Decision Support Systems And Promoting Socially Just Environmental Management

The Mauri Model DMF is unique in its approach to the management of water resources as the framework offers a transparent and inclusive approach to considering the environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects of the decisions being contemplated. The Mauri Model DMF is unique because it is capable of including multiple-worldviews and adopts mauri (intrinsic value or well-being) in the place of the more common monetised assessments of pseudo sustainability using Cost Benefit Analysis. The Mauri Model DMF uses a two stage process that first identifies participants’ worldviews and inherent bias regarding water resource management, and then facilitates transparent assessment of selected sustainability performance indicators. The assessment can then be contemplated as the separate environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions of the decision, and collectively as an overall result; or the priorities associated with different worldviews can be applied to determine the sensitivity of the result to different cultural contexts or worldviews.

Uma metodologia para a análise do desempenho sustentável dos postos de revenda de combustível na cidade de Natal/RN, com o uso de data envelopment analysis-DEA

The increasing use of fossil fuels in line with cities demographic explosion carries out to huge environmental impact in society. For mitigate these social impacts, regulatory requirements have positively influenced the environmental consciousness of society, as well as, the strategic behavior of businesses. Along with this environmental awareness, the regulatory organs have conquered and formulated new laws to control potentially polluting activities, mostly in the gas stations sector. Seeking for increasing market competitiveness, this sector needs to quickly respond to internal and external pressures, adapting to the new standards required in a strategic way to get the Green Badge . Gas stations have incorporated new strategies to attract and retain new customers whom present increasingly social demand. In the social dimension, these projects help the local economy by generating jobs and income distribution. In this survey, the present research aims to align the social, economic and environmental dimensions to set the sustainable performance indicators at Gas Stations sector in the city of Natal/RN. The Sustainable Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) framework was create with a set of indicators for mapping the production process of gas stations. This mapping aimed at identifying operational inefficiencies through multidimensional indicators. To carry out this research, was developed a system for evaluating the sustainability performance with application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) through a quantitative method approach to detect system s efficiency level. In order to understand the systemic complexity, sub organizational processes were analyzed by the technique Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA) figuring their micro activities to identify and diagnose the real causes of overall inefficiency. The sample size comprised 33 Gas stations and the conceptual model included 15 indicators distributed in the three dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental and economic. These three dimensions were measured by means of classical models DEA-CCR input oriented. To unify performance score of individual dimensions, was designed a unique grouping index based upon two means: arithmetic and weighted. After this, another analysis was performed to measure the four perspectives of SBSC: learning and growth, internal processes, customers, and financial, unifying, by averaging the performance scores. NDEA results showed that no company was assessed with excellence in sustainability performance. Some NDEA higher efficiency Gas Stations proved to be inefficient under certain perspectives of SBSC. In the sequence, a comparative sustainable performance and assessment analyzes among the gas station was done, enabling entrepreneurs evaluate their performance in the market competitors. Diagnoses were also obtained to support the decision making of entrepreneurs in improving the management of organizational resources and promote guidelines the regulators. Finally, the average index of sustainable performance was 69.42%, representing the efforts of the environmental suitability of the Gas station. This results point out a significant awareness of this segment, but it still needs further action to enhance sustainability in the long term

A aplicação da avaliação do ciclo de vida para análise dos aspectos ambientais que envolvem a reciclagem de sucatas nas usinas siderúrgicas

Pós-graduação em Geociências e Meio Ambiente - IGCE

Proposta de um processo de categorização de fornecedores para a execução de projetos

Nowadays, in business environment, organizations seek to differentiate through special programs and plans, taking the concepts of sustainability, performance and benefits generated for society. Based in this competitive environment, as companies depend on the use of subcontractors to perform services for your different customers, the work performed by them is directly related to the vision created by the final customer’s vision of the company responsible for the project. Considering that the supplier hired to execute the project does not share the strategic concepts related to the level of services to be offered to the final customers, thus creating the need to develop methods that enable the alignment between the project owner, responsible for preparing the executive project, and the supplier, responsible for the execution of the work. Tangent to this need, it was necessary to create a method of evaluation and categorization for suppliers to hired for the projects. As a result it has been proposed a process of categorization of suppliers, through the restriction of possible companies to be hired for a project designed to promote alignment between strategies and continuous improvement of the solutions offered to the market

