Search results

This paper aims to propose an integrative economic model of the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) and performance prism based on concurrent engineering and developed balanced scorecard (BSC).

In this paper, the supplier aspect added to the basic BSC framework, a quality function deployment (QFD) developed in four phases and the economic GRI priorities were determined. Finally, the outcomes of QFD were used in Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for ranking the economic indicators.

The indicators of financial interpretation, risks and opportunities had the first rank in learning and growth, internal processes, customer and financial BSC aspects, and they had the second rank only in the suppliers' BSC aspect.

In this paper, merely the economic indicators of the GRI standard was studied, and no comparison was made between the variables of the other standards and the GRI standard.

The most important contribution of this study is merging the supplier aspect and BSC based on the concept of suppliers, inputs, process, outputs and customers (SIPOC) in supply chain analysis. Achieving economic sustainability by a concurrent engineering approach is another novelty of this paper. The proposed model was examined in the tile and ceramic industry for the first time.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate drivers of economic performance with environmental management aspects and core managerial functions of the Indian coal mining industry.

For this research paper, primary and secondary data have been used. The primary data were collected through a questionnaire survey which was distributed in the four subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were tested by appropriate statistical techniques. Further, one-sample t-test and multiple linear regression analysis have been used for data analysis.

Testing of hypotheses reveals that there is a high level of integration of environmental management aspects with the seven core managerial functions, namely, production process, distribution process, beneficiation process, quality issues, stakeholders’ interest, health and safety and corporate strategy. Further, the paper identified that there is a positive association between integration of environmental aspects with core functions and the four drivers of economic performance and it is strongly associated with societal-related and risk-related drivers of economic performance. But it is less strongly associated with image-related and efficiency-related drivers of economic performance.

This paper focuses on integrating the environmental management and core functions with key drivers of economic performance in coal mining industry which is one of the most polluting industries of the world. The limitation of the paper is that it is very specific and limited to the coal mining industry.

The paper contributes to the existing work by designing a framework which identifies the key drivers of economic performance and integrating it with the environmental management system of the organisation.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

A systems perspective of waste management allows an integrated approach not only to the five basic functional elements of waste management itself (generation, reduction, collection, recycling, disposal), but to the problems arising at the interfaces with the management of energy, nature conservation, environmental protection, economic factors like unemployment and productivity, etc. This monograph separately describes present practices and the problems to be solved in each of the functional areas of waste management and at the important interfaces. Strategies for more efficient control are then proposed from a systems perspective. Systematic and objective means of solving problems become possible leading to optimal management and a positive contribution to economic development, not least through resource conservation. India is the particular context within which waste generation and management are discussed. In considering waste disposal techniques, special attention is given to sewage and radioactive wastes.

Economics and sociology are two different theoretical disciplines dealing with one and the same subject. The aim of the paper is to integrate the two paradigms into one framework of interpretation and analysis.

Economics is presented as a science that approaches human behaviour being subject to the omni‐present phenomenon of scarcity, assuming rationality and social independence of human actors. Sociology is presented as a science that interprets human behaviour as group behaviour. Groups are motivated to rank one another in terms of status. Integration must take place by relating the two analyses based on these paradigms.

The basic economic framework is about the relationship between preferences and scarce resources, determining the structure of allocation of goods. The basic sociological framework is about the relationship between the distribution of socially valued goods and the culture that gives goods their social meaning. A socio‐economic framework is about the relation between allocation, distribution, culture and preferences.

When applying the socio‐economic framework to real‐life phenomena both the economic and the social motives play a role in the explanation, which is not the case in applied economics and applied sociology.

Forest industries affect cultural sustainability profoundly, but little information exists on integration of cultural sustainability aspects into their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) management. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines comprising assessments of economic, ecological and social aspects are one of the most comprehensive CSR frameworks applied widely also in forest industries. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate, how the GRI guidelines encompass cultural sustainability when assessing forestry and forest industry operations in a global context and to recognize the cultural sustainability themes that need additional information in forest industry companies’ CSR reporting.

In the qualitative analysis, expert interview material on indicators identified for assessing the cultural sustainability of forest bioenergy production in North Karelia was compared with the contents of the GRI guidelines. The focus on classifying the cultural indicators according to GRI contents was to recognize in the context of forest bioenergy production, the links between cultural sustainability and other sustainability dimensions and to illustrate the new themes that cultural sustainability integration would bring to CSR management of the business. In addition, information was acquired from the general themes of cultural sustainability which are currently lacking from the GRI guidelines.

The results of the show that most of the cultural indicators in the expert interview material were associated with aspects of economic, environmental or social sustainability when classified according to the GRI guidelines. Despite this, it seems that a more profound integration of cultural sustainability evaluations in CSR management is required. The analysis of this study showed that the themes “Impacts on landscape,” “Timeline of impacts,” “Spiritual values,” “Persistence of traditions” and “Adaptability to cultural change” are not approached in the GRI guidelines at all. All of the identified themes approach issues, which have been found to be crucial in forest industries’ operations not only in a local, but also in a global context.

The analysis of this study was limited to cultural characteristics of forestry and forest industries especially in the case of forest bioenergy production in North Karelia, Eastern Finland. Due to this, the results cannot be generalized directly into other CSR management contexts of forest industries in different geographical areas. Despite this, the results of this study indicate that when aiming to enhance the acceptability of forest industries in energy production as well as in other branches of forest industries, new insights are needed on the integration of cultural aspects in CSR management.

