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Construction sustainability (CS) is a strategic reaction to the sustainability expectations of the construction industry's external stakeholders. The extant literature has viewed the environmental, social and economic dimensions of CS as having independent effects on financial performance. Due to the influence of common stakeholders, however, interactions in these dimensions will be present in their effect on financial performance. Accordingly, this study identifies the mechanisms of the interactions between the three CS dimensions and how they jointly affect financial performance.

Content analysis of GRI reports of 60 large construction organisations, followed by a hierarchical regression analysis was used to identify the interactions between environmental, social and economic CS in their effect on financial performance.

Economic CS was found to indirectly, and not directly, affect financial performance, the effect being mediated by both environmental and social CS. Environmental CS was found to have a strong negative effect on financial performance, whilst social CS was found to have a strongly significant positive effect on financial performance.

The motivation for engaging in CS is that investment in economic CS will have a positive effect on both environmental and social CS outcomes, which, in turn can have a combined effect on financial performance.

This is one of the first studies investigating the effect of interactions between the environmental, social and economic CS dimensions on the financial performance of construction organisations. It is also one of the first studies that applies a sociotechnical framework to this relationship.

Presents the findings of a longitudinal study of robot usage in Australia. The first stage was completed in 1990 and the second in 1993. In 1990, 74 companies were requested to give an interview, of which 32 agreed. The response rate was therefore 43 per cent. Of the 112 companies surveyed in 1993, 58 responded, giving a 52 per cent response rate. These companies had employee numbers ranging from ten through to 10,000 and included the general manufacturing, automotive, plastics moulding and electronics industries. Most of the findings were in favour of the adoption of industrial robots for Australian industry as it contributed to manufacturing competence. Some shortcomings in robot technology which were identified included; the capital outlay required, programming difficulties, availability of service and the current capacity of robot vision systems. The benefits of robots identified included productivity, flexibility, safety and quality increases.

This paper responds to calls from the literature for research identifying the difference between the effect of internal agents and external agents, such as customers, suppliers and government on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). The paper also determines whether there is a dynamic or interactive relationship between the two types of agents.

Activity theory was used as the theoretical framework for understanding how internal and external agents affected both SSCM motivation and facilitation and possible interactions between the two. A cluster analysis identified how internal and external agents affected SSCM initiatives, interactions, the conditions under which this occurs and the mechanisms of this effect.

Internal and external agents differ in the type, sequence and diversity of their effect on SSCM. While external agents had both an SSCM motivating and facilitation effect, internal agents only had a facilitating effect. Customers were only a significant SSCM motivation in 35% of the cases. Government regulations had a dynamic effect, changing from motivation to facilitation as the SSCM initiative developed. External agent SSCM motivation and facilitation were more internalized in organizations which were more internationally oriented.

Local institutional frameworks motivate and facilitate SSCM initiatives, while head office initiatives and international best practice agencies encourage an integrated combination of external agent motivation and facilitation and internal facilitation.

The findings extend the SSCM literature by identifying the processes of agent SSCM motivation and facilitation, the dynamic nature of agent SSCM effects and the mechanism through which externally motivated and facilitated SSCM becomes internalized.

In addition to their internal resources, companies in most industries rely upon external strategic resources to maintain and improve their performance. External strategic resources have a similar effect on competitiveness but are located in the company’s networks or even in unrelated industries. Some companies underuse these resources, while other companies focus too strongly on accessing external resources in their own industry, which results in hyper-competition. This paper aims to explain how different industries use external resources and describes the criteria for a balanced approach which leads to knowledge transfer, diversity and supports the development of new business.

Examples and evidence from four different industries are used to identify the different approaches for accessing external strategic resources.

Valuable external strategic resources are non-transferable, located in a complementary product organisation, knowledge-oriented, located in a different country, preferably not part of the organisation’s primary external focus (e.g. supply chain), able to introduce diversity and innovation and are compatible with network behaviours.

External strategic resources are frequently found within the organisation’s supply chain, however, use of these resources should be balanced by external resources from non-related industries to increase diversity and reduce the likelihood of hyper-competition.

This paper explains why external strategic resources are valuable, identifies the different approaches to accessing them, describes the benefits and drawbacks associated with each approach and provides the key criteria for identifying a valuable external strategic resource.

This paper aims to introduce a supply chain strategy for supply chain sustainability performance and explain why it is different to normal business/operations strategy.

A survey of supply chain managers and detailed case studies of three successful supply chain sustainability organisations identified four components of a supply chain sustainability strategy, the mechanisms behind them and how they interacted.

Sustainability leadership, supply chain member involvement in organisational sustainability initiatives, supply chain member involvement in supply chain sustainability strategy planning and technical competency were identified as the four components of a sustainable supply chain strategy. Sustainability leadership legitimises the objectives and involvement of the staff in supply chain-oriented sustainability initiatives and planning. Technical competency provides the capability and language necessary for the development of a supply chain sustainability strategy. This is different to business/operations strategy, however, parallels to other forms of strategy constructs support its ability to achieve performance improvement.

