Organizers 

Michael V. Russo* (PDW Chair)
Charles H. Lundquist Professor of Sustainable Management Editor-in-Chief, Organization & Environment
Lundquist College of Business
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
mrusso@uoregon.edu 

Maoliang Bu 
Full Professor
School of Business
Nanjing University 
ml@nju.edu.cn 

Sara Soderstrom
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor
Associate Professor, Organizational Studies & Program in the Environment Director, Program in the Environment
University of Michigan 
capasb@umich.edu 

Shipeng Yan 
Assistant Professor in Management and Strategy 
Faculty of Business and Economics
The University of Hong Kong
shpyan@hku.hk 

Goal of the workshop 

The goal of this workshop is to assist authors in writing sustainability-oriented manuscripts for submission to core management journals. Its genesis was the recognition that at Organization & Environment, the success rate for authors in China has been extremely low. We see common issues arise that prevent the voices of authors from Chinese institutions from achieving a collective volume that matches their potential to contribute to critical conversations in our field. 

We envision the workshop as a way for authors to learn from leading scholars in the sustainability field. Each will be providing important guidance in areas that were chosen in response to the issues that we see regularly in submissions. We expect attendees to leave the workshop with new knowledge, links to resources that will fill in gaps in their skill set, and, we hope, confidence that they can move a manuscript through the review process at a major management journal. 

Content of the workshop 

The workshop will consist of concurrent sessions, with topics that could include: 

• Selecting a topic and contributing to a theoretical conversation
• Framing a paper
• Developing convincing theory
• Conducting qualitative research
• Dealing with sampling issues
• Choosing metrics and models
• Presenting results effectively

In each case, the content will reflect our topical focus: sustainability. So, for example, the session on metrics and models would include a discussion of metrics specific to the sustainability context, such as those pertaining to environmental performance. At present, we would expect each of the panelists to be able to deliver a short session on one or two of these topics.

Intended participants

We cast a wide net with our workshop. Although the focus is on sustainability, in theory there is no reason why authors working in adjoining or even distant fields can’t benefit from attending all or part of our sessions.

Participant capacity limit 

To ensure a positive experience, we would like to limit the attendance to 100-120 participants. 

The organizers 

The organizers are all established scholars in the area of management, organizations, and the natural environment. Represented are the editor of Organization & Environment, two deputy editors, and a review board member. The group also has published widely in top management journals. In their collective vitas are 25 articles in journals that are in the Financial Times list of 50 top journals that spans all disciplines in business. Given their publishing, reviewing, and editorial experience, they are able to speak from a position of extensive knowledge and empathy.