UMass Boston

Research & Impact

Welcome to the Center for Sustainable Enterprise and Regional Competitiveness. We partner with businesses, universities, and policymakers to drive research, education, and innovative solutions. Below you'll find our recent publications and research initiatives. 

Publications

  • Veleva, V., Todorova, S., Bleau, K., Mohr, J., Vandenabeele, R. (2024). Sustainability priorities, drivers and barriers in the craft beer sector: Insights from Massachusetts breweries. Highlights of Sustainability, 3(3), 275–293. 
  • Veleva, V.,., Horsley, C. and G. Chatrath, "Reducing A Beer’s Carbon Footprint: The Case of Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers," SAGE Business Cases Sustainability Series, Jan. 2024
  • Bardos, K.S., Ertugrul, M. and Gao, L.S., 2020. Corporate social responsibility, product market perception, and firm value. Journal of Corporate Finance, 62, p.101588.
  • Carberry, E., Bharati, P., Levy, D., and Chaudhury, A. (2019). Social Movements as Catalysts for Corporate Social Innovation: Environmental Activism and the Adoption of Green Information Systems. Business and Society, 58(5): 1083–1127.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650317701674
  • Chakraborty, A., Gao, L.S. and Musa, P., 2022. Corporate Social Responsibility and Litigation Risk: Evidence from Securities Class Action Lawsuits, Accounting & Finance.
  • Chakraborty, A., Gao, L.S. and Sheikh, S., 2019. Managerial risk taking incentives, corporate social responsibility and firm risk. Journal of Economics and Business, 101, pp.58-72.
  • Gao L, Sheikh, S., Zhou, H. 2022. Corporate Social Responsibility Linked Compensation and Firm Risk. International Journal of Managerial Finance.
  • Dorado, S., Antadze, N., Purdy, J., & Branzei, O. (2022). Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Leveraging Management Research on Grand Challenges. Business & Society, 61(5), 1242–1281.
  • Duff, J. US Ocean Priorities Shift with a New Administration, in Chircop, Aldo, Coffen-Smout, Scott (Ed.), Ocean Yearbook, Volume 33, 45-57 Leiden, Netherlands: Ocean Yearbook, Brill Martinus Nijhoff  (2019). 
  • Duff, J., The voice of local authorities in coastal and marine spatial planning...in the northeast: insights from the regional ocean planning process, 8:1 Sea Grant Law & Policy Journal, 6-17 (2017). 
  • Duff, J,  Slugg, A., Labate, V., Prospects and Pitfalls of Desalination Development: Insights From Three States, 22:2 Ocean and Coastal Law Journal (2017). 
  • Feng, S. and Gao, L.S., 2020. The Verbal Tone in Mandatory Environmental Disclosures: Evidence from Changes in Disclosures Following SEC Guidance. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, pp.1-24.
  • Haigh, N.L. 2019. Scenario Planning for Climate Change: A Guide for Strategists. Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Scenario-Planning-for-Climate-Change-A-Guide-for-Strategists/Haigh/p/book/9781138498402
  • Humphries, C. & Duff, J., [Re]invention-the fight for Boston’s maritime future, 21:1 Architecture Boston, 20-24 (2018). 
  • Kannothra, C.G., Manning, S. & Haigh, N.L. 2018. How Hybrids Manage Growth and Social-Business Tensions in Global Supply Chains: The Case of Impact Sourcing. Journal of Business Ethics. 148(2): 271-290.
  • Kennedy, E.D., Beaton, E., & Haigh, N.L. 2020. Chapter 12: Governance Practices for Increasing Social Impact among Social Enterprises and Traditional Firms. In D. Billis & C. Rochester (Eds.). Handbook on Hybrid Organizations. 251-272. Edward Elgar. https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781785366109/9781785366109.00024.xml
  • Kennedy, E.D. & Haigh, N.L. 2018. Forging Ahead or Grasping at Straws? The Affects and Outcomes of Social Enterprise Legal Structure Change. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. 10(1): 30-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2018.1541002
  • Levy, David L. and Rami Kaplan (2021). The Promise and Peril of Financialized Climate Governance. In: Steffen Böhm and Sian Sullivan (editors), Negotiating Climate Change in Crisis. (Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers) https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/1488
  • Levy, David L. (2019) Baker’s Climate Plan is an Important First Step – But More is Needed. Boston Globe, Jan. 25, 2019. https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/01/25/baker-climate-plan-important-first-step-but-more-needed/dvwHpSfNdGQ3imwFkMcOaL/story.html
  • Levy, David L. (2018) Climate change resilience could save trillions in the long-run – but finding billions now to pay for it is the hard part. The Conversation. Dec. 6, 2018. https://theconversation.com/climate-change-resilience-could-save-trillions-in-the-long-run-but-finding-billions-now-to-pay-for-it-is-the-hard-part-108143
  • Levy, David L./Sustainable Solutions Lab (2018) Financing Climate Resilience: Mobilizing Resources and Incentives to Protect Boston from Climate Risks. Financing_Climate_Resilience_April_2018
  • Metzger, A., Douglas, E., Gray, S., Kirshen, P. & Haigh, N.L. 2019. Categorizing and Clustering Knowledge in Fuzzy Cognitive Maps. International Journal of System of Systems Engineering. 9(3): 235-256.  10.1504/IJSSE.2019.102830