The research is based on data from developed countries; the findings may be different for emerging economies. Potential hypotheses for future research are suggested.

The supply chain sustainability strategy will enable organisations to improve the sustainability of their supply chains. Its application is described in the paper.

The paper develops a strategy framework different to the approach taken in business/operational strategy. It indicates how the sustainability performance of supply chains external to the organisation is increased through their interconnectedness with the organisation.

Based on interviews conducted with senior managers of four German multinationals, discusses issues of technology management in the context of global manufacturing. An overview of the four companies and their competitive priorities is first presented. Then discusses the role of globalisation and issues relating to technology transfer and technology management. Based on observations, identifies three common strategies/practices adopted by the companies studied, namely maintaining focus on core competencies/technological capabilities; maintaining a continuing dialogue between the R&D function at headquarters and the overseas operating units; and providing extensive education and training for all employees.

This essay is a review of the recent literature on the methodology of economics, with a focus on three broad trends that have defined the core lines of research within the discipline during the last two decades. These trends are: (a) the philosophical analysis of economic modelling and economic explanation; (b) the epistemology of causal inference, evidence diversity and evidence-based policy and (c) the investigation of the methodological underpinnings and public policy implications of behavioural economics. The final output is inevitably not exhaustive, yet it aims at offering a fair taste of some of the most representative questions in the field on which many philosophers, methodologists and social scientists have recently been placing a great deal of intellectual effort. The topics and references compiled in this review should serve at least as safe introductions to some of the central research questions in the philosophy and methodology of economics.

It is contended that knowledge management is directed towards finding out how and why information users think, what they know about what they know, the knowledge and attitudes they have and the decisions they make when they interact with others. At the heart lies the mutation of information into knowledge, a process best understood through seeing, knowing and information retrieval as features common to cognitive psychology and information management. The knowledge we have of knowledge, and changes to knowledge, can be monitored in negotiations like knowledge interviews for trainees. Such knowledge and belief systems can also be translated into managerial strategies, both qualitative, as when we emphasise value and benefit in the marketing approach to information, and quantitative, as when we devise ways of assessing probabilities with which desired outcomes will occur. Knowledge management is as much the management of meaning as management of entities and people, for in meaning lies the key to our understanding of what we decide to do as information managers. It is a multi‐disciplinary field offering a semantics and pragmatics for the evaluating and self‐evaluating manager.

This paper aims to challenge corporate theories such as creating shared value (CSV) as to how they account for company water use given that water risk is ultimately not an efficiency challenge. In exploring CSV and the management of shared resources, there are limitations to the value of CSV (as currently framed) as a response strategy to water risks. For almost all businesses, water challenges involve complex social and environmental considerations “beyond efficiency”. Water stewardship is also an evolving framework, yet at its core implies an awareness and willingness to seek collaboration on business water-related risk across the value chain and to go beyond efficiency.

How does CSV stack-up against the experiences of companies at the leading edge of water risk and engagement in real-world contexts? Can CSV theory provide companies with enough guidance to navigate water management challenges and address complex risks to create shared outcomes, given that CSV does not engage the personal values or responses that are crucial to long-term water management? Especially considering that the boundaries between personal values, collective societal values and societal needs are all blurred. To fully address these questions, it is necessary to assess the extent to which CSV has internalized water stewardship initiatives or understood and drawn from water resource challenges and responses. Recent research states that the corporate sustainability is currently disconnected from the wider debate of pressing issues such as climate change and resource depletion. This research suggests that the business sustainability literature is entrenched in debates that draw very little from the ecology or environmental sciences literature, producing little in the way of interdisciplinary rigor (Linnenluecke and Griffiths, 2013). They conclude that business theory almost always focuses on understanding variables that can be subjected to direct managerial and shareholder concern, omitting challenging policy environments, with the net result that theoretical models can appear to serve more effectively than is the actual case.

In its entirety, the sentiment of CSV is sensible – if society fails, so does business. The financial crisis provides an example of the symbiosis between corporate performance and social well-being: and of the obligations faced by businesses and the government to confirm that business behaves in ways which advance the public and private good. The objective is not to look at CSV in its entirety, but rather to focus on its representation of water use, delving deeper into what CSV means for this specific and unique resource.

A unique view of the intersection of CSV and water stewardship with recommendations for alignment.

The report of the Departmental Committee on the Irish butter industry to the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland was issued on March 23 as a parliamentary paper. Mr. J. R. CAMPBELL was chairman of the Committee, and the other members were Mr. T. CARROLL, Mr. E. G. HAYGARTH‐BROWN, Lord CARRICK, and Mr. A. POOLE WILSON, with Mr. D. J. MCGRATH as secretary. The Committee were appointed:—