Toward Strategic Sustainability Integration: A Longitudinal Case Study of ESG Governance at Corticeira Amorim

Abstract

This study examines how a mature industrial corporation integrates ESG governance, SDG alignment, integrated thinking and reporting, and circular economy principles into a coherent sustainability strategy. While prior research often examines these frameworks separately, this study focuses on how they interact as interrelated governance, accountability, reporting, and operational mechanisms that support corporate sustainability transformation. In doing so, the paper responds to the need for case-based empirical evidence on how sustainability becomes embedded in corporate governance and strategic decision-making. The research adopts a longitudinal qualitative case study of Corticeira Amorim, the world’s leading cork producer. The empirical analysis is based on the company’s Sustainability Reports and Annual Consolidated Reports from 2018 to 2023. Through qualitative document analysis, the study examines the evolution of board-level ESG oversight, strategic sustainability disclosure, integrated reporting practices, stakeholder accountability mechanisms, and circular economy initiatives. The findings indicate a gradual transition from fragmented sustainability initiatives toward a more integrated governance model. The analysis identifies four interconnected dimensions of sustainability integration: strategic SDG alignment, ESG governance institutionalization, integrated thinking and reporting, and circular economy operationalization. These dimensions suggest that sustainability at Corticeira Amorim has progressively moved beyond compliance-oriented disclosure toward a broader governance and value-creation logic. The study contributes to the corporate governance and sustainability literature by providing case-based evidence of how ESG governance structures, sustainability reporting practices and circular economy principles may reinforce one another within a single organizational system. The case illustrates how integrated sustainability governance can support strategic coherence, stakeholder accountability and long-term value creation in a mature industrial firm.