Sustainable consumption: from escape strategies towards real alternatives

Better sustainability policy is supposed to lead to better sustainability performance. Nonetheless, recent research predicts further growth of the ecological footprint and stable ecological deficit in Europe and North America despite their impressive policy efforts (Lenzen et al. 2007) [1]. Similarly, individual strategies result in somewhat reduced load for committed consumers, but this reduction cannot offset the total impact of the socio-economic configuration: consumers in higher income countries tend to pollute more. Comitted consumers "offset" a part of their environmental load by carrying out green purchases. A radical change assumes a change in lifestyle (Shove, 2004) [2]. The conference paper is the first step of the study that aims at measuring the significance of attitude elements as compared to the significance of the socio-economic system on different elements of consumption and environmental aspects This paper focuses on measuring the ecological footprint impacts of consumption in different product groups as well as in different income groups of the society.

Proposta de avaliação de práticas sustentáveis nas operações de serviço em instituições de ensino superior da Rede Federal de Educação Profissional, Científica e Tecnológica

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have an extremely important social role, they are responsible for the place where they work and to form citizens who contribute to a fair and cooperative society. Universities can engage with sustainable development in planning, management, education, research, operations, community services, procurement of materials, transportation and infrastructure; this research seeks to analyze the sustainability practices in service operations in the Higher Education Institutions of the Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education in Brazil through the development and application of a model called the Sustainability Assessment for Higher Technological Education (SAHTE). To achieve the proposed goal, a systematic survey of the scientific literature on sustainability assessment models in higher education institutions was conducted, making it possible to identify the characteristics and features of existing models. The model was applied through multiple case studies. The proposal compares the sustainability performance of service operations among individual institutions using a common methodology. It presents five areas to be evaluated in the HEI: Governance and Policies, People, Food, Water and Energy, and Waste and Environment, with a total of 134 questions. The need for greater support from the senior management of institutions to formulate and implement policies on sustainable development was identified when the lack of policies on sustainability in service operations was found; initiatives tend to be isolated. The participation of students and teachers in studies on the daily operations of the campus can be expanded and more widespread. The model seeks to evaluate sustainable practices in the service operations of the Brazilian Federal Network of Professional, Scientific and Technological Education; studies related to the evaluation of teaching sustainability are absent and the applicability of the model in private institutions and other countries is needed. The results obtained with the application of the SAHTE model are useful for the preparation and development of policies on sustainable development, especially in the service operations of the surveyed HEI. The results can sensitize staff and students, who can reflect on their roles in the HEI, as well as the community and suppliers.

Uma metodologia para a análise do desempenho sustentável dos postos de revenda de combustível na cidade de Natal/RN, com o uso de data envelopment analysis-DEA

The increasing use of fossil fuels in line with cities demographic explosion carries out to huge environmental impact in society. For mitigate these social impacts, regulatory requirements have positively influenced the environmental consciousness of society, as well as, the strategic behavior of businesses. Along with this environmental awareness, the regulatory organs have conquered and formulated new laws to control potentially polluting activities, mostly in the gas stations sector. Seeking for increasing market competitiveness, this sector needs to quickly respond to internal and external pressures, adapting to the new standards required in a strategic way to get the Green Badge . Gas stations have incorporated new strategies to attract and retain new customers whom present increasingly social demand. In the social dimension, these projects help the local economy by generating jobs and income distribution. In this survey, the present research aims to align the social, economic and environmental dimensions to set the sustainable performance indicators at Gas Stations sector in the city of Natal/RN. The Sustainable Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) framework was create with a set of indicators for mapping the production process of gas stations. This mapping aimed at identifying operational inefficiencies through multidimensional indicators. To carry out this research, was developed a system for evaluating the sustainability performance with application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) through a quantitative method approach to detect system s efficiency level. In order to understand the systemic complexity, sub organizational processes were analyzed by the technique Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA) figuring their micro activities to identify and diagnose the real causes of overall inefficiency. The sample size comprised 33 Gas stations and the conceptual model included 15 indicators distributed in the three dimensions of sustainability: social, environmental and economic. These three dimensions were measured by means of classical models DEA-CCR input oriented. To unify performance score of individual dimensions, was designed a unique grouping index based upon two means: arithmetic and weighted. After this, another analysis was performed to measure the four perspectives of SBSC: learning and growth, internal processes, customers, and financial, unifying, by averaging the performance scores. NDEA results showed that no company was assessed with excellence in sustainability performance. Some NDEA higher efficiency Gas Stations proved to be inefficient under certain perspectives of SBSC. In the sequence, a comparative sustainable performance and assessment analyzes among the gas station was done, enabling entrepreneurs evaluate their performance in the market competitors. Diagnoses were also obtained to support the decision making of entrepreneurs in improving the management of organizational resources and promote guidelines the regulators. Finally, the average index of sustainable performance was 69.42%, representing the efforts of the environmental suitability of the Gas station. This results point out a significant awareness of this segment, but it still needs further action to enhance sustainability in the long term

