Discourses and Educational Initiatives for Developing Sustainability Competences of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Malacarne, Robson; Brunstein, Janette

doi:10.1590/1984-92302021v28n9908EN

Robson Malacarne

Federal Institute of Espírito Santo , Viana , Brazil

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6085-7853

Janette Brunstein

Mackenzie Presbyterian University , São Paulo , Brazil

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9019-3349

Associate Editor: Andréa Ventura

Authorship

Robson Malacarne PhD in Administration from Mackenzie Presbyterian University, with a post-doctorate in Deconstruction and Sustainable Development from the University of Coimbra. Professor of the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo – Viana Campus. Permanent Professor of the Postgraduate Program in Teaching Humanities (PPGEH). Researcher of the POIEIN, GEPESE, and Contemporary Logistics and Administration research groups. Coeditor of the book Sustainable Regional Development: reviewing concepts to build new alternatives . E-mail: robson.malacarne@ifes.edu.br

Janette Brunstein PhD in Education from the University of São Paulo, with a post-doctorate from the Center for Excellence in Transformative Teaching and Learning at the University of Central Oklahoma. Vice-Dean of Graduation and Professor of the Stricto Sensu Postgraduate Program in Administration of Mackenzie Presbyterian University. Leader of the “Research and Training in Administration” group of the CNPq. E-mail: janette@mackenzie.br

Conflicts of interests

The authors declare there are no conflicts of interests.

Authors’ contributions

First author: conception (equal), data curation (equal), formal analysis (equal), acquisition of funding (equal), investigation (equal), methodology (equal), project administration (equal), resources (equal), supervision (equal), validation (equal), visualization (equal), writing – original draft (equal), writing – reviewing and editing (equal).

Second author: conception (equal), data curation (equal), formal analysis (equal), acquisition of funding (equal), investigation (equal), methodology (equal), project administration (equal), resources (equal), supervision (support), validation (equal), visualization (equal), writing – original draft (equal), writing – reviewing and editing (equal).

Analysis categories	Description according to Derrida	How was it applied in the research?
Logocentrism	Thinking convinced of the centrality and power of the logos, developed based on dichotomies and hierarchical relationships, with the aim of controlling and centralizing the discourses (Derrida, 2002Derrida, J. (2002). Escritura e a Diferença . São Paulo, SP: Perspectiva.)	We sought to identify the concepts, oppositions , and DSC actions of the WBCSD and discuss the relationship with the official documents under analysis (Vision 2050 and Action 2020) and with the DSC initiatives (PESE and YMT). The aim was to understand how logocentrism spreads in the discourses and actions of the Business Councils.
Constatative and performative structures, ambiguities, and displacements	These are focal points of the deconstruction approach to undo the oppositions of a discourse. Thus, based on impasses and ambiguities, the displacement of the dichotomies is carried out.	To study the structure of the WBCSD’s DSC initiatives, we sought to observe how the dichotomy between performative and constatative competences is revealed and explain the official discourse of the WBCSD and its regional councils.
Translation	Translation is another name for deconstruction, “it is the opening up to the other” in its singular mode of translating (Bernardo, 2002, p. 424). It is assumed that “everything becomes a discourse” and open to translations (Derrida, 2002Derrida, J. (2002). Escritura e a Diferença . São Paulo, SP: Perspectiva., p. 232). In this sense, the discourse is understood as a translation process containing different forms of interpretations (Ferreira & Ottoni, 2006Ferreira, É., Ottoni, P. (2006). Traduzir Derrida: políticas e desconstruções . Campinas, SP: Mercado de Letras., p. 32).	In this study, this translation implies examining the discourses of the interviewees and the arguments of the documents in order to understand what is, and what is not, marginal in the elaboration of concepts and functioning of the councils.

