Centre for Sustainable and Responsible Organisations (CSaRO)

Context

Organisational performance and survival has attracted unprecedented research attention in recent years with worldwide crises related to high profile corporate scandals and collapses and climate change imperatives, as well as unexpected challenges such the Global Financial Crisis and economic downturns. The themes of ecological sustainability and financially responsible organisations have pervaded all aspects of sustainable management theory and practice.

The global activism and momentum built by reports such as the Stern Review, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, and high profile thought leaders such as David Suzuki and Al Gore, has put further pressure on organisations to demonstrate responsible and sustainable organisational performance. Organisational leadership and the quality of corporate governance are vital concerns for tackling these growing challenges. Organisations are increasingly required to engage with current debates such as those on carbon schemes, the ecological footprints of organisations and the efficient management and allocation of resources at both the organisational and macro-economic levels.

These issues are multidimensional and complex, and need both theoretical and practical solutions requiring the integration of expertise from different fields. The CSaRO has already established research leadership in these areas and is ideally placed to build on the opportunities arising. Researchers in the CSaRO are already working with large nationally competitive research grants in the two areas designated above, and foresee escalating growth in the area - advancing both theory and practice.