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1 – 10 of over 29000
Article
Publication date: 4 December 2018

Anna Mårtensson, Kristen Snyder and Pernilla Ingelsson

The purpose of this paper is to explore the evidence of interlinkages between Lean and sustainability among organisational leaders in the early stages of Lean implementation.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the evidence of interlinkages between Lean and sustainability among organisational leaders in the early stages of Lean implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

A multiple-site case study was conducted to study the connections between Lean and sustainable development during the implementation stages of a Lean practice. In-depth interviews were conducted with managers about their knowledge and understanding of the interlinkages between Lean and sustainable development. The findings were then used as an analytic frame to determine whether these interlinkages were present in the organisation.

Findings

Evidence of interlinkages between Lean and sustainable development was found; however, their presence was incomplete and inconsistent across clinics.

Research limitations/implications

Insights from the research can help organisations plan for the implementation of Lean practice, particularly when a sub-goal is to achieve sustainable development.

Originality/value

The study shows the importance of focussing on managers’ knowledge and understanding of the interlinkages between Lean and sustainable development when implementing Lean in order to utilise Lean’s full potential to achieve sustainability.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 May 2016

Raghu Kumar BR, Ashish Agarwal and Milind Kumar Sharma

The purpose of this paper is to identify important factors which contribute to the evolution of Green Supply Chain (GSC) initiatives framework as a result of sustained lean…

3902

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify important factors which contribute to the evolution of Green Supply Chain (GSC) initiatives framework as a result of sustained lean strategies predominantly but not confined to aviation sector.

Design/methodology/approach

This research is exploratory in nature and studies lean management implementation environment with focus on developing a framework for a GSC established through a path of identifying waste minimization techniques which automatically contribute to green initiatives in supply chain design invariably qualifying an ordinary supply chain as GSC. The approach is of identifying the framework parameters for both carbon footprint analysis and lean management. The focus of study is cross-sectional, within and outside aviation industry based on the information collected through survey methodology.

Findings

The paper identifies the key factors that are responsible to make a “green” supply chain and presents a framework to establish the same through rigorous evaluation while not losing sight of lean management requirements so that operational management perspective is not lost.

Research limitations/implications

The target of the study is the aviation industry and its supportive upstream and downstream beneficiaries. The study has implications for managers in all types of industrial environment, especially in aviation, in the era of globalized lean supply chain establishment which helps them to convert their present lean management initiatives to GSC.

Practical implications

Inputs obtained are from both literary and industrial research in a live environment and hence impacts lean management outlook and its benefits to industries.

Social implications

This paper has vast impact on the social well being with the focus on techno – environmental green initiatives factor identification through simple implemented and available procedures with no additional cost implication.

Originality/value

This paper presents unique inputs regarding conversion of lean implementation scenario in aviation and other industries to a GSC model, with suitable incorporation of recognized factors which are outcome of complicated internal processes. It also tries to establish factors relevant for any organization in assessing lean initiatives.

Details

Competitiveness Review, vol. 26 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1059-5422

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 February 2020

Anis Jarboui, Maali Kachouri Ben Saad and Rakia Riguen

This study aims to investigate whether board gender diversity and sustainability performance influence tax avoidance.

3285

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate whether board gender diversity and sustainability performance influence tax avoidance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a sample consisting of 300 UK firms over the 2005-2017 period. This study is motivated by structural equations and system models that specify both a direct and an indirect link between board gender diversity and tax avoidance.

Findings

The results show that the level of tax avoidance decrease when the level of women on the board increase. Therefore, we find that sustainability performance is generally associated with greater tax avoidance. In combination, the results suggest that board gender diversity and sustainability performance play a significant role in corporate tax avoidance.

Practical implications

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, investors and regulators. For academic researchers, it is interested in discovering board gender diversity, sustainability performance and tax avoidance. For investors, the results show that the existence of female directors on the board reduces the tax avoidance. For regulators, the results advise the worldwide policy makers to give the importance of female roles to improve the engagement firms in sustainability reporting.

