Sustainable Strategy - A Research Report on Sustainability Practices in Polish Enterprises

"Business sustainability" is a concept with a dual meaning. On the one hand - it refers to the company's practices contributing to the world sustainability through CSR activities and balancing economic, social and environmental goals. "Business sustainability" however can also refer to the ability of the enterprise to endure and flourish in the long term, i.e. be sustainable. The main objective of the undertaken research was to determine the relationship between these two concepts. The sample consisted of 93 Polish listed companies and the research focused on determining if company's activities aimed at improving world sustainability through CSR actually increase the sustainability of the firm itself (its longevity and prosperity). The paper presents development of two measures: CSR Maturity Measure and Financial Sustainability Measure, which are then used to setermine: (1) CSR maturity level of the companies, (2) factors influencing CSR maturity of Polish companies, (3) the relationship between CSR maturity and company's financial sustainability. Also - strategic features of most financially sustainable companies are presented. The main findings show that Polish listed companies demonstrate low to moderate maturity of CSR practices (mostly incidental - 46% or tactical CSR - 30%), which is strongly dependant on the company's size and the industry it is in. There is no correlation between company's CSR maturity and financial sustainability, which means that company's involvement in making the world a sustainable place (through CSR practice) doesn't translate into the company's increased sustainability.