The pressures toward using local forest resources are increasing internationally. As a result of this, the managers and politicians responsible for making decisions on forest sector are less seldom familiar with local traditions and the ways of balancing different needs related to forests in various geographical contexts. In enhancing the environmental, social and economic sustainability of forest resource usage it is crucial to ensure that the decisions made do not conflict with cultural values of localities traditionally dependent on forests. Despite this, general information on cultural sustainability issues related to forests and especially CSR management in forest sector is scarce.

Due to the increasing awareness of environmental and social issues, many practitioners and researchers have paid attention to sustainable supply chain management. As the performance of suppliers determines the success of supply chains, sustainable supplier selection becomes more and more important. Existing sustainable supplier selection models evaluated the sustainability of suppliers in three aspects (economic, environmental and social) and assumed that values on different criteria can completely compensate for each other directly. However, in reality, criteria in economic, environmental and social aspects are heterogeneous, and the decision-maker’s preferences on criteria belonging to different aspects are different. In this case, values on criteria belonging to different aspects are not allowed to completely compensate for each other directly. To solve this problem, this paper aims to propose a hybrid sustainable supplier selection approach integrating compensatory and non-compensatory decision rules.

In the proposed approach, the compensatory decision method Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution is used to evaluate performances of suppliers with respect to economic, environmental and social aspects. The non-compensatory decision method Elimination and Choice Translating Reality is used to evaluate performances of suppliers on sustainable criteria comprehensively. Through the proposed approach, only criteria belonging to the same aspects are allowed to compensate for each other directly. Finally, experimental results show that the proposed integrated approach is effective and efficient to help the decision-maker select optimal sustainable suppliers.

This is an original approach that integrates compensatory and non-compensatory decision rules, which can benefit from the two kinds of decision rules simultaneously. The integrated approach can be used as an aid for companies to select the best sustainable suppliers.

This paper presents an original integrated sustainable supplier selection approach using both compensatory and non-compensatory methods. It can benefit from the advantages of both compensatory and non-compensatory methods. The proposed approach can express preferences of the decision-maker on sustainable criteria sufficiently and maximize economic benefits while meeting environmental needs.

This paper aims to examine the impact of various economic, social and environmental issues on the sustainable development of Pakistan, both directly and indirectly through the sustainability dimensions of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multi-billion-dollar megaproject.

Using a quantitative (deductive) methodological approach, data were collected using a strategy of an online questionnaire survey from diverse stakeholders of CPEC in Pakistan. Partial least squares-based structural equation modeling technique was used to test the relationship between observed and latent variables.

The results confirmed the positive impact of various economic, social and environmental issues on the sustainable development of Pakistan directly and indirectly through the partial mediation of sustainability dimensions of CPEC.

Sustainability perceptions of stakeholders about CPEC and its relationship with sustainable development are critical issues for governments and policymakers. This paper suggest how economic, social and environmental dimensions of CPEC can enhance the positive perception which is necessary for stakeholder involvement and support for megaprojects such as CPEC.

This study evaluated the megaprojects of CPEC from a sustainability perspective through stakeholders’ perceptions by proposing and testing a parsimonious research model that has never been examined in the existing literature.

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) continuously causes environmental and social problems. These formidable challenges lead to sustainable issues and are an increasingly urgent issue worldwide. Prior studies have neglected to link the triple bottom line (TBL) to a reliable estimation or empirical model for estimating CDW production performance and lack empirical sensitivity analysis in profit maximization. This study proposes an attribute analysis to build a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) to obtain profit maximization.

This study uses fuzzy set theory to develop a cost and benefit analysis (CBA) model to assess the sensitivity analysis in terms of its performance on addressing the environmental, economic and social aspects. The model is used to weigh the sum of benefits such as financial gain and total costs of actions taken to mitigate the negative impacts.

Based on the sensitivity analysis conducted, the environmental, economic and social mean scales were significantly changed, i.e. increased, and profits increased drastically. The results provide an insight into environmental legislation compliance, environmental investment and environmental impact as the cause attributes for the CDW recycling profit increase. The results prove that sensitivity analysis is viable to infer that a sustainable production performance can achieve more revenue and profit through an adequate selection of attributes regarding the TBL aspects to address the firm's uncertainty problem in multiple criteria analysis.

This study builds a CBA model to maximize profits for recycled CDW material by linking of environmental, economic and societal aspects for recycled CDW assessments. It considers a sustainability structure with criteria based on TBL aspects to assess production performance to realize the Sustainable Development Goals and presents fuzzy set theory and sensitivity analysis to solve the uncertainty problem in the construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to describe: corporate reasons for, and organizational challenges of sustainable business models; and the evolution of economic effects, social boundaries and environmental actions in sustainable business practices.

This study is based on insights gained from eight Norwegian companies in different industries. Purposeful sampling was employed to ensure that the companies had sustainable business models beyond the level of mere compliance, of sustainable business practices in the marketplace and society. A deductive approach to data collection ensured that the companies had sufficient understanding to relate their sustainable business practices to interviewers. The interviews were subsequently transcribed and analyzed systematically by the research team.

The empirical findings indicate evolutionary changes as companies move on a continuum from superficial to embedded sustainable business models and the application of sustainable business practices. The planning, implementation and evaluation of sustainable business models evolves over time within companies and their supply chains, as well as in the marketplace and society.

A limitation of this study is that it is exclusively undertaken in Norwegian companies, although the companies are from different industries with different characteristics. Future research is clearly necessary and will be conducted in other countries in similar industries, so as to explore the empirical findings from this study in other contexts. In addition, the interfaces between environmental actions, economic effects and social boundaries need to be investigated further.

The study contributes to a growing body of knowledge on corporate reasons for and organizational challenges of sustainable business models, as well as environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable business practices.