Abstract
Sustainability has become institutionalised as a central normative objective within global governance, articulated through frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals and operationalised within firms through Environmental, Social and Governance structures. Yet the organisational embedding of ESG varies considerably. While some firms integrate ESG into strategic planning, governance oversight, and operational routines, others adopt more formalised, compliance-oriented approaches. This variation raises a central question: how do geoeconomic regime configurations shape the organisational embedding of ESG governance?
This developmental paper advances a multi-level framework linking geoeconomic regime variation to organisational governance responses and internal embedding processes. ESG is conceptualised not as a universal managerial practice, but as a governance instrument situated within differentiated political-economic environments. The European Union, the United Kingdom, India, and Mongolia represent distinct configurations of regulatory expectations, market integration, and geopolitical positioning, shaping the incentives and constraints surrounding ESG.
Organisational embedding is defined as the integration of sustainability principles into governance structures, strategic decision-making, and cross-functional coordination. Embedding does not follow automatically from formal adoption. It is mediated by governance integration, including board oversight and executive accountability, and by internal managerial systems such as incentives, appraisal processes, and capability development.
Geoeconomic configurations influence both firms’ positioning within global value chains and the organisational conditions under which ESG is integrated. In highly institutionalised regulatory contexts, embedding may reflect compliance and standardisation logics, whereas in emerging or strategically exposed environments, ESG may be selectively aligned with trade, investment, or development priorities. ESG is thus treated as organisationally contingent upon broader political-economic structures.
The broader research programme combines qualitative document analysis with comparative case studies and semi-structured interviews across the European Union, the United Kingdom, India, and Mongolia. As a developmental contribution, the paper seeks feedback on the conceptualisation of regime variation, the operational definition of embedding, and the integration of macro- and organisational-level analysis within a comparative design.