Originality/value

This study extends the existing literature by examining the mediating effect of sustainability performance on the relationship between board gender and tax avoidance in the UK context.

Details

Journal of Financial Crime, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1359-0790

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 17 September 2014

Marcelo Biagio Laquimia and Gabriel Eweje

This study investigates how organizations in Brazil address sustainability concerns through collaborative governance efforts with strategic stakeholders. Organizations from New…

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates how organizations in Brazil address sustainability concerns through collaborative governance efforts with strategic stakeholders. Organizations from New Zealand were considered as benchmarks for comparison.

Methodology/approach

This study is based on a qualitative exploratory research, supported by semistructured interviews. Ten organizations are interviewed, five from each country. Thematic analysis is used to analyze the interview data. Central management practices adopted by organizations are presented, and the goals, benefits, and limitations associated with collaborative initiatives are investigated.

Findings and practical implications

The findings reveal that organizations in Brazil and in New Zealand are employing similar management and sustainability practices. Companies in both countries observe that collaborative efforts with strategic stakeholders improve their ability to meet market demands and jointly develop innovative solutions toward sustainability goals while exchanging knowledge and enhancing their operational effectiveness. Organizations perceive a number of tangible and nontangible value creation outcomes from sustainability practices, such as brand and reputational gains, improved supply chain management, and risk management attainments. The results also present limitations, such as internal limitations of organizations concerning how their executives and general staff incorporate sustainability issues into their organizations’ strategic planning and operational decisions.

Originality/value of paper

Market pressures toward greener and more responsible operations equally affected organizations in both countries, without differentiation in operation between an emerging country such as Brazil and a developed country such as New Zealand. Directions for future research are presented. These are based on how organizations measure sustainability outcomes of management practices and collaborative alliances, and how organizations map upcoming market demands and opportunities to deliver more value to society as the sustainable development debate continues to evolve.

Details

Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability: Emerging Trends in Developing Economies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-152-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 August 2018

Simon Croom, Natalia Vidal, Wellington Spetic, Donna Marshall and Lucy McCarthy

Socially sustainable supply chain (SSSC) practices address pressing social issues and may provide operational benefits as well as positive impacts on society. However, due to gaps…

4355

Abstract

Purpose

Socially sustainable supply chain (SSSC) practices address pressing social issues and may provide operational benefits as well as positive impacts on society. However, due to gaps in the current knowledge, it is difficult to know what practices will provide benefits and what management orientations can maximize the impact of these practices on operational performance. The purpose of this paper is to advance the knowledge on the effect of social sustainability orientation on operational performance by examining the mediating roles of basic and advanced SSSC practices and the moderating role of long-term orientation (LTO).

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through a survey of US-based companies about their relationships with key suppliers. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression were used to test the proposed moderated mediation model.

Findings

Surprisingly, sustainability orientation predicts operational performance through advanced but not basic SSSC practices. Results also indicate that the effect of sustainability orientation on operational performance is significantly moderated by LTO.

Research limitations/implications

Results are limited by the US context, the cross-sectional nature of the research, the use of a single-respondent survey instrument and the challenges of measuring LTO.

Practical implications

Managers and policymakers should be aware of the limitations of adopting basic SSSC practices on the performance of their operations. Advanced practices provide a more robust business case and significantly and positively impact operational performance. In addition, the interaction of a sustainability orientation and LTO can lead to even greater improvements in firms’ operational performance. Firms with the highest levels of social sustainability and LTOs attain superior operational performance.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the growing literature on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and extends this literature by focusing on social sustainability practices, identifying specific practices that impact and the orientations that maximize operational performance. The authors contribute to the growing literature on the importance of manager’s temporal orientation and provide nuance to emerging SSCM theory by exposing the interplay of these orientations and the impact of SSSC practice adoption.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 38 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 September 2021

Tiberio Daddi, Francesco Rizzi, Gaia Pretner, Niccolò Todaro, Eleonora Annunziata, Marco Frey and Fabio Iraldo