Methods and tools to foster territorial approaches for the assessment of food supply chains

The challenges of the current global food systems are often framed around feeding the world's growing population while meeting sustainable development for future generations. Globalization has brought to a fragmentation of food spaces, leading to a flexible and mutable supply chain. This poses a major challenge to food and nutrition security, affecting also rural-urban dynamics in territories. Furthermore, the recent crises have highlighted the vulnerability to shocks and disruptions of the food systems and the eco-system due to the intensive management of natural, human and economic capital. Hence, a sustainable and resilient transition of the food systems is required through a multi-faceted approach that tackles the causes of unsustainability and promotes sustainable practices at all levels of the food system. In this respect, a territorial approach becomes a relevant entry point of analysis for the food system’s multifunctionality and can support the evaluation of sustainability by quantifying impacts associated with quantitative methods and understanding the territorial responsibility of different actors with qualitative ones. Against this background the present research aims to i) investigate the environmental, costing and social indicators suitable for a scoring system able to measure the integrated sustainability performance of food initiatives within the City/Region territorial context; ii) develop a territorial assessment framework to measure sustainability impacts of agricultural systems; and iii) define an integrated methodology to match production and consumption at a territorial level to foster a long-term vision of short food supply chains. From a methodological perspective, the research proposes a mixed quantitative and qualitative research method. The outcomes provide an in-depth view into the environmental and socio-economic impacts of food systems at the territorial level, investigating possible indicators, frameworks, and business strategies to foster their future sustainable development.

Earthen plasters based on illitic soils from Barrocal region of Algarve: contributions for building performance and sustainability

Clayish earth-based mortars can be considered eco-efficient products for indoor plastering since they can contribute to improve important aspects of building performance and sustainability. Apart from being products with low embodied energy when compared to other types of mortars used for interior plastering, mainly due to the use raw clay as natural binder, earth-based plasters may give a significant contribution for health and comfort of inhabitants. Due to high hygroscopicity of clay minerals, earth-based mortars present a high adsorption and desorption capacity, particularly when compared to other type of mortars for interior plastering. This capacity allows earth-based plasters to act as a moisture buffer, balancing the relative humidity of the indoor environment and, simultaneously, acting as a passive removal material, improving air quality. Therefore, earth-based plasters may also passively promote the energy efficiency of buildings, since they may contribute to decreasing the needs of mechanical ventilation and air conditioning. This study is part of an ongoing research regarding earth-based plasters and focuses on mortars specifically formulated with soils extracted from Portuguese ‘Barrocal’ region, in Algarve sedimentary basin. This region presents high potential for interior plastering due to regional geomorphology, that promote the occurrence of illitic soils characterized by a high adsorption capacity and low expansibility. More specifically, this study aims to assess how clayish earth and sand ratio of mortars formulation can influence the physical and mechanical properties of plasters. For this assessment four mortars were formulated with different volumetric proportions of clayish earth and siliceous sand. The results from the physical and mechanical characterization confirmed the significantly low linear shrinkage of all the four mortars, as well as their extraordinary adsorption-desorption capacity. These results presented a positive correlation with mortars´ clayish earth content and are consistent with the mineralogical analysis, that confirmed illite as the prevalent clay mineral in the clayish earth used for this study. Regarding mechanical resistance, although the promising results of the adhesion test, the flexural and compressive strength results suggest that the mechanical resistance of these mortars should be slightly improved. Considering the present results the mortars mechanical resistance improvement may be achieved through the formulation of mortars with higher clayish earth content, or alternatively, through the addition of natural fibers to mortars formulation, very common in this type of mortars. Both those options will be investigated in future research.

Flexibility, innovation and sustainability in business models as determinants of firm performance heterogeneity.

La comprensión actual de la heterogeneidad de las empresas académico rendimiento en el entorno entra industria necesita un mayor desarrollo. Gestión estratégica y el discurso sobre la literatura empresarial necesita mayor explicación de por qué los modelos de negocio aparentemente similares en el mismo sector actúan de forma diferente. También qué factores del entorno sectorial y operativo determina el surgimiento y funcionamiento de los modelos de negocio sostenibles e innovadoras permanecen sin explorar. Un marco se conceptualiza acompañado de estudios de caso sobre la compañía aérea y las industrias de energía renovable. El estudio lleva a una visión basada en los recursos de los modelos de negocio que las empresas alcancen posiciones heterogéneas de recursos. Una explicación para la heterogeneidad firme desempeño que se busca por intermediación conocimiento que genera valor a partir de la utilización eficaz de los recursos de conocimientos adquiridos a entornos entra y inter-empresa. Un marco para la aparición de nuevos modelos de negocios verdes se conceptualiza y deducciones se obtienen mediante un estudio de caso sobre la base de la industria de biocombustibles de energías renovables para explicar la dinámica de los mercados verdes y cómo se puede crear valor sostenible y capturó e innovadora de los modelos de negocios verdes. El marco desarrollado proporciona una visión cíclica de la flexibilidad del modelo de negocio en la que se propaga la acumulación de recursos basada en el conocimiento del modelo de negocio a través de los ambientes dentro y inter-empresa. Estrategias de conocimiento de corretaje del resultado ambientes inter e dentro-firma en un mejor desempeño del modelo de negocio. La flexibilidad del modelo de negocio que adquiere está determinada por la eficiencia con la acumulación de recursos está alineado con su ambiente externo. Las características de la que el modelo de negocio alcanza ventajas competitivas, como la innovación y la flexibilidad se atribuyen a la heterogeneidad de los recursos. La investigación se extiende a la literatura orientación de servicio al conceptualizar y medir la orientación a servicios como un requisito clave para la innovación del modelo de negocio, mientras que aboga por la necesidad de identificar correctamente las competencias básicas de la empresa, especialmente relevante en el contexto de la empresa orientada a los servicios, donde la creación de valor requiere recursos y la prestación eficiente de los servicios. La investigación trata de llegar a una descripción de los modelos de negocio sostenibles verdes y argumenta que la innovación, la flexibilidad y la sostenibilidad son los tres habilitadores básicos de los cuales el concepto de modelo de negocio verde puede evolucionar la explotación de nuevos mecanismos de mercado y los mercados para crear y capturar valor en el mantenimiento de su innovadora ambiente externo. La investigación integra efectivamente los conceptos de corretaje de conocimientos y modelos de negocio a partir de un recurso basado en la acumulación de vista y al mismo tiempo llega a la heterogeneidad rendimiento de los modelos de negocio aparentemente similares dentro de la misma industria. La investigación indica cómo se producen perturbaciones del mercado en una industria como resultado de modelos de negocio innovador y flexible, y cómo los nuevos modelos de negocio evolucionan en base a estos trastornos. Avanza la comprensión de cómo la estrategia de núcleo competencia y la innovación del modelo de negocio construcciones se comportan en el esfuerzo de la empresa de servicios para obtener una ventaja competitiva sostenible. Los resultados tienen implicaciones en el rendimiento de las empresas que empiezan sin recursos distintos de los suyos, o que utilizan un modelo de negocio imitado, para lograr un mejor rendimiento a través de la evolución del modelo de negocio alineado con las exitosas estrategias de conocimiento de corretaje. Dicho marco puede permitir a las empresas a evaluar y elegir un modelo de negocio basado en la innovación, la flexibilidad, la sostenibilidad y las opciones para el cambio. La investigación se suma a la literatura acumulación de recursos, explicando cómo los recursos pueden ser efectivamente adquirida para crear valor. La investigación también se suma a la literatura empresarial verde, explicando cómo las empresas crear y capturar valor en los nuevos mecanismos dinámicos de mercado.

