ABSTRACT
Regulation is presupposed as one of the major driving forces for the corporate commitment to sustainability. In this paper we review the rationale, scope and impact of government regulation, streamline the modes of corporate response to the regulation and present the findings from a survey of public perception and a content analysis of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports on the sustainability initiatives. The average measures in the our perception survey reconfirm that government regulation is an important factor along with the other key drivers of the corporate commitment to sustainability such as customer demand, technological advances, CSR initiatives and social activism. The frequency analysis of the contents in the CSR reports of the leading global corporations shows that regulation is the most important driver of the sustainability commitment along with the economic concern of the corporations. A close examination of the mission, plan and performance of the global corporations suggests that the proactive or collaborative approach is a typical corporate response to regulation. Implications and directions for future research are derived from our exploratory research findings.
Keywords
Drivers of Sustainability; Incentives for Sustainability; Sustainability Regulations; Case Study