Purpose

Sustainability-oriented strategies involve considering all possible environmental, social and economic factors that impact stakeholders and sustainable development. They could be a crucial contribution of the private sector to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study’s objective is twofolded. First, the authors want to discover if enterprises doing business in Brazil are contemplating the SDGs in their strategies. Second, the authors want to identify the external and internal factors that motivate them.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected data through an online survey with employees from Global Compact signatories in Brazil. From a list of 335 for-profit enterprises, the authors got back 132 answers. The sample comprises Brazilian enterprises that only operate in the Brazilian market, Brazilian multinational enterprises (MNEs) and foreign multinationals operating in Brazilian and international markets. For this study, the MNEs’ group comprises Brazilian multinationals and foreign multinationals (MNEs). To characterize the sample and identify the motivating factors, the authors conducted a descriptive analysis. To compare the domestic and MNEs’ mean differences regarding the factors that influenced their strategies and the SDGs, the authors performed Mann–Whitney's U-test.

Findings

The results of the study show that enterprises are addressing the SDGs in their strategies. All internal and external driving factors are similar for domestic and MNEs, except for the value chain's negative externalities. MNEs are more prone to consider their negative externalities, which is a positive trend. Finally, results suggest that both groups of enterprises consider the 17 goals in their strategies, contrary to the theoretical argument that multinationals suffer more pressure because of their broad geographic scope.

Research limitations/implications

The database of the study involves data collected through a self-response survey. Thus, the authors cannot discuss the effectiveness of real SDGs' strategies once enterprises' discourse on sustainability does not always correspond with practices. Therefore, the authors suggest that researchers address the results of implemented strategies on the SDGs over time to check for improvements and new developments.

Practical implications

The authors suggest frequent materiality assessment of domestic enterprises' supply chain and articulation of explicit purposes around the selected SDGs, including setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitoring progress.

Social implications

The authors believe that enterprises and decision makers should recognize their essential role to bend the curve on SDGs and shift their behavior toward strategic choices that could contribute to their positive performance over time, without contributing to environmental degradation and socioeconomic chaos.

Originality/value

Publication on how enterprises address the SDGs in Brazil is relatively scarce. This study provides some answers to that by focusing on the factors influencing sustainability-oriented strategies on the SDGs. Besides, most previous studies consider a small sample of enterprises and are industry specific or focus on the effects of the SDGs in public policy. The sample of this study is diverse and represents 42% of the for-profit signatories of the Global Compact in Brazil.

中文翻译：

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可持续发展战略与可持续发展目标

目的

以可持续发展为导向的战略涉及考虑影响利益相关者和可持续发展的所有可能的环境，社会和经济因素。它们可能是私营部门对可持续发展目标（SDGs）的关键贡献。该研究的目标是双重的。首先，作者想发现在巴西开展业务的企业是否正在考虑其战略中的可持续发展目标。其次，作者希望确定激励他们的外部和内部因素。

设计/方法/方法

作者通过与来自巴西的全球契约签署方的员工的在线调查收集了数据。从335个营利性企业列表中，作者获得了132个答案。样本包括仅在巴西市场运营的巴西企业，在巴西和国际市场运营的巴西跨国企业（MNE）和外国跨国公司。对于这项研究，跨国公司小组由巴西跨国公司和外国跨国公司（MNEs）组成。为了表征样本并确定激励因素，作者进行了描述性分析。为了比较国内企业和跨国企业在影响其战略和可持续发展目标的因素上的均值差异，作者进行了Mann-Whitney的U检验。

发现

研究结果表明，企业正在通过其战略解决可持续发展目标。国内和跨国企业的所有内部和外部驱动因素都是相似的，除了价值链的负外部性。跨国公司更倾向于考虑其负面外部性，这是一种积极趋势。最后，结果表明，这两组企业都在其战略中考虑了17个目标，这与理论上的论点相反，即跨国公司由于其广阔的地域而承受更大的压力。

研究局限/意义

该研究的数据库涉及通过自我调查收集的数据。因此，一旦企业关于可持续性的论述并不总是与实践相符，作者就无法讨论真正的可持续发展目标战略的有效性。因此，作者建议研究人员随着时间的推移应对可持续发展目标实施战略的结果，以检查改进和新发展。

实际影响

作者建议对国内企业的供应链进行频繁的重要性评估，并围绕选定的可持续发展目标阐明明确的目的，包括设定关键绩效指标（KPI）和监测进度。

社会影响

作者认为，企业和决策者应该认识到其必不可少的角色，即可以改变可持续发展目标的曲线，并将其行为转向战略选择，这些战略选择可以在一段时间内促进其积极表现，而又不导致环境恶化和社会经济混乱。

创意/价值

关于企业如何解决巴西的可持续发展目标的出版物相对较少。通过关注影响可持续发展目标的可持续发展战略的因素，本研究提供了一些答案。此外，大多数以前的研究只考虑企业的一小部分，并且是针对特定行业的，或者着重于可持续发展目标在公共政策中的作用。这项研究的样本多种多样，代表了巴西《全球契约》的营利性签署者的42％。