definition of the IFPSE. Next, a proposed model of the IFPSE is built utilizing the dimensions of mindset, opportunity recognition, social networks, and outcomes. Case studies of three IFPSE are then used to examine the proposed model. In the final section, findings from the case studies are used to examine the proposed model and more fully elucidate the dimensions of the IFPSE.

Industry transformation related to environmental stewardship has received significant scholarly attention over the past decade. However, limited theoretical and empirical work examines the motivations for improving environmental performance in an industry in different countries. In this paper, we develop a set of hypotheses, based in the theory of reasoned action and stakeholder theory, regarding drivers of the adoption of environmental practices in the wine industries of New Zealand and the United States. We test our hypotheses using data from survey questionnaires collected in each country. Our findings suggest that subjective norms and internal stakeholder pressures are common drivers of the adoption of environmental practices in these two countries. However, managerial attitudes and external stakeholder pressures are not significant drivers. We also find that managerial attitudes and export dependence are stronger determinants of environmental practice adoption in New Zealand compared to the U.S.

Sustainable supply management research generally focuses on environmental practices. We show through an analysis of the food industry that sustainability requires an expanded view to encompass both environmental and social elements. We interviewed and surveyed food and beverage producers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest to both validate expanded sustainability elements in the industry and assess subsequent performance outcomes. A path analysis reveals that food industry managers perceive both direct and mediated impacts of sustainability programs on performance. Specifically, the results indicate that sustainability program effects are limited to the impact of conservation and land management environmental practices on overall environmental performance and human resources practices on quality performance. However, environmental performance improvements lead to improved quality performance, which in turn improves cost performance. The results highlight the complexity of sustainability impacts on performance and suggest that performance benefits from sustainability programs may be difficult to recognize.

This study examines whether internal control quality is associated with auditors’ going concern assessments following the implementation of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Based on a sample of financially distressed firms that issued internal control reports under SOX Section 404 in 2004 and 2005, we find that firms with material internal control weaknesses are more likely to receive going concern audit opinions. Further analysis indicates that the positive association between disclosures of material weaknesses and auditors’ propensity to issue a going concern opinions is largely driven by a subset of firms that disclose company-level material weaknesses, suggesting that only the more severe type of internal control material weakness influences the going concern assessment. These findings add to our understanding of the audit opinion formation process and the potentially important impact of internal control quality on that process.

The microfinance industry seeks to alleviate poverty by providing business loans and related financial services to clients who are too small to be served profitably through the formal financial sector. Microbusiness lending is considered to be among the most powerful tools available for promoting entrepreneurial activity and economic development. However, a significant number of current and potential entrepreneurs remain untouched by microfinance. They live in regions considered to have cultures of non-repayment, which render them "unbankable." By better understanding non-repayment cultures and developing management strategies attuned to the unique attributes of these regions, the microfinance industry can effectively and profitably support these underserved entrepreneurs.

Research shows that perceived overqualification is related to lower job attitudes and greater withdrawal behaviors but to higher supervisor ratings of performance. Drawing upon relative deprivation theory, the authors proposed and tested empowerment as a moderator of the relationship between perceived overqualification and job satisfaction, intentions to remain, voluntary turnover, and objective sales performance to examine if negative outcomes could be lessened while stimulating even higher performance. Hierarchical linear modeling results from a sample of 244 sales associates working in 25 stores of a Turkish retail chain show that empowerment ameliorated the negative effects of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction, intentions to remain, and voluntary turnover. Empowerment did not affect the positive relationship between perceived overqualification and objective sales performance.

We conceptualize new ways to qualify what themes should dominate the future international business and management (IB/IM) research agenda by examining three questions: Whom should we ask? What should we ask, and which selection criteria should we apply? What are the contextual forces? Our main findings are the following: (1) wider perspectives from academia and practice would benefit both rigor and relevance; (2) four key forces are climate change, globalization, inequality, and sustainability; and (3) we propose scientific mindfulness as the way forward for generating themes in IB/IM research. Scientific mindfulness is a holistic, cross-disciplinary, and contextual approach, whereby researchers need to make sense of multiple perspectives with the betterment of society as the ultimate criterion.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe an emergent supply chain management system that supports a sustainable values based organization (VBO) using a structuration theory-based framework.
Design/methodology/approach – A case study of a sustainable beef cooperative employing a structuration theory framework provides insights into sustainable supply chain management models.
Findings – The supply chain design and management afford the key to the VBO's success. In order to attain the necessary price premium, the unique product attributes acquired through the natural beef production process must be sustained along the entire supply chain and communicated to the end customer. Structuration theory is useful in understanding supply chain management in VBOs.
Research limitations/implications – The paper has implications for studying VBOs, particularly those prioritizing sustainability values. The descriptive model presented is useful in settings where organizational structure and the supply chain are needed to support sustainable products and processes and whose success is facilitated by establishing strategic partners, especially those that make possible economies of scale. The study is limited to one, privately owned firm, operating in a specialty industry sector.
Practical implications – The paper has implications for those entities with an identified values set that endows the product with unique characteristics that must be conveyed to their end consumer in order to command a price premium and/or differentiate the product from a commodity. The case study provides an example of how a unique product as well as a facilitating organizational structure and supply chain emerge out of the application of a set of core values.
Originality/value – Little previous research focuses on implications of supply chain management in VBOs. In addition, the paper contributes to both the supply chain management and sustainability literature by relating supply chain management to a more comprehensive sustainability agenda including social, environmental, and long-term economic sustainability and by a theoretically based structuring.