Sustainability never more relevant for business 

An explosion of interest, research and debate about sustainability and its increasing role in the understanding of management and organisations has led to the University's first sustainability conference, to be held at Albany next Thursday and Friday.

Sustainability has been transformed from marginal to a mainstream concern, and the conference, titled The Sustainability Debate – The Way Forward, provides a forum for academics, sustainability practitioners, entrepreneurs and policy makers to debate new ideas, research and issues.

Conference organiser and senior lecturer in international business and sustainability Dr Gabriel Eweje says the conference is timely. “Sustainability is not new, but people are still struggling with it and what it means for different sectors," he says.

Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey will open the conference and College of Business Pro Vice-Chancellor Lawrence Rose will welcome an expected 80 delegates.

Keynote speakers include Emeritus Professor Dexter Dunphy from the School of Management at the University of Technology in Syndey and Rob Fenwick, co-founder and director of Living Earth Ltd, chairman of the National Waste Advisory Board and past chairman of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development.

New research by Massey staff will also be presented including a paper by Associate Professor Dennis Viehland from the Department of Management and MBA student Victoria Troake, titled The Effect of the Construction Contracts Act on Business Sustainability in New Zealand’s Construction Industry.

Finance lecturer Dr Sue Cassells and Dr Kate Lewis of the New Zealand Small and Medium Enterprise Research Centre will also present a paper titled SMEs and Environmental Responsibility: Do Actions Reflect Attitudes?

Dr Eweje, who will present a paper on sustainable strategy in New Zealand business, says: “Things are changing and there is an increasing focus on sustainability, but what I found from talking to companies across the country about their sustainability practices was that we have leaders and followers. The leaders are the ones who will retain their sustainability practices during a recession, where the followers won’t. The New Zealand experience is also different from other countries in that even though our clean, green image is our point of difference, there is not much pressure from stakeholders on companies to be sustainable."