Integrating Social and Environmental Commitments into Business Strategy and Operations The case study of Mountain Equipment Co-op

Abstract: Corporate sustainability research and practice are beginning to move beyond eco-efficiency. In our search to conceptualise sustainable development in terms that make sense to business, a growing range of frameworks, tools and management systems have emerged to support efforts to improve the social and environmental performance of companies. One of the challenges for business is to sort through these available approaches in order to effectively integrate social and environmental issues with business strategy and operations. This study describes and analyzes the efforts of a recognized Canadian leader in social and environmental responsibility, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), to integrate social and environmental issues with its business strategy and operations. MEC is a member owned and directed retail consumer co-operative, which provides products and services for self-propelled wildernessoriented recreational activities. Using an action research methodology, the study examines the strategic framework that MEC has utilized to conceptualise sustainability, considers its link with MEC's business planning cycle and internal systems, and identifies opportunities to improve the effectiveness of integration at MEC. It then links the MEC case study to various frameworks, theories, tools and management systems that shaped the conceptual context for the research area. The research found that the key to effectively integrating social and environmental issues with business strategy and operations is to align business success with overall principles of sustainability. Specifically, it recommends focusing efforts at integration where value is created in the organization. For MEC, this implies a focus on Product Sustainability, since products are its main source of social and environmental impact and its main point of interaction with the market. It also suggests the use of a planning technique called backcasting to align business success with principles of sustainability.