Analysis Categories	Description	Analysis
Logocentrism	Opposition that is revealed in Vision 2050 and in Action 2020	Single perspective vs. different sustainable practices.
Constatative and performative structures, ambiguities, and displacements	Focal points of the deconstruction approach	Understanding about the different perspectives in the discussion of the socioenvironmental question. Ambiguities: nature of the relationship between companies, government, and society. Constatative competence: vision of the future described in Vision 2050. Performative competence: actions developed based on Action 2020.
Translation	Arguments (translations) that displace/revert the opposition and use it in a different condition	In the history of the WBCSD we perceive advances in the corporate agenda and involvement, but the question arises: have specialist sectors been created with a restricted focus on marketing, or have the positioning and models of business been rethought? ( Associate B5, 2019) Action 2020 urges all WBCSD members to develop actions that collaborate in achieving Vision 2050, the DSC initiatives should be aligned with this thinking (Associate B6, 2019) It can be affirmed that the main change in the WBCSD’s actions relates to the focus of its actions, before directed at sensitizing businesspeople and today focused on articulating actions with the government to develop public policies ( Associate B4, 2019)

Analysis categories	Description	Analysis
Logocentrism	Opposition that sustains the WBCSD’s logocentric thinking and is revealed in Vision 2050 and in Action 2020.	Business vs. socioenvironmental question.
Constatative and performative structures, ambiguities, and displacements	Focal points of the deconstruction approach.	Difficulty of the businesspeople to understand the ES concept and its impact on business. Ambiguity: at the same time that the ES discussion promoted by BCSD Brazil broadens businesspeople’s understanding of the socioenvironmental question, there is a reduction in its complexity when replication of the ESR is incentivized, limiting the SD and ES discussion to the management of indicators. Constatative competences: understanding, critical analysis, and vision of the future. Performative competences: engagement and communication.
Translation	Arguments (translations) that displace/revert the opposition and use it in a different condition.	When you address very generalist topics such as ecosystemic services, or ESs, it’s very hard for companies to understand the applicability of the ESR (Associate B5, 2019) What we want is for businessperson to understand what ecosystemic services mean and the level of dependence on natural resources that their businesses present (Coordination B1, 2019)

Analysis Categories	Description	Analysis
Logocentrism	Logocentric opposition of the WBCSD that is revealed in Vision 2050 and in Action 2020.	Business vs. socioenvironmental question
Constatative and performative structures, ambiguities, and displacements	Focal points of the deconstruction approach.	During the course, the participants with little affinity in the sustainability discussion questioned the need to discuss biodiversity in the corporate environment. This encouraged the group to develop strategies for communicating the level of dependence of business on ecosystemic services. Ambiguity: “network” of SD ambassadors. Simultaneously, a space of multiple interpretations regarding the paths toward SD was verified, but also a place of limitation regarding the possibilities of translation, with the communication of BCSD Portugal’s official sustainability discourse. Constatative competences: understanding of sustainability. Performative competences: management of projects, changes, and communication.
Translation	Arguments (translations) that displace/revert the opposition and use it in a different condition.	It’s interesting to perceive that the YMT participants are “chosen” by the companies, this varying with the company. There are cases where the companies conduct interviews and selection processes to choose the representative who has affinity with the theme. On the other hand there are cases where they simply define the representatives without having an internal debate (Coordination P2, 2019) As I’m not from the sustainability area, at the start of the course I had questions that seemed obvious to the other participants, but which were fundamental for me, such as “Why discuss biodiversity in the corporate environment?” and “How do we integrate biodiversity and ecosystemic services into companies’ business strategies?” (Associate P3, 2019) At the start of the course I imagined that the teamwork would only work when the members were willing to seek an agreement, a consensus among the different opinions. With time, I perceived that in certain complex subjects, as is the case of sustainability, advances can only be made when the different viewpoints are valued ( Associate P6, 2019)

[1] Associate Editor: Andréa Ventura

Brasil

Brasil

Discourses and Educational Initiatives for Developing Sustainability Competences of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Abstract