Is Green the New Fad?

24 January 2007

Is green the new black? Award for Waikato University research into sustainable business trend

University of Waikato Management School researchers Prof Ted Zorn and Dr Eva Collins have won a prestigious best paper award from the Australia New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) for their research into whether green is the new black.

“We’re asking if the trend towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable business is just the latest management fad or whether it will have a long-lasting impact on the way we do business,” says management communication expert Prof Zorn.

“The jury’s still out, but our analysis shows that CSR and sustainable business share a lot of characteristics of previous management fads, such as quality circles and TQM. There’s the distinctive jargon (CSR, triple-bottom line), and a lot of active promotion by the ‘management fashion industry’ -- business schools, consultants, business press, and so on.

“The big question is, will the interest in sustainable business taper off so that we see a bell-shaped curve in terms of articles published and organisations adopting it? That's what people ought to look for in terms of determining whether it's a fad.”

Zorn and Collins’ paper, “Green is the New Black: Are CSR and Sustainable Business Just Fads?”, was among 300 presented at the annual ANZAM conference, held last month in Yeppoon, Queensland. It was one of just 20 papers to receive a $500 award.

Prof Zorn says the award is recognition of Waikato Management School’s distinctive focus on sustainability. “It shows the School’s research on sustainability is recognised by our peers in the region as being of high quality.”

ANZAM is the peak professional body for management educators, researchers and practitioners in Australia and New Zealand. It aims to advance scholarship and practice in management education and research.

ENDS

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