The relation between sport and sustainability is a topic that has recently raised a lot of interest among both academics and practitioners. However, in the academic literature…

2052

Abstract

Purpose

The relation between sport and sustainability is a topic that has recently raised a lot of interest among both academics and practitioners. However, in the academic literature, very few studies have investigated which solutions are implemented in football, despite its popularity, to reduce the environmental impact of its events. This study contributes to filling this gap by exploring how stadium managers tackle environmental issues for football events.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have analyzed 94 sustainability reports of major sports events and conducted 6 case studies in 6 different major league stadiums around Europe in the framework of research supported by UEFA and three EU National Football Associations.

Findings

The heterogeneity of practices and goals at both the governance and operational level denote that stadium managers pursue environmental objectives mainly voluntarily and under local pressures. Efforts toward environmental improvement appear to depend on an economic and efficiency rationale, which translates into the adoption of technologies and operational practices characterized by short-term economic returns (i.e. energy and resources savings). As a result, operational practices outnumber governance-level practices.

Practical implications

The analysis clearly highlights that the fragmentation of operational practices derives from a lack of maturity of governance structures, especially when multiple actors have different – yet mutually influencing – responsibilities on the infrastructures or the planning and staging of football events.

Originality/value

Building on the notion of the holistic approach to environmental sustainability in sport management the research differentiated environmental practices according to the operational and governance dimensions. While operational practices tackle environmental aspects directly associated with football events (e.g. waste, energy consumption, water usage, etc.), governance-level practices relate to the systemic allocation of environmental roles and responsibilities within the management structure underlying football events.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 March 2022

Rita Maria Difrancesco, Davide Luzzini and Andrea S. Patrucco

Companies' ability to build sustainable supply chains and achieve strategic sustainability objectives largely depends on their supply network characteristics and the nature of the…

1261

Abstract

Purpose

Companies' ability to build sustainable supply chains and achieve strategic sustainability objectives largely depends on their supply network characteristics and the nature of the relationships with strategic suppliers. This poses the question of how purchasing departments can help to translate this sustainability commitment into performance benefits. The authors focus the attention on buyer-supplier information sharing practices and study how the availability of information interplays with the purchasing realized absorptive capacity (PRAC) to positively impact performance (operational, environmental and social).

Design/methodology/approach

The study collected data from 305 procurement executives in four European countries and tested the hypotheses empirically using structural equation modeling. Mediation analysis is used to test the effect of PRAC on the relationship between buyer-supplier information sharing and performance.

Findings

The results show that increasing buyer-supplier information sharing is sufficient to obtain a positive impact on operational performance. To improve purchasing sustainability performance, companies need to develop their PRAC to adequately transform and exploit external information and identify opportunities in the environmental and social areas. Thanks to these purchasing capabilities, organizations can overcome potential trade-offs between different performance dimensions.

Originality/value

In the context of collaborative buyer-supplier relationships, this study is one of the first to propose purchasing knowledge management capabilities (i.e. PRAC) as a key factor to improve multiple performance dimensions. Additionally, it captures different sustainability aspects, concluding that organizations can improve purchasing operational, environmental and social performances by implementing appropriate information sharing mechanisms with suppliers and developing their PRAC.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 42 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 May 2018

Emilio Passetti, Lino Cinquini and Andrea Tenucci

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent the implementation of internal environmental management and voluntary environmental information is related to…

3367

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what extent the implementation of internal environmental management and voluntary environmental information is related to organisational change.

Design/methodology/approach

Organisational change literature provided a framework for the analysis of the materials which were collected through a mixed method. Data on internal environmental management were collected through a survey, while a quality disclosure index was used to assess the quality of the environmental voluntary disclosure. Interviews were used to enhance the quantitative results interpreted according to the four pathways proposed by Tilt (2006) and characterised by several levels of internal environmental management and voluntary disclosure.

