Timothy B. Palmer

Climate change is transforming industrial systems globally, both by exposing them to increasing environmental risks and by positioning them as key players in worldwide mitigation and adaptation efforts. This study offers a comprehensive review of how research at the climate–industry interface has developed over the past thirty years. Using a dual-method approach that combines a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with bibliometric analysis, we examine 2458 publications from Scopus and Web of Science and visualize the field’s conceptual structure using the Thematic–Conceptual–Map (TCM) framework. Our results identify five main research themes: (1) integration of adaptation and mitigation; (2) spatial technologies and remote sensing; (3) urban heat and industrial resilience; (4) fundamental adaptation and climate resilience; and (5) connecting vulnerability with adaptive capacity. While mitigation and energy transition are predominant in industry-focused climate research, significantly fewer studies explore how industrial transformation relates to socio-ecological resilience and biodiversity conservation. This gap highlights the need for frameworks that connect decarbonization efforts with ecological preservation. By synthesizing these thematic trends, our study places industrial research at the forefront of shaping low-carbon, climate-resilient futures and offers a valuable knowledge base for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers working to integrate technology, governance, and sustainability within industrial systems.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and its sustainability-focused communications are now recognized as essential corporate activities. As society increasingly holds firms accountable for their social, environmental, and sustainability impacts, academic interest in CSR communications has similarly grown, with scholars exploring how CSR communication influences stakeholder engagement and corporate strategies. In response to this growing interest, we conducted a systematic literature review utilizing bibliometric analysis to identify and examine publication trends and patterns in CSR and CSR-associated communications, drawing from a robust dataset of 3513 documents extracted from Scopus and Web of Science. The analysis was conducted using the Biblioshiny R package and Excel to ensure methodological precision and analytical depth. We explored the characteristics of publications related to topics such as business, authorship, and journals over a four-decade period spanning from 1984 to 2024. Our results reveal four strategic clusters of CSR disclosure, reflecting a shift from symbolic to strategic and stakeholder-focused communication. Thematic evolution highlights the growing integration of ESG frameworks and digital reporting practices. This study is significant not only in its methodological rigor but also in its timely contribution to the intersection of CSR, sustainability, and strategic communication. Also, this study introduces a new theoretical framework through the CSR strategic disclosure indicator metric, which connects the level of disclosure maturity with the focus on different stakeholder groups. We discuss the implications of our findings not only for future scholarly research in CSR but also for corporate sustainability practitioners who look to academia for insights on emerging trends in CSR and CSR reporting.

Study abroad programs are increasingly encouraged as a method for students to develop cross-cultural competence and awareness of how to practice in diverse and multi-national settings. Barriers can exist to study abroad related to financing, scheduling, personal/professional obligations, and lack of international experience for novices. Short-term, faculty-led study abroad courses help to ameliorate these barriers, and still provide students with opportunities for experiential learning. A short-term interprofessional study course to Asia with business and health and human services undergraduate and graduate students provides opportunities for not only cross-cultural but transdisciplinary learning. The course provided participants with interprofessional learning about current issues in social justice, corporate social responsibility, development, and sustainability. Implementation, qualitative results, and future foci are discussed.

Considerable attention has focused on tactics firms use when building their sustainability platforms. Less is known, however, about how sustainability goal setting varies globally, especially in developing economies. Accordingly, we examined sustainability goals of 21 of the 50 largest Indian firms and compared them with similar data from a published study that examined 22 of the 50 largest U.S. firms. In total, 679 sustainability goals were analyzed using a triple bottom line framework. We found U.S. firms set more sustainability goals than Indian firms. Firms from both samples set similar numbers of people goals but U.S. firms set more diversity goals. Indian firms were more inclined to set economic and community development goals. We also detected differences across the samples in planet goals associated with emissions and water. Especially significant, Indian firms were much more likely than U.S. firms to specify profit goals. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the landscape of sustainability goals set by large firms. Design/methodology/approach: Sustainability reports were content analyzed using the triple bottom line framework. Findings: This study identified 389 goals among 22 firms. The most common goals focused on the natural environment. On average, the firms list 18 sustainability goals. These included an average of eight “planet” goals, seven “people” goals and three “overarching” goals. Practical implications: This research should be useful to sustainability professionals who are setting goals for their firms and seek to understand the current landscape of goals set by large firms. Originality/value: Although previous research has analyzed the content of sustainability reports, this is the first paper to explore sustainability goals. Given the importance of goal setting in strategic management, this paper fills an important gap in the intersection between sustainability and strategy.

Strategic management researchers often note the inability of many phenomena to consistently explain organizational performance. Using a two-study format, we examine the possibility that sampling practices may contribute to this inability. We chronicle sampling practices within 437 studies investigating the determinants of organizational performance published between 1980 and 1999 in the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Management, Organization Science, and Strategic Management Journal. Our results reveal that fewer than one in five studies rely on a random sample and that researchers offer little a priori acknowledgement of sample limitations. Although the first study suggests that sampling issues have been problematic, it cannot offer direct evidence. Thus, in the second study, we examine the effect of sample selection on empirical results by testing one popular relationship from the strategy literature (chief executive officer duality and performance) using four different samples. Whereas a stratified random sample offers some evidence of a positive relationship, a purposive sample detects a negative relationship and an available sample and simple random sample detect no relationship. Taken together, the studies suggest that sampling practices must improve if strategic management is to approach its objective of explaining performance. Accordingly, several exemplar studies are described and recommendations are offered to guide future sampling practices.