scholarly journals Towards a Typology of Sustainability Practices: A Study of the Potentials and Challenges of Sustainable Practices at the Firm Level

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 5166
Author(s):  
Simone Søgaard Jacobsen ◽  
Steffen Korsgaard ◽  
Franziska Günzel-Jensen

International awareness and demands for sustainable development have pushed the sustainability narrative into the forefront of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a result, the call for sustainable business practices has never been greater. While businesses are both needed and eager to contribute to sustainable development, current literature lacks insights into how businesses can practice sustainability. This paper aims to fill this gap and develop an understanding of the different categories of sustainability practices that firms adopt, and the potentials and challenges associated with them. Based on a qualitative multiple case study, we identify four categories of sustainability practices including inspiring and informing, productizing, co-creating and system building. We integrate these findings into a sustainability maturity typology, proposing that these four practices are associated with an increasing intensity of sustainability intention, so that firms realize increasing levels of sustainability in the focal business practices as they move from inspiring and informing through to system building. The article concludes by arguing that there is no generic “one size fits all” approach to support sustainability practices as approaches need to fit a firm’s sustainability maturity.

Author(s):  
Rosa Elia MARTINEZ-TORRES ◽  
Mariusz BEDNAREK ◽  
Patricia RIVERA-ACOSTA ◽  
Maricela OJEDA-GUTIERREZ

The United Nations Organization is in favor of Sustainable Development through Objectives, of which four are studied for their relationship with the environment; for its part, the Legislative Framework of Mexico, provides to the agencies of the Ministry of Economy, power over the environmental parameters that must be met for companies operating in the mining-metallurgical sector. With a case study methodology, which is part of an integrated multiple case study (Yin, 2013), the environmental practices of an analysis unit (underground metal ore mine in Mexico) were investigated, obtaining information on instruments designed and, describing with a qualitative approach, the participation of the four sustainable principles selected, which obey the Sustainable Development Goals: (1) Industry, innovation and infrastructure, (2) Sustainable cities and communities, (3) Production and consumption responsible and, (4) Life and terrestrial ecosystems Therefore, the objective is: Articulate compliance with the principles of sustainability with the legislative parameters of an underground metal ore mine, to contribute to a comprehensive proposal of best practices for the Environmental Management of the miningmetallurgical sector of Mexico.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Periyasami Anbarasan

The study developed a meta-framework for the strategic planning process, which is an inter-dynamic aspect of strategic processing. Furthermore, it follows multiple case study analysis, and panel data regression analysis conducted to validate the study, the limitations and future scope of the research discussed along with the result. The asset of an organization considered as an essential element in sustainable business practices, hence the three predictors taken from asset section of financial statements of case organizations and the results discussed such as cash and cash equivalent is an important factor for practicing sustainability.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13408
Author(s):  
Sabrina Tabares ◽  
Andrés Morales ◽  
Sara Calvo ◽  
Valentín Molina Moreno

With Our Common Future and the United Nation’s global call to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030, public policies increasingly emphasise the need for various actors to contribute to a global transformation and a more sustainable future. Despite growing research on hybrid organisations and their contributions to sustainable development, their impact on accelerating this transition might be faulty. Looking at a type of hybrid organisation, Certified B Corporations (B Corps), this article draws on a multiple case study of nine B Corps in a developing country in Latin America, Colombia. The study builds on the Structuration Theory to examine to what extent and how B Corps impact sustainable development. The article empirically shows that B Corps focus on four categories of sustainable development: considering future generations; enhancing human development; encouraging new mindsets, behaviours, and lifestyles; and promoting socio-political engagement. The findings suggest that B Corps develop communicative and narrative discourses and symbolic schemas as means of signification and follow norms and moral rules to exert legitimation and utilise authoritative resources to exercise power. The article contributes to research on hybrid organisations, sustainability transitions, and business models.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 459
Author(s):  
João F. Proença ◽  
Ana Cláudia Torres ◽  
Bernardo Marta ◽  
Débora Santos Silva ◽  
Grazielle Fuly ◽  
...  

The literature shows that companies increasingly need to become more sustainable. To achieve sustainable development, supply chain management needs to be related to sustainable business practices, which include relevant values and sustainable purchasing policies. Focusing on these principles on the topic of coffee, this study shows the difficulties associated with this product. The study finds that coffee production is dependent on factors unrelated to management. This paper presents a case study of Delta Cafés owned by Grupo Nabeiro, a Portuguese company that shows relevant ways of achieving sustainable business methods to be incorