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In order to encourage the high-water-consumption (HWC) manufacturers to carry out water-saving transformation relying on self-strength or outsourcing to a water-saving service company (WSSC) during production processes, government subsidies are provided according to water-saving efforts (WSE) or investment cost. In this context, the authors derive the participant's equilibrium decisions and the manufacturer's water-saving strategy. Additionally, the effects of subsidies on WSE and stakeholders' profits are discussed.

Mathematical models including optimization model and Stackelberg game model are constructed under different subsidy schemes.

The study finds that (1) there exists a threshold related to the subsidy coefficient for the HWC manufacturer when choosing between self-saving and outsourcing-saving. (2) When the technological competitive advantage between WSSC and manufacturer is within a certain range, government's subsidy promotes HWC enterprises to choose outsourcing-saving. (3) Given a water-saving mode, subsidy on investment cost is more effective for the government to achieve more environmental performance.

First, subsidy endogeneity can be considered to explore the optimal interval for government subsidies to maximize social welfare. Second, in outsourcing-saving, other types of contract can be discussed. Another extension is about model uncertainties. Finally, other policies on improving water efficiency can be also examined.

The paper includes implication for HWC manufacturers to select the best water-saving mode under subsidy, and it allows policymakers to understand the efficiency of proposed subsidies.

Decisions on water-saving efforts, selection of water-saving modes and operational planning are also regarded as business strategies in the paper. Particularly, the influences of different government subsidies are also considered and compared.

The University of A Coruña (UDC) elaborated the SOSTAUGA project, aiming to reach a higher sustainable level of its water management. SOSTAUGA defined four priority points of action: the restoration of the natural courses on the campus; the adoption of an ecological sanitation model; the sustainable management of urban runoff; and the reduction of water consumption in university facilities and activities. This paper aims to present the methodology, the actions and the results related to the reduction of water consumption and the potential for the use of endogenous resources.

The agents involved were the senior management of the centres, the committees of the Green Campus, the scholarship students and the Office for the Environment. Several actions have been experienced: audit of water consumption in sanitary services; flow reduction in washbasin taps by means of valve adjustment (and repair of the valves when necessary); replacement of tap aerators with other more eco-efficient ones; replacement of faucets; introduction of dual-flush (DF) in cisterns; and information to users (eco-label).

Water audit reached 68% of the total number of washbasins and tanks in the UDC. Efficient aerator installation covered 16% of taps and valve adjustment covered the further 33.5% and provided flow reduction of 42%. Another 20% of valve units required repair. The current situation in toilets combines tankless flush valves and cisterns with single flush mechanisms. The introduction of DF mechanisms was assessed and proposed. The cost of these actions was very low, as evidenced by the investment return period while showing a high potential for user awareness.

Both from the environmental (water saving) and from the economic and social points of view, this study shows that similar projects aimed at the efficient and rational use of water are applicable to the universities and other public and private schools, with potentially positive results on sustainability and people awareness.

This research project studies office tenants’ perceived value of green service attributes, with the focus being on facility services and management. The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of what kind of green attributes tenants value in their office buildings.

The research project was conducted using a single case study methodology. A green facilities management concept was tested in a pilot building. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire based on the Kano model of attractive quality. In addition, open-ended questions were asked to further understand the tenants’ views on the matter.

The findings of the research project indicate that tenants have begun to value green attributes in their office buildings. While environmental efficiency is not yet a strategic guideline for small tenants, it would increase their satisfaction with facility management and services.

Facility management and service organisations can utilise the results of this study in their own service scopes and process development.

This study provides insight into the value of green facilities and user services for small office tenants.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the climate change implications for both rainfall and saline intrusion in ground water, which could directly threaten both the tourism industry and other local livelihoods in the Caribbean. Water shortages will be particularly critical in the locations that are already water‐stressed; at or near the limits of their available supplies.

The paper focuses on Barbados as the island exhibits four critical factors that make it particularly sensitive and potentially vulnerable to water shortages. Barbados is relatively small and flat, and has limited water flow. Second, it is the most densely populated country in the Caribbean. Third, the economy is primarily driven by tourism, and has prospered as a result; Fourth, Barbados is characterized as “absolute water scarce” on the Falkenmark scale because of a per capita availability of freshwater per year of less than 500 cubic meters.

The paper observes that Barbados has a water availability of just 306 cubic metres per capita per year, which makes Barbados the 15th most water‐scarce nation in the world. Thus, Barbados is critically dependent on a water‐intensive industry, has limited options to expand the supply of the key resource, and now finds that the availability of this key resource might decline in future as a result of climate change.

The paper provides data, case studies and analysis to demonstrate the significant threat to tourism from water shortages relating to climate change.

Implementation of environmental management systems (EMS) in hotels is gaining popularity world‐wide. ISO 14001, which is the only certifying document in the ISO 14000 series, provides guidelines to set up an EMS. However, there is a paucity of information about the actual environmental measures implemented in ISO 14001 certified hotels. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify and generalize the environmental measures undertaken by studied hotels and to evaluate the performance of these environmental measures.

Three case studies were carried out to identify the green measures undertaken in ISO 14001‐certified hotels. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and analyzed. Then, regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between monthly utilities input (electricity, gas, fuel oil and water) and activity parameters.

A total of 113 measures were identified, nearly half of which concern energy conservation. Results of multiple regression showed that R² for different utilities varied. The explanatory power of equation was strong for electricity consumption, moderate for fuel gas consumption, and weak for both gas and water consumption.

The identified measures provide hoteliers with a thorough picture about the actual environmental works involved in this internationally recognized EMS. Hotel operators and owners can use these measures as a reference either for applying EMS certification or for developing their own EMS.

The paper, which was based on operational experiences from existing hotels, was a collaborative work between hospitality industry practitioners and educators. The paper is also the first of its kind to unveil the comprehensive environmental measures undertaken in city hotels with ISO 14001 certification.

In the context of carbon peaking and neutrality, effectively controlling agricultural carbon emissions has gained academic attention. As an essential form of agricultural service scale management, this study investigates whether and how trusteeship affects the carbon emission behavior in planting production.

The authors established a theoretical framework to analyze the impact of agricultural production trusteeship on carbon emissions from planting. China's provincial panel data in the 2012–2021 period were selected to test the impact, mechanisms and heterogeneity of agricultural production trusteeship on carbon emissions from planting using the bidirectional fixed effect model and the panel correction standard error regression model.

The findings indicate that agricultural production trusteeship significantly inhibits carbon emissions from planting, especially in the dimensions of fertilizer input, pesticide application, agricultural film use and mechanical fuel. Agricultural production trusteeship primarily affects the intensity of these carbon emissions through contiguous farmland management and planting structure adjustment. Further examinations revealed that the influence of agricultural production trusteeship on carbon emissions from planting was heterogeneous with respect to geographical location, proportion of non-farming income and scale of agricultural production.

This study is the first to systematically evaluate the impact of agricultural production trusteeship on carbon emissions from planting.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the factors that influence strategic sourcing decisions to the Brazilian market based on societal and natural values.

A case study method is used because of its suitability for exploring how a Scandinavian multinational corporation can respond to the social context in the Brazilian market by matching, in competition with other firms, its own values, norms and beliefs to those prevailing in the Brazilian market.

The response to the social context in the Brazilian market and the integration with the group's ethical standards comprise certain appropriate corporate social responsibility practices that result in natural and social benefits for the stakeholders, which in turn creates social advantages.

The study is focused on the Brazilian market and would benefit from the availability of data in other emerging country markets that pose potential outsourcing destinations, enabling a comprehensive analysis from an integrated economic and sustainability perspective, including how societal advantages are transformed into competitive advantages.

Management scholars should apply a socio‐economic perspective to strategic sourcing decisions in emerging country markets in accordance with the logic of appropriateness, which enables a broader and more holistic approach towards strategic sourcing decisions, what influences them, how to sustain them, and deciding how to effectively match the requirements of the external institutional setting of the specific emerging country market and how to establish relationships between decision makers on global and regional levels.

In contrast to authors who have theorized about strategic sourcing decisions from an economic market perspective, a socio‐economic approach is taken in this paper to establish an institutional base and a network foundation for analyzing the social context of the Brazilian market.

This paper aims to present the development of a holistic campus facility management (CFM) performance assessment framework that incorporates a fuzzy logic approach and integrates a comprehensive set of key factors for successful management of campus facilities. The devised framework aims to cater to the needs of campus facilities management firms and departments for the purpose of gauging and assessing their performance across different management domains. Through this approach, facility management organizations can detect potential areas of enhancement and adopt preemptive steps to evade issues, foster progress and ensure success.

After a comprehensive analysis of the literature, conducting in-depth interviews with industry experts and employing the Delphi technique in two rounds, a total of 45 indicators critical to CFM success were identified and subsequently sorted into seven distinct groups. Through an online questionnaire, 402 subject-matter experts proficiently assessed the significance of the critical success indicators and their groups. A fuzzy logic framework was developed to evaluate and quantify a firm's compliance with the critical success indicators and groups of indicators. The framework was subsequently weighted using computations of the relative importance index (RII) based on the responses received from the questionnaire participants. The initial section of the framework involved a comprehensive analysis of the firm's performance vis-à-vis the indicators, while the latter part sought to evaluate the impact of the indicators groups on the overall firm's performance.

The utilization of fuzzy logic has uncovered the significant effects each effective CFM key indicator on indicators groups, as well as the distinct effects of each CFM indicators group on the overall performance of CFM. The results reveal that financial management, communications management, sustainability and environment management and workforce management are the most impactful indicators groups on the CFM performance. This suggests that it is imperative for management to allocate increased attention to these specific areas.

This study contributes to the advancement of current knowledge by revealing vital indicators of effective CFM and utilizing them to construct a thorough fuzzy logic framework that can assist in evaluating the effectiveness of CFM firms worldwide. This has the potential to provide crucial assistance to facility management organizations, facility managers and policymakers in their quest for informed decision-making.

This case study outlines the strategic and organisational issues faced by an entrepreneurial firm operating in an emerging economy. This case study has been written to equip students with how entrepreneurs can overcome certain barriers and use technology to achieve product–market fit, taking the Indian laundry sector as an example. The following are the key learnings for the case: start-ups need to continuously assess the product–market fit to organise a highly unorganised sector; market entry and expansion modes require proper evaluation of available entry and expansion modes before pursual; franchising decisions require firm-specific and location-specific considerations; and careful consideration given to celebrity endorsement will result in increased sales.

The Indian laundry market was a highly unorganised market and presented an untapped opportunity. While the market opportunity was enormous, the existing solutions comprised local vendors that may not provide end-to-end services (washing, ironing, etc.). The case study described how a young entrepreneur, Arunabh Sinha, overcame certain challenges to achieve a product–market fit for metro cities and later expanded to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India as well. However, the challenges remained, as the firm expanded by using a franchise model, and other modes of business were required to be evaluated as well.

The case study is suitable for students pursuing MBA courses in marketing, service marketing and entrepreneurship development.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS3: Entrepreneurship.