Increasing extreme weather events and other climate-related disruptions situate businesspeople in a context of polycrisis - those cascading and interrelated challenges facing humanity and our planet. Within systems-level “wicked problems” or “grand challenges” like climate change, a focus on the worker who is on the frontlines of responding to environmental disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes allows us to better understand obstacles to individual and collective well-being, particularly for those who disproportionately bear their impacts. In this context we examine data from two of the largest and costliest environmental disasters in history, the earthquake-tsunami-nuclear meltdown at Fukushima, Japan, and Hurricane Katrina that swept through the state of Louisiana in the United States. In Japan, we focus on fatal injuries in construction, an industry that employs recovery workers. In the United States, we evaluate fatal injuries due to exposure to hazardous materials or environments, which are likely to occur to recovery workers. Empirical results reveal a significant increase in fatal injuries in both Fukushima and Louisiana following the disasters, supporting our hypothesis that recovery workers face dangerous conditions which lead to more fatal injuries. The worker experience of these challenges, and the decision making of management in facilitating or hindering worker well-being, offer insights that can improve livelihood and flourishing for workers and their communities. These insights can be illuminated by consideration of a virtue-based stakeholder approach to policy and practice around worker safety. “Decent work,” a central tenet of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, acknowledges safe working conditions as a fundamental human right. We seek to understand company and worker motivation in the industry. Moreover, we consider the regulatory environment that likely impacts corporate decision making. Empirical data are complemented by highlights from qualitative interviews obtained through on-site interviews in Japan with stakeholders in the region.

The world has already crossed six out of nine planetary boundaries and is facing accelerating environmental degradation, climate change, increasing extreme weather events, and associated negative impacts on human-beings, in particular for those in vulnerable areas (Lee et al., 2023; Rockström et al., 2023; Richardson et al., 2023). Island countries like Tuvalu are being evacuated permanently due to rising sea levels as their populations will need to be relocated harming livelihoods and innate cultures (Stolzoff, 2024). Hence, the present era is dubbed the ‘Anthropocene’ where human-beings are shaping the Earth’s geophysical cycles and relations with the living world through unsustainable consumption and production processes (Bocken & Short, 2021; Steffen et al., 2011). At the same time, the last decades have seen significant progress in terms of health care, education and poverty reduction, and there is some form of a “good anthropocene” to be preserved (Rosling et al., 2019). Yet, the great acceleration of consumption and production of goods and services has led to devastating effects on habitats and the climate. Hence, the “bad anthropocene” and human-made impact need to be drastically turned around (Christian, 2018; Steffen et al., 2015).

The aim of this paper is to take a critical look at the way business may be done in the present era of the Anthropocene, and what ‘sustainable business’ might look like. This is closely linked to the concept of strong sustainability (Daly, 1991) which accepts that natural capital cannot be replaced by economic or social capital. For businesses, a strongly sustainable approach is about recognizing that businesses are limited by and affect nature, so their value flows need to be based within the limits of natural resources (Brozovic, 2020). Marketing, and in particular the continuous push for more consumption of products and services that we neither need nor want, is often seen as the pinnacle of unsustainable consumption and production (Bocken & Short, 2021; Jackson, 2009; Peattie, 2001).

Hence, this paper conducts a critical reflection on the transformation of the marketing function, as a linchpin-business-function. This paper seeks to investigate the following research questions: What should the future of marketing look like in the era of the Anthropocene? What tools, methods and theories would be relevant for marketing in the Anthropocene?

If you have ever been to a developing country, especially in the South Asian and African regions, you may have witnessed how poor municipal solid waste management (MSWM) practices are. Weaknesses and challenges in social structures are the root causes of poor MSWM in most developing countries (dos Muchangos et al., 2015). Aggravating the situation, municipal solid waste (MSW) generation in developing countries is expected to double or triple by 2050 due to population growth and rapid urbanization (Tiseo, 2022). Unfortunately, this predicament does not only affect developing countries. The vast majority of MSW generated in most developing countries ends up in the ocean and crosses borders to reach the shorelines of surrounding countries. Thus, MSWM in developing countries has become a global challenge.

Tackling a global challenge like MSWM in developing countries requires cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) (Vogel et al., 2021). CSPs are collaborations between different societal sectors such as government, business and society to deliver sustainable outcomes. The collectivist national culture of most developing countries holds the key to sustainable MSWM (Fernando & Zutshi, 2024). Thus, society remains an integral part of instigating CSPs for sustainable MSWM in developing countries. Collective actions emerging from society effectively changed social structures (Swaminathan & Wade, 2016). Especially in developing countries, collective actions of society remain vital to deliver changes in businesses and to defend public interest like sustainable outcomes in MSWM (Preuss et al., 2022).

Therefore, this study aims to understand how society collaborates with government and businesses to deliver sustainable outcomes in municipal solid waste management (MSWM) in developing countries. Though such collaboration can emerge new norms and beliefs to facilitate changes in social structures (Lawrence et al., 2002; Vogel et al., 2021), research in the nexus of society’s collective actions and MSWM has overlooked this phenomenon despite the strong presence of society-led collective actions in developing countries to establish sustainable MSWM (Dawoodbhoy, 2019; Hettiarachchi, 2020).

To accomplish the purpose of this study, we answer three research questions. First, this study quantitatively examines the extent to which social pressure influences businesses in developing countries to deliver sustainable outcomes in MSWM. Second, this study quantitatively examines the extent to which social pressure influences government in developing countries to deliver sustainable outcomes in MSWM. Third, this study intends to make a qualitative inquiry into how society collaborates with government and businesses to co-create new norms and beliefs for sustainable MSWM in developing countries.

Theoretically, this study enriches the scholarship on CSPs by focusing on tri-sector partnerships between government, businesses and society that have been overlooked in existing research (Vogel et al, 2021). Practically, by revealing collaborations among multiple stakeholders (i.e., government, businesses and society), this study contributes towards forming and strengthening partnerships for sustainable development goals (SDG 17) while striving to achieve good health and well-being (SDG 3) of the people through responsible consumption and production (SDG 12) to make cities and communities sustainable (SDG 11).

The question of how value is generated and distributed in organizations is essential for strategic management and societies in general. How is this process affected by climate change? Using data from copper mines between 2000 and 2016, we can measure the impact of different climate change measures (such as temperature and the frequency of climate-related disasters) on the value appropriated by four different stakeholder groups: shareholders, employees, suppliers, and energy providers. Our preliminary results indicate that both the total and relative values appropriated are affected by climate change.