  • Sharma, G., Beveridge, A. & Haigh, N.L. 2018. “A Configural Framework of Practice Change for B Corporations”. Journal of Business Venturing. 33(2): 207-224.
  • Veleva, V. & Bodkin, G. 2018, “Corporate-entrepreneur collaborations to advance a circular economy”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 188, pp. 20-37.
  • Veleva V., Cue B., & Todorova, S. 2017, “Benchmarking green chemistry adoption by the global pharmaceutical supply chain”, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 6 (1): 2-14.
  • Veleva V. & Foley, S. 2018, “RISE Products: Transforming Organic Waste into Healthy Product”, SAGE Publishing, http://sk.sagepub.com/cases/rise-products-inc-transforming-organic-waste-into-healthy-food
  • Vicarelli, Marta, Y. Tin, M. Leue, A. Shrestha, M. Barlow, D. Connor Maresca, A. Danylchuk, R. Darst, R. DeConto, J. Dutka-Gianelli, J. Duff, G. Fay, J. Fitzimmons, J. Heiss, K. Hellman, K. Kahl, S. Lloyd, S. Pagsuyoin, M. Rolfe, E. Thomas, I. Valova.“Climate Resilience: A Survey of Massachusetts Municipalities.” (2021) Northeast Center for Coastal Resilience (NCCR) Report, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA, USA.
  • Weerawardena, J., Salunke, S., Haigh, N. & Sullivan Mort, G. 2021. Business Model Innovation in Social Purpose Organizations: Conceptualizing Dual Social–Economic Value Creation. Journal of Business Research. 125(March): 762-771. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.10.016
  • Weerawardena, J., Sullivan Mort, G., Salunke, S. & Haigh, N. 2021. Editorial and research agenda: JBR special issue on business model innovation in social purpose organizations. Journal of Business Research. 125(March): 592-596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.07.032
  • Wissman-Weber, N. and D. L. Levy (2018). Climate Adaptation in the Anthropocene: Constructing and Contesting Urban Risk Regimes. Organization, 25(4): 491-516.
  • Ma, X.; Zhang, W. “New developments on one-pot multistep synthesis” iScience2022, 25, in press.
  • Zhang, X.; Liu, M.; Zhan, D.; Kaur, M.; Jasinski, J. P.; Zhang, W. “Three-Component [3+2] Cycloaddition for Regio- and Diastereoselective Synthesis of Spirooxindole-Pyrrolidines” New J. Chem. 2022, 46, 3866-3870. 
  • Zhang, X.; Qiu, W.; Murray, S. A.; Zhan, D.; Evans, J.; Jasinski, J. P.; Zhang, W. “Pseudo Five-Component Reaction for Diastereoselective Synthesis of Butterfly-shape Bispiro[oxindole-pyrrolidine]s” J. Org. Chem. 2021, 86, 17395-17403    
  • Huang, X.; Zhang, W. “Recyclable fluorous cinchona organocatalysts for asymmetric synthesis of biologically interested compounds” (Feature Article) Chem. Commun. 2021, 57, 10116-10124,
  • Zhang, X., Liu, M., Qiu, W., Evans, J., Kaur, M., Jasinski, J. P., & Zhang, W. 2018. “One-pot Synthesis of Polycyclic Spirooxindoles ia Montmorillonite K10-Catalyzed C-H Functionalization of Cyclic Amines” ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 6, 5574-5579.
  • Zhang, W., Cue, B., W. Eds., Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 2018, Green Techniques for Organic Synthesis and Medicinal Chemistry, 2nd Edition.
  • Zhang, W. 2018. “Light Fluorous Synthesis”, book chapter in Green Techniques for Organic Synthesis and Medicinal Chemistry, 2nd Ed, Zhang, W.; Cue, B. W. Eds., Wiley, Chichester pp 509–538.
  • Zhang, W.; Yi, W.-B. “Pot, Atom, and Step Economy (PASE) Synthesis” Springerbriefs in Green Chemistry for Sustainability, Springer, 2019. 
  • Zhang, W. “One-pot Organic Reactions” book chapter in Green Synthetic Processes and Procedures. Ballini, R. Ed, RSC, 2019, pp20-38. 
  • Love, D., Allison, E. H., Asche, F., Belton, B., Cottrell, R. S., Froehlich, H. E., Gephart, J. A., Hicks, C. C., Little, D. C., & Nussbaumer, E. M., Pinto da Silva P, Poulain F, Rubio A, Stoll JS, Tlusty MF, Thorne-Lyman AL, Troell M., Wenbo Zhang, W. (2021). Emerging COVID-19 impacts, responses, and lessons for building resilience in the seafood system. Global Food Security, 100494
  • Malcorps, W., Newton, R.W., Maiolo, S., Eltholth, M., Zhu, C., Zhang, W., Li, S., Tlusty, MF. and Little, D.C., 2021. Global Seafood Trade: Insights in Sustainability Messaging and Claims of the Major Producing and Consuming Regions. Sustainability, 13(21), p.11720.
  • Page, G., Parker, Ph.D., H. E. ., Matey, S., Tlusty, M. F, & Cedric Woods, J. . (2021). A Transformations Transect as Social Innovation: COBALT Network Forms in the Gulf of Maine to Develop the Concept. Social Innovations Journal, 5.
  • Tlusty, M. F. (2020). Animal health: the foundation for aquaculture sustainability. In Aquaculture Health Management (pp. 1–15). Academic Press.
  • Tlusty, M.F., Tyedmers, P., Bailey, M., Ziegler, F., Henriksson, P.J., Béné, C., Bush, S., Newton, R., Asche, F., Little, D.C. and Troell, M., (2020). Reframing the sustainable seafood narrative. Global Environmental Change, 59, 101991.
  • Jonell, M., Tlusty, M., Troell, M. and Rönnbäck, P., 2019. Certifying farmed seafood. Sustainability Certification Schemes in the Agricultural and Natural Resource Sectors: Outcomes for Society and the Environment, p.157.

