Date: 15 December 2023, Friday
Time: 13.30 – 14.30
“How can we drive firms to deliver on net zero?”
by
Jonatan Pinkse
(The University of Manchester)
This is an online seminar. To obtain event details please send a message to department.
Abstract:
Business activity is a major source of global carbon emissions. But how can we push firms to deliver on the net-zero agenda when their bottom line is at stake? In this presentation, Professor Jonatan Pinkse, outlines a framework of the options of firms to transition to net zero and the policy changes needed to support the business community in this transition. The framework suggests that firms can choose between innovating, offloading, and offsetting. However, it depends on the purpose behind pursuing these options whether we can expect a business transition to net zero to materialise. Too often, net-zero strategies have the aim to buffer a firm’s core business model from too much disruption from government and society. A change in thinking is needed where the strategic options are directed, instead, towards radically transforming the core business model. This requires from firms to move away from a win-win mindset where the business case for sustainability is central towards acknowledging that the management of tensions between multiple desirable goals such as net-zero, productivity, employment, and social equity is inevitable.
Bio :
Jonatan Pinkse is Professor of strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR), Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester and theme lead of Social, environmental & technological transitions of the UKRI-funded The Productivity Institute. His passion is innovation and sustainability. He is a regular speaker on topics related to strategy and innovation for net-zero and sustainability, business model innovation for disruption, managing the green transition, and digital platforms. In his research, Jonatan analyses how firms make strategic decisions to create a sustainable economy and deal with tensions between issues and actors. He investigates opportunities and barriers for firms’ adoption of disruptive and sustainable technologies from cognitive, organizational, and institutional perspectives. Jonatan has authored more than 60 scholarly and practitioner articles in journals such as Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Research Policy, Journal of International Business Studies, Organization Studies, California Management Review, Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. In 2020, he was included in the prestigious Highly Cited Researcher list. Before moving to Manchester, he held positions at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and Grenoble Ecole de Management. He is a deputy editor for the journal Organization & Environment.