Terry Porter

University of Maine

Recent work – 2011

Publications – 2011

Espinoza, A. and Porter, T. (2011). Sustainability, complexity and learning: Insights from complex systems approaches. The Learning Organization, 18(1), 54-72.

Abstract: While much has been written about sustainability initiatives and governance from conventional perspectives, much less is known about how a complex systems framework may help to address one’s pressing sustainability needs. The purpose of this research is to explore core contributions from two different approaches to complexity management in organisations aiming to improve their sustainability: the Viable Systems Model (VSM), and Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). It is proposed to perform this by summarising the main insights each approach offers to understanding organizational transformations aiming to improve sustainability; and by presenting examples of applied research on each case and reflecting on the learning emerging from them. An action science approach was followed: the conceptual framework used in each case was first presented, followed by its application through a case study. In the first study the VSM framework supports an organisational transformation towards sustainability in a community; the second is a quantitative case study of intended greening of two firms in the supermarket industry, taken from a CAS perspective. The learning from each case on how they support/explain organisational learning in transformations towards more sustainable organisations was illustrated. CAS explains empowerment of bottom-up learning processes in organisations, VSM enables a learning context where self-organised networks can co-evolve for improved sustainability.

Porter, T. (2011). A complexity perspective on strategic process research. In Mazzola, P. and Kellermanns, F. (Eds), The Handbook of Research on Strategy Process: 350-368. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.

Abstract: Competitive advantage is proving to be less and less enduring in the high velocity environments facing most industries today. Specifically, conventional strategic models of top-down formulation followed by line-level implementation are cumbersome and unwieldy in the current conditions of most industries, where change is ubiquitous, rapid, and unpredictable.

While an important body of knowledge has developed in this traditional lineage, we argue in this chapter that the meta-theoretical paradigm upon which it rests is increasingly awkward and untenable in the face of the radically dynamic marketplaces now commonplace. In contrast to traditional canons of Modernism and positivist inquiry, this chapter asserts that complexity theory and complex adaptive systems (CAS) provide an integrative framework that provides a robust platform for understanding the adaptive responses of firms in the face of the turbulence now common in most industries and environments of business. Still new to the management

field, the introduction of complexity theory has garnered great interest, though it has yet to be assimilated into common models of research and practice, and particularly into strategic process knowledge and research.

Conference Presentations – 2011

Porter, T., Cordoba, J. (2011). Constructing sustainability. Ashridge International Research Conference: The sustainability challenge—Organizational change and transformational vision. Berkhamsted, UK. June 10-12.

Abstract: In this paper we advance the argument that sustainability is constructed. Rather than a performance metric, an event, or an outcome, we view sustainability as an ongoing construction, a verb rather than a noun. Our view stems from recent work in systems thinking, namely complex adaptive systems, as a largely unexplored yet highly tractable model for understanding the deeply interconnected human and natural systems involved in sustainability dilemmas today. We propose the use of two analytical methods, social constructionism and systems critique, for unpacking and critically examining the microprocesses behind constructions of sustainability in complex adaptive systems. Our explanations and detailed case examples aim to show that microprocess analysis using these tools will improve the quality of decisions and actions taken to enhance sustainability in the long term.

Porter, T., Derry, R. (2011). Sustainability and business in a complex world. Ashridge International Research Conference: The sustainability challenge—Organizational change and transformational vision. Berkhamsted, UK. June 10-12.

Abstract: Sustainability is a topic of growing importance today in all aspects of organizational life. Businesses and managers are increasingly considering ways to incorporate a balance among economic, ecological, social, and cultural value creation into their business models.  At the same time, the world is becoming exponentially more complex. Indeed, complexity theory and thinking (Richardson, 2008) are now apparent in academic and practice accounts of sustainability in business, as scholars and practitioners recognize the limitations of traditional reductionist approaches to systemic problems. To date, however, a more theoretical framing of sustainability lags behind accumulating practical evidence. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by developing a complexity-based framework for understanding and managing sustainability in complex adaptive systems. We aim for simplicity, wholeness, and practicality in our approach, taking a qualitative rather than quantitative perspective on complex systems. Using several contemporary case examples, the paper describes the important qualities of complex systems and develops them into a working framework that integrates principles and parameters of sustainability.  In doing so we create an approach to sustainability issues and dilemmas called ‘Sustainability Thinking.’ The paper concludes with more generalized sustainability action strategies for managers, and recommendations for future researchers.

Porter, T., Miles, P. (2011). The CSR Halo: Evidence from long-term CSR practices in large corporations. International Association for Business and Society, Bath, UK. June 23-27.

Abstract: Many forces in today’s world are propelling the private sector towards greater incorporation of sustainability in firms’ business models and strategies. Multiple pressures drive the need for visible, credible corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions, without detracting from the firm’s competitive advantage, profitability, and hence, its own sustainability. Despite the unanimity of these drivers, firms vary widely in their practices of CSR, and sustainability is often a long-term process taking years to fully develop, institute, and pay off financially. In addition, current research is limited by its ambiguity and methodological inconsistencies, and by the short time horizon of many studies. In an effort to redress these issues this paper builds and tests a multidimensional, long-term model of firm sustainability activity, including three factors that have been independently associated with CSR but never tested in association: executive compensation, cash taxes paid, and firm financial performance. The dataset we develop spans ten years, which to our knowledge is the first time such a cumulative long-term view has become possible in the study of CSR practice. Our methodology builds upon previous research, thereby aiming to integrate and clarify a means of testing CSR practice over the long term. Findings reveal a number of significant relationships which together suggest the existence of a long-term halo effect in CSR-committed companies, whereby responsible behavior in the CSR arena is positively associated with other aspects of firm operations, including lower executive compensation, higher taxes paid, and improved firm financial performance. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Porter, T. (2011). Business and sustainability: Applications of complexity theory and social network analysis. International Network for Social Network Analysis, St. Pete’s Beach, FL. February 7-11.

Abstract: This paper makes the argument that sustainability in business is directly related to the activities of social networks of actors. The premise to this argument is that sustainability is best defined within a theoretical framework of complexity theory, rather than the conventional reductionism and positivism that couches most managerial research. From this premise it follows that solutions for sustainability dilemmas—and there are precious few sustainability issues that are not dilemmas—arise from the qualities and dynamic properties of complex adaptive systems. Innovation at the edge of chaos, amongst nonlinear networks of actors, is one of the core properties of complexity theory. I argue that the edge of chaos is also the site of key microdynamic processes in social networks that are not well understood, particularly in relation to sustainability. This paper first establishes a link between complex adaptive systems and sustainability, including the idea that sustainability solutions emerge from complexity processes and principles. It then explores in detail the implications of applying the dynamic principles of social networks to sustainability, and develops testable propositions. Examples from numerous business contexts illustrate the paper’s main points.

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