G. (Gail) Whiteman

Gail Whiteman is a professor of business society management and holds the Sustainability and Climate Change at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM)

Professor Whiteman was a 2011 Global Finalist in the Aspen Institute’s high-profile ranking of Faculty Pioneers in sustainability. Her research aims to help organisations deal more effectively with sustainability challenges, an objective she established during her former career in the private sector.

Professor-Whiteman combines her role at RSM with that of part time Professor in-Residence at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

She is co-founder and Director of ERIM's Centre for Corporate Eco-Transformation , where she collaborates with multinational companies, to examine issues such as the strategic role of companies in their transition towards low carbon, sustainable cities; the impact of natural resource extraction on local sustainability; and the drivers of sustainable innovation.

Her work has been published in the top business and ecology journals including the Academy of Management Journal and Nature and she has over thirty-five academic peer-reviewed academic publications on sustainability. She sits on the editorial boards of several academic journals.

Her academic network spans many disciplines including the natural sciences. She is an associate member of the Resilience Alliance , a world-class, multidisciplinary research organisation comprised of scientists and practitioners that explore the dynamics and resilience of social-ecological systems.

She is also active in innovative business sustainability training and education and was the organiser of a high-profile event in 2011 – the Engaged Business Leaders’ Forum – in which H.R.H. Princess Irene of the Netherlands and H.R.H. Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parme participated. Media coverage included articles in the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, Yahoo Finance, Greenbiz, the BBC, the Financial Times, and local Dutch press.

In held her inaugural address as professor in 2011 “Making sense of climate change: How to avoid the next big flood? Management lessons for the 21st century ". She argued for a fresh approach to management research, with greater attention paid to tipping points in key planetary boundary processes such as the urgence of the scale of change happening in the Arctic.

Following a 2010 trip to the Arctic Archipelago she is now involved in an initiative to establish networks between polar scientists and global leaders and is leading a project to evaluate the economic costs of lost climate services from a melting Arctic.

• Kennedy, S.P. & Whiteman, G.M. (2013). Environmentalism and corporate sustainability. In Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 3rd edition.

• Articles (29)
  • Kraemer, Romy, Whiteman, G.M. & Banerjee, B. (2013). Conflict and astroturfing in Niyamgiri: The importance of national advocacy networks in anti-corporate social movements. Organization Studies, Accepted.
  • Whiteman, G.M., Walker, B. & Perego, P.M. (2013). Planetary Boundaries: Ecological Foundations for Corporate Sustainability. Journal of Management Studies, 50(2), 307-336.
  • Carmack, E. C., McLaughlin, F., Whiteman, G.M. & Homer-Dixon, T. (2012). Detecting and Coping with Disruptive Shocks in Arctic Marine Systems: A Resilience Approach to Place and People. Ambio, 41, 56-65.
  • Elmes, M.B., Juisto, S. J., Whiteman, G.M., Hersh, B. & Guthey, G.T. (2012). Teaching social entrepreneurship and innovation from the perspective of place and place making. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(4), 533-554.
  • Jolly, F. & Whiteman, G.M. (2011). Managing and Educating Outside: A Cree hunter's perspective. Journal of Management Education, 35(1), 27-50.
  • Whiteman, G.M. & Cooper, W.H. (2011). Ecological Sensemaking. Academy of Management Journal, 54(5), 889-911.
  • Whiteman, G.M., Vos, Rene, Chapin, F.S., Yli-Pelkonen, V., Niemelä, J. & Forbes, B. (2011). Business strategies and the transition to low-carbon cities. Business Strategy and the Environment, 20(4), 251-265.
  • Bruijn, E. & Whiteman, G.M. (2010). That which doesn't break us: Identity work by local `stakeholders'. Journal of Business Ethics, 96(3), 479-496.
  • Loorbach, D., Van Bakel, J., Whiteman, G.M. & Rotmans, J. (2010). Business strategies for transitions towards sustainable systems. Business Strategy and the Environment, 19(2), 133-146.
  • Whiteman, G.M., Dorsey, M.K. & Wittneben, B.B.F. (2010). Business and biodiversity: They would say that. Nature, 466, 435-435.
  • Whiteman, G.M. (2010). Heart Matters. In Vol. 19. Journal of Management Inquiry (pp. 348-349).
  • Whiteman, G.M. (2010). Management Studies That Break Your Heart. In Vol. 19. Journal of Management Inquiry (pp. 328-337).
  • Whiteman, G.M. (2010). “First you have to get outside”: Reflections on the ecological location of qualitative fieldwork. In Vol. 23. Organization and Environment (pp. 119-131).
  • Guthey, G.T. & Whiteman, G.M. (2009). Social and ecological transitions: The case of winemaking in California. In Vol. 11. Emergence: Complexity and Organization (pp. 37-48).
  • Muller, A.R. & Whiteman, G.M. (2009). Exploring the geography of corporate philanthropic disaster response. Journal of Business Ethics, 84(4), 589-603.
  • Whiteman, G.M. (2009). All my relations: Understanding perceptions of justice and conflict between companies and Indigenous Peoples. Organization Studies, 30(1), 105-124.
  • Whiteman, G.M., Muller, T. & Johnson, J. (2009). Strong Emotions at Work. In Qualitative Research in Organization and Management.
  • Flanagan, W & Whiteman, G.M. (2007). Aids is not a business: A study in global corporate responsibility - Securing Access to Low-cost HIV Medications. Journal of Business Ethics, 73(1), 65-75.
  • Jolly, F. & Whiteman, G.M. (2006). Last words. Human Relations, 59(3), 443-445.
  • Whiteman, G.M. & Cooper, W.H. (2006). Sixty six ways to get it wrong: A response to Banerjee & Linstead. Human Relations, 59(3), 409-428.
  • Flanagan, William & Whiteman, G.M. (2005). Aids is not a business: A study in global corporate responsibility -- Securing access to low-cost HIV medications. In ICR Conference 2004 Proceedings. Virginia: Philosophy Documentation Center.
  • Chapin, F.S. III, Petersen, G., Berkes, F., Angelstam, P., Apps, M., Beier, S., Bergeron, Y., Crepin, S. & Whiteman, G.M. (2004). Resilience and vulnerability of northern regions to social and environmental change. Ambio, 33(6), 344-349.
  • Whiteman, G.M., Niemela, J., Forbes, B. & Chapin, F.S. III (2004). Bringing feedback and resilience of High-latitude Ecosystems into the corporate boardroom. Ambio, 33(6), 371-376.
  • Whiteman, G.M. (2004). The economic impact of development in James Bay: Cree tallymen speak out. Organization and Environment, 17(4), 425-448.
  • Whiteman, G.M. (2004). Why are we talking inside? Reflecting on traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and management research. Journal of Management Inquiry, 13(3), 261-277.
  • Whiteman, G.M. & Mamen, K. (2002). Examining justice and conflict between mining companies and Indigenous peoples: Cerro Colorado and the Ngabe Bugle. Journal of Business and Management, 8(3), 293-310.
  • Whiteman, G.M. & Cooper, W.H. (2000). Ecological Embeddedness. Academy of Management Journal, 43(6), 1265-1282.
  • Whiteman, G.M. (1999). Sustainability for the planet: A marketing perspective. Conservation Ecology, 3(1).
  • Chapin, F.S. III & Whiteman, G.M. (1998). Sustainable development in the boreal forest: Interaction of ecological, social and business feedback. Conservation Ecology, 2(2), 12.

