Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: A Review of Strategic Tools and Frameworks Available to Organisations
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Conceptual Background
2.1. The SDGs
2.2. Organisational Strategy
2.3. A Generalised Model of Strategic Management
- An ideation phase, where the strategic objectives are defined and articulated;
- A development phase, where multiple options or pathways to realise the objectives are devised and evaluated, and the preferred options/pathways are then selected as the strategy;
- An implementation phase, where the selected strategy is executed and then monitored.
2.3.1. The Ideation Phase
2.3.2. The Development Phase
2.3.3. The Implementation Phase
2.4. Organisational Strategy and the SDGs
3. Methodology
- Stage 1: identifying the research question.
- Stage 2: identifying relevant studies.
- Stage 3: study selection.
- Stage 4: charting the data.
- Stage 5: collating, summarising and reporting the results.
3.1. Stage 1: Identifying the Research Question
3.2. Stage 2: Identifying Relevant Studies
3.3. Stage 3: Study Selection
- Explicit reference to the SDGs: This was determined to exclude other sustainability tools that make no reference to the SDGs, given that this review was explicitly focussing on the SDGs and not on just any sustainability tool;
- Applicability to a broad range of sectors (that is, sector neutrality), such as: private enterprise, public utilities, etc.: This was determined to ensure that the results of this study would be generic enough to apply to any organisation in any sector;
- Developed as a supportive tool/framework for organisations: This was determined to exclude studies that develop tools for the conceptual analysis of the SDGs, mainly for academic purposes.
3.4. Stage 4: Charting the Data
- (a)
- Nature or type of the tool: Was the tool presented in the publication a reporting tool for reporting against the SDGs? Was it a mapping tool against the SDGs? Or something else?
- (b)
- Purpose of the tool: What purpose did the tool try to achieve or help with?
- (c)
- Background to its development: Was the tool developed specifically for the SDGs, or was it an already-existing sustainability tool that had been adapted for the SDGs?
3.5. Stage 5: Collating, Summarising and Reporting the Results
4. Results
- Mapping tools/frameworks: The purpose of these tools is to help organisations with mapping their existing programs, initiatives, or their value chains against the SDGs, to identify how they are dealing with the SDGs in their current activities.
- Reporting tools/frameworks: The purpose of these tools is to help organisations with performance benchmarking against the SDGs and including the SDGs in their sustainability reports.
- Aligning tools/frameworks: The purpose of these tools is to help organisations to utilise the SDGs for competitive advantage and to align their business activities with this new opportunity.
4.1. Mapping Tools—SDG-Specific
4.2. Mapping Tools—Adapted
4.3. Reporting Tools—SDG-Specific
4.4. Reporting Tools—Adapted
4.5. Aligning Tools—Adapted
5. Discussion
5.1. Positioning of Existing Tools/Frameworks within the Strategic Management Process
5.1.1. Mapping Tools
5.1.2. Reporting Tools
5.1.3. Aligning Tools
5.2. Can Existing SDG Tools and Frameworks Enable Strategic Actions?
5.3. A Research Agenda for New SDG Tools
6. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Scoping Study | Systematic Review |
---|---|
Addresses a broad topic in all relevant literature, regardless of the study designs. | Focuses on a well-defined and specific question where appropriate study designs are identified in advance. |
Comprehensive coverage of the studies without quality appraisal. | Narrow range of quality-assessed studies selected. |
Search terms chosen loosely at the outset and then redefined in a reflexive way once some sense of the volume and the general scope of the field is gained. | Search terms are pre-defined. |
Inclusion and exclusion criteria are devised post hoc, based on increasing familiarity with the literature. | Inclusion and exclusion criteria are pre-defined. |
Presents a narrative account of existing literature based on an analytic framework. | Synthesises evidence or aggregates findings from different studies. |
Purpose of the Tool | Background of the Tool | Example * | |
---|---|---|---|
Mapping | To help organisations with mapping their existing programs or value chains against the SDGs | Adapted from previous sustainability tools | ‘Mapping to the SDGs’ by ICMA |
Developed for the SDGs (SDG-specific) | ‘SDG Compass’ by UN Compact | ||
Reporting | To help organisations with performance benchmarking and reporting against the SDGs | Adapted from previous sustainability tools | Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) |
Developed for the SDGs (SDG-specific) | ‘How to report on the SDGs’ by KPMG | ||
Aligning | To help organisations with using SDGs as a competitive advantage, and to align business activities accordingly | Adapted from previous sustainability tools | ‘Sustainable value exchange matrix’ by Morioka et al. |
None found to be SDG-specific | None found |
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Grainger-Brown, J.; Malekpour, S. Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: A Review of Strategic Tools and Frameworks Available to Organisations. Sustainability 2019, 11, 1381. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11051381
Grainger-Brown J, Malekpour S. Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: A Review of Strategic Tools and Frameworks Available to Organisations. Sustainability. 2019; 11(5):1381. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11051381
Chicago/Turabian StyleGrainger-Brown, Jarrod, and Shirin Malekpour. 2019. "Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: A Review of Strategic Tools and Frameworks Available to Organisations" Sustainability 11, no. 5: 1381. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11051381