From sustainable management to sustainable development: a longitudinal analysis of external communication by a leading environmental reporter

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an interpretive textual analysis of New Zealand’s most consistent and arguably leading reporter on environmental and social impacts. It works with all of the organisation’s reports since 1993 through 2003 identifying themes and analysing the emergence and development of a sustainable development discourse. Focusing on the language and images used to construct meanings, and the context in which the reports emerged, the paper traces the organisation’s reporting developments. The paper illustrates how, in evolving from environmental reports to sustainable development reports, the organisation has (re)constructed itself from one who sustainably manages resources to one who practises sustainable development. The implications of these developments are explored in terms of the literature on ‘capture’ and organisational change.