The 9th Annual ARCS Research Conference was hosted by the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University, the Netherlands from June 14-16, 2017. The Conference Chair was Frank Wijen, Associate Professor of Strategic Management. Approximately 100 scholars, students and practitioners from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives interested in advancing research on corporate sustainability were in attendance. This year’s participants hailed from Holland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Finland, England, Turkey, France, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, Singapore, China, and Russia. “The conference brought together a wide variety of high-quality presentations and constructive discussions in a very pleasant atmosphere”, said Wijen.

ARCS President Magali Delmas said: “The 9th ARCS Annual Research Conference in Rotterdam was a great success. The program was outstanding, the speakers were inspiring, and the evening dinner was fabulous – with lots of great energy on the dance floor! Our inaugural pre-conference PhD workshop brought wonderful new talent to the ARCS organization. Many thanks to Frank Wijen, Luca Berchicci, Paolo Perego, Steve Kennedy, the staff of Erasmus, and the ARCS Conference Committee for organizing such a superb event. It is clear that ARCS members constitute a vibrant international community of corporate sustainability researchers”

As the term for each ARCS President is three years, Dr. Delmas will be passing the baton to newly elected ARCS President Thomas Lyon, Dow Professor of Sustainable Science, Technology, and Commerce at the University of Michigan, with appointments in both the Ross School of Business and the School of Environment and Sustainability. Dr. Lyon is one of the founding members of ARCS, a long-time participant on the ARCS Board of Directors, and has been actively engaged in ARCS leadership throughout the years.

Professor Lyon said: “Our first ARCS conference outside of North America was a roaring success, thanks to the hard work of Frank Wijen and his team at RSM.  Over 100 participants came from 17 different countries to discuss 33 papers and to take part in a fantastic social program.  I am honored to take the reins of this great organization, and I look forward to continuing to build the momentum that we have established under the leadership of Mike Lenox and Magali Delmas.”

Jorgen Randers gave a strong keynote address, reminding all of the urgency of change. Panelists Andy Hoffman, Jennifer Howard-Grenville and Gail Whiteman led a provocative discussion about how scholars can make a difference in the world – sparking many follow-up conversations.

Several awards for scholarly contributions were presented at the conference. Pascual Berrone, Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the IESE Business School, University of Navarra (Spain) received the ARCS Emerging Sustainability Scholar Award – given to an untenured, emerging scholar in the area of corporate sustainability who is likely to make significant contributions to the advancement of scholarship and practice through a body of work that is rigorous, impactful, and which speaks across disciplines. Beril Toktay, Chair of the ARCS Nominations Committee, said: “Pascual has a strong research portfolio and is prolific, having published in many top journals. He is identified with a clear research topic (family firms’ environmental performance) and his citation count of 3580 is very strong. He has been similarly recognized by the ARCS community…and his impact on practice is already apparent.”

The conference organizers also awarded ARCS Outstanding Paper Awards to the 3 best papers out of 89 papers submitted. This award is based on the research paper’s potential impact on management practice and rigor of analysis. The winning papers have been posted here: https://corporate-sustainability.org/awards.

ARCS conference attendees also voted on their own favorite, choosing “Can role-play with interactive models enhance climate knowledge, affect and intent to act?” for the People’s Choice Award. The authors are Juliette Rooney-Varga, John Sterman (lead), Eduardo Fracassi, Travis Franck, Florian Kapmeier, Victoria Kurker, Ellie Johnston, Andrew Jones and Kenneth Rath.

The 10th ARCS Annual Research Conference will be held at MIT in Boston during late spring, 2018. The Conference Chair is John Sterman, Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management, Sloan School of Management, MIT.

Many thanks to all who attended, and we look forward to seeing you next year!

9th ARCS Annual Research Conference Program