From transparency to performance? Exploring how and why companies implement sustainability reporting practices.

Esta tesis se centra en el estudio de la implementación de prácticas de reporte de sostenibilidad (o RSC) en las empresas europeas. Estas prácticas han adquirido una relevancia notable a lo largo de los últimos 20 años, siendo utilizadas actualmente por el 93% de las 250 mayores empresas a nivel mundial y por más de 8000 organizaciones en total (de acuerdo a la base de datos de Global Reporting Initiative). Hasta la fecha, el considerable volumen de estudios existentes sobre las prácticas de reporte a nivel corporativo ha permitido caracterizar la influencia de una serie de factores externos (como la presión social o el comportamiento de organizaciones similares) a la hora de adoptar estas prácticas. Sin embargo, se dispone de mucho menos conocimiento respecto a las características internas que influyen en esta decisión, así como a la influencia de ambas causas (externas e internas) en la manera que el reporte se implementa una vez adoptado. Por tanto, esta tesis se centra en abordar estos dos aspectos. Para ello, se ha generado un marco conceptual que permite integrar ambas explicaciones para la adopción del reporte, combinando teorías institucionales (centradas en la influencia de fuerzas externas) y teorías organizativas (centradas en la eficiencia de una práctica a nivel de compañía). De manera análoga al ámbito de la RSC, en el cual existe una diversidad de contribuciones que reconocen la importancia de los factores externos y los factores internos (estratégicos) a la hora de impulsar estas prácticas, el marco conceptual generado tiene por objetivo propiciar un entendimiento más completo de las prácticas de reporte a nivel de compañía. De forma adicional al marco conceptual se han formulado también una serie de hipótesis específicas que relacionan la existencia de determinantes externos e internos y las distintas estrategias de implementación del reporte en cada organización.

Sustainability, creativity and innovation in project management – Model development for assessing organizational performance through projects

Today a number of studies are published on how organizational strategy is developed and how organizations contribute to local and regional development through the realization of these strategies. There are also many articles dealing with the success of a project by identifying the criteria and the factors that influence them. This article introduces the project-oriented strategic planning process that reveals how projects contribute to local and regional development and demonstrates the relationship between this approach and the regional competitiveness model as well as the KRAFT concept. There is a lot of research that focuses on sustainability in business. These studies argue that sustainability is very important to the success of a business in the future. The Project Excellence Model that analyses project success does not contain the sustainability criteria; the GPM P5 standard consists of sustainability components related either to the organizational level. To fill this gap a Project Sustainability Excellence Model (PSEM) was developed. The model was tested by interviews with managers of Hungarian for-profit and non-profit organizations. This paper introduces the PSEM and highlights the most important elements of the empirical analysis.

Assessing the evolution of sustainability reporting in the mining sector

Since the 1990s several large companies have been publishing nonfinancial performance reports. Focusing initially on the physical environment, these reports evolved to consider social relations, as well as data on the firm`s economic performance. A few mining companies pioneered this trend, and in the last years some of them incorporated the three dimensions of sustainable development, publishing so-called sustainability reports. This article reviews 31 reports published between 2001 and 2006 by four major mining companies. A set of 62 assessment items organized in six categories (namely context and commitment, management, environmental, social and economic performance, and accessibility and assurance) were selected to guide the review. The items were derived from international literature and recommended best practices, including the Global Reporting Initiative G3 framework. A content analysis was performed using the report as a sampling unit, and using phrases, graphics, or tables containing certain information as data collection units. A basic rating scale (0 or 1) was used for noting the presence or absence of information and a final percentage score was obtained for each report. Results show that there is a clear evolution in report`s comprehensiveness and depth. Categories ""accessibility and assurance"" and ""economic performance"" featured the lowest scores and do not present a clear evolution trend in the period, whereas categories ""context and commitment"" and ""social performance"" presented the best results and regular improvement; the category ""environmental performance,"" despite it not reaching the biggest scores, also featured constant evolution. Description of data measurement techniques, besides more comprehensive third-party verification are the items most in need of improvement.