Findings

The results indicated that companies implement more internal activities than external disclosure. Environmental planning and operational practices were the most important changes carried out. When environmental management accounting and environmental disclosure were also implemented, environmental aspects were more integrated within companies, thus revealing that a more structured integration of sustainability aspects within organisational values had taken place. The results underline the importance of primarily establishing a set of internal changes, driven by environmental planning, to promote organisational change.

Research limitations/implications

The study presents a larger empirical analysis of the organisational change pathways followed by companies, showing similarities and differences among the four pathways. The results underline the importance of both dimensions for studying organisational changes. The framework of Tilt has been enriched, considering a more precise explanation of the internal aspects and adding the concept of the quality of disclosure as proxy to assess organisational change.

Originality/value

Organisational change is investigated through an extensive analysis of internal and external aspects and collecting quantitative and qualitative evidence. The analysis complements previous sustainability accounting literature focussed on the analysis of internal environmental management and external disclosure.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 31 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 July 2021

Ramji Nagariya, Divesh Kumar and Ishwar Kumar

Despite increasing attentions to sustainable service supply chain management (SSSCM), a framework for performance evaluation of sustainable service only supply chain management

2186

Abstract

Purpose

Despite increasing attentions to sustainable service supply chain management (SSSCM), a framework for performance evaluation of sustainable service only supply chain management (SSOSCM) is still missing. This paper tries to fill this gap and provides a novel conceptual framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The articles related to SSSCM are fetched from the databases of SCOPUS and Web of Science. Analysis of 174 articles identified by the systematic literature review is further carried out.

Findings

This research identifies the sustainable practices for service only supply chain (SOSC) as environmental management, social management, economic management, customer management, health, safety and risk management, technical sustainability, institutional sustainability, information and technology management as well as two performance measurement criteria as operational performance and organizational performance. This paper provides a novel conceptual framework for the performance evaluation of SSOSCM. The results call for future exploration in the following three broad directions-(1) customer's perception, involvement and their behaviour towards sustainability in SOSC context; (2) trade-off, incentive mechanism and multilevel evaluation for achieving sustainability in SOSC and (3) sustainability in SOSC from various point of views.

Practical implications

The managers can use the framework to assess the performance of the organization while researchers can explore the discussed research gaps.

Originality/value

This is the first paper that provides a novel conceptual framework for the performance evaluation of SSOSCM as well as potential future research directions.

Article
Publication date: 20 July 2020

Maria João Santos and Cristina Silva Bastos

Two years on from the launch of the United Nations 2030 agenda, this study aims to approach just how and why large Portuguese companies are incorporating the sustainable…

Abstract

Purpose

Two years on from the launch of the United Nations 2030 agenda, this study aims to approach just how and why large Portuguese companies are incorporating the sustainable development goals (SDGs) into their strategies. This sets out a theoretical framework for priority levels of management and the key rationales and motivations towards the adoption of the SDGs by companies within the scope of identifying logical and mutual connections.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed theoretical framework applied an empirical, qualitative study approach, deploying content analysis of the semi-structured interviews carried out.

Findings

The results convey how the responding companies are using the different management models identified for integrating the SDGs, with the strategic and operational facets of greatest relevance. There are various key reasons put forward in justification of this involvement, in particular highlighting the understanding of the 2030 agenda as an ethical and social contract followed by concerns over managing stakeholders. The results demonstrate that these main motivations influence the management level at which the SGDs undergo integration, yet they do not determine the type of integration.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis of a limited number of companies and the fact that the semi-structured interviews were made with a single representative, which correspondingly reflects how the responses received convey the understandings, visions, values and responsibilities of these interlocutors.

Originality/value

This provides one of the first studies contributing towards understanding how and why businesses are aligning with the SDGs. At the conceptual level, this proposes a theoretical framework for analysing the underlying logics and the levels of integration into business management and how both can be interconnected. In practical terms, this clarifies how business management strategies may leverage the integration of the 2030 agenda as a mechanism for implementing corporate sustainability.

Details

Social Responsibility Journal, vol. 17 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-1117

Keywords

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