• Books
  • Whiteman, G.M. & Mamen, K. (2002). Meaningful consultation and participation in the mining sector? A review of the consultation and participation of Indigenous Peopls within the international mining sector. Ottawa, Canada: The North-South Institute.

• Book contributions (7)
  • Flanagan, William & Whiteman, G.M. (2009). AIDS is Not a Business: A Study in Global Corporate Responsibility Securing Access to Low-cost HIV Medications. In S.J. Shapiro, M. Tadajewski & C.J. Shultz (Eds.), Macromarketing (pp. 65-75). London: Sage.
  • Whiteman, G.M. & Phillips, N (2008). Through the looking glass: The role of fictional and semi-fictional narrative in organizational research. In D. Barry & H. Hansen (Eds.), Sage Handbook of New and Emerging Approaches to Management and Organization (pp. 288-301). London: Sage.
  • Whiteman, G.M. (2007). Exploracao de Florestas e a Situacao dos Povos Indigenas: o exemplo problematico da empresa Samling, na Guina. In F. Bird & M. A. Griesse (Eds.), Responsibilidades Sociais (pp. 191-220). Sao Paolo: UNIMEP.
  • Flanagan, William & Whiteman, G.M. (2005). The multinational as minority investor: Corporate social responsibilities/opportunities? In W. Cragg (Ed.), Ethics Codes, Corporations & the Challenge of Globalization, (pp. 212-241). Cheltenham: Edward Edgar.
  • Voort, J.M. van der, Meijs, L.C.P.M. & Whiteman, G.M. (2005). Creating Actionable Knowledge:Practicing Service Learning in a Dutch Business Context. In C. Wankel & R. DeFillipi (Eds.), Educating Managers through Real World Projects (Vol. 4 in `Research in Management Education and Development'.) (pp. 149-180). Greenwich: Information Age Publishing.
  • Whiteman, G.M. (2004). Forestry, Gold Mining and Amerindians: The Troubling Example of Samling in Guyana. In F. Bird, S. Herman & eds. (Eds.), International business and the challenges of poverty in the developing world: case studies on global responsibilities and practices (pp. 181-205). Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
  • Whiteman, G.M. (1999). Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK): A framework for sustainable business management. In Best Paper Proceedings Academy of Management. Academy of Management.

• Professional publications
  • Whiteman, G.M. & Cooper, W.H. (2005, augustus 05). Grab the rifle: Managerial resilience within an adaptive Social-ecological system. Hawaii, Academy of Management Annual Conference.

• Editorial position (1)

  Journal	Journal of Management Studies
  Role	Editorial Board
  Start date	01-11-2010