Climate Change

Climate change is forcing a dramatic transition toward a low-carbon economy, and business faces considerable challenges in developing viable response strategies. Considerable uncertainties exist concerning the extent and pace of climate change, the regulatory response, and the potential impact on markets and technologies. Different countries are adopting diverse approaches to addressing climate change that have significant business implications. The center collaborates with overseas universities in order to undertake wider international and comparative research on these topics. Below you'll find our recent research collaboration. 

Financialized Climate Governance: 
Evaluating the role of institutional investors in addressing the climate crisis. 

David L. Levy 
University of Massachusetts, Boston 

Rami Kaplan 
Tel Aviv University 

Large institutional investors are expressing growing concern that the value of assets, portfolios and even national economies are increasingly subject to climate risks, and so they are pressuring companies to disclose and address these risks. This phenomenon, which we term “financialized climate governance” (FCG), could potentially constitute a powerful change agent, given the primary role of capital markets in corporate governance. FCG also faces several challenges, however. The first is that many companies, especially in carbon-intense sectors, still benefit from massive externalities and will struggle to find profitable strategies for rapid transition. A second challenge is that asset managers still seek maximum returns in the short term to satisfy investors, meet their own performance targets, and pay pensions. Moreover, investors are generally unwilling to intervene in corporate operations and strategy. Third, FCG represents the privatization of governance and shifts power toward business and investors and away from environmental NGOs and governments. Government regulation and investment will be needed, however, to create the economic context for profitable low-carbon strategies. 

This project is being conducted in conjunction with my co-PI Dr. Rami Kaplan at Tel Aviv University and funded by two grants, US-Israel Binational Science Foundation, $202,500 over three years; and the Brown University Climate Social Science Network, $53,500 over 2 years. 

The project seeks to examine four questions: (1) the factors driving the rise of FCG, the actors and networks involved, and how it is different from other forms of climate activism and corporate social responsibility; (2) the role of ESG data and other metrics that intermediate between corporate climate practices and financial measures of value and risk; (3) how FCG is shifting the organizational landscape of climate action between business, finance, governments and non-governmental organizations; and (4), the effectiveness and limitations of FCG in driving real change.  

Environmental and Financial Performance

Research on the relationship between environmental and financial performance is led by Dr. Lucia Silva Gao, Associate Professor of Finance. She has studied the effect of the annual release of Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data on market prices and the effects of changes in GHG emission disclosure on market price and risk as measured by the cost of capital. Her current research interests also include socially responsible investing, environmental and social accounting and disclosure, and financial models and incentive structures in clean energy investments. Some of her recent publications include:

  • Gao L, Sheikh, S., Zhou, H. 2022. Corporate Social Responsibility Linked Compensation and Firm Risk. International Journal of Managerial Finance.
  • Chakraborty, A., Gao, L.S. and Musa, P., 2022. Corporate Social Responsibility and Litigation Risk: Evidence from Securities Class Action Lawsuits, Accounting & Finance.
  • Bardos, K.S., Ertugrul, M. and Gao, L.S., 2020. Corporate social responsibility, product market perception, and firm value. Journal of Corporate Finance, 62, p.101588.
  • Feng, S. and Gao, L.S., 2020. The Verbal Tone in Mandatory Environmental Disclosures: Evidence from Changes in Disclosures Following SEC Guidance. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, pp.1-24.
  • Chakraborty, A., Gao, L.S. and Sheikh, S., 2019. Managerial risk taking incentives, corporate social responsibility and firm risk. Journal of Economics and Business, 101, pp.58-72.

Sustainable Organizations

Research into sustainable organizations and collaborations is led by Dr. Vesela Veleva, Senior Lecturer in Management, Director of the MBA program, and co-director of the Center for Sustainable Enterprise and Regional Competitiveness. Her research and teaching are focused on examining the drivers and barriers to adopting more sustainable practices, and defining the business case for sustainability. Dr. Veleva is leading several research initiatives currently.

Business, sustainable consumption, and the circular economy:

This research examines the emerging business models and collaborations between large corporations and environmental entrepreneurs focused on product reuse, waste repurposing and upcycling. Some recent publications include:

Green chemistry adoption by the pharmaceutical industry:

This project examines the adoption of green chemistry by the pharmaceutical supply chain, the environmental and business benefits as well as the drivers and barriers to greater adoption. Recent publications include:

SERC-Company Name Fellowship in Sustainability:

This fellowship creates an opportunity for local companies to work with outstanding graduate students from UMass Boston and conduct applied research in the area of sustainability. For three years in a row Biogen supported a Fellow, resulting in the following research and publications:

  • Nafisa Hunedy (Biogen 2017 Fellow), “Biogen: Healthy Building Features and the WELL Building Standards”, May 2017.
  • Gavin Bodkin (Biogen 2015-16 Fellow), “Biogen: Non-hazardous Waste Assessment and Recommendations for Reduction”, May 2016.
  • Sandeep Gummadi (Biogen 2014-15 Fellow), “Biogen: Developing a Strategic Process for End-of-Life Management of R&D Laboratory Equipment,” June 2015.
  • Veleva V., and G. Bodkin, 2017, “Emerging drivers and business models for equipment reuse and remanufacturing in the U.S.: Lessons from the biotech industry”, Journal of Environmental Planning & Management
  • Veleva V., Bodkin G, and S. Todorova, 2017, “The need for better measurement and employee engagement to advance a circular economy: Lessons from Biogen Zero Waste Journey”, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 154, pp. 517-529.

Sustainable Industries

Promoting sustainability in an industry along the triple bottom line - environmental quality, social equity and economic prosperity - is a complex development effort involving numerous global and local stakeholders. Part of this process is the development and adoption of sustainability standards, certifications, and reporting across industries. SERC faculty has engaged with various industries to provide sustainability assessment, training, and benchmarking. 

Sustainable Breweries Project: In July 2022 SERC was awarded a 2-year, $350,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to provide technical assistance in implementing pollution prevention and sustainability strategies and tools to craft breweries in Massachusetts. The project's overall goal is to work with other New England states to develop a uniform program for encouraging and recognizing craft breweries' adoption of pollution prevention and sustainability practices. "This grant will enable UMass Boston to support the sustainability transition of an important and fast-growing industry in Massachusetts while training business students in pollution prevention and sustainability," said Vesela Veleva, ScD, Senior Lecturer in Management, Primary Investigator, MBA director, and co-director of SERC.

Green chemistry adoption in the pharmaceutical industry: Green chemistry involves eliminating the use of toxic chemicals, improving energy efficiency and preventing waste. SERC has been involved in a series of benchmarking research to assess and advance green chemistry adoption by the global pharmaceutical supply chain. Some of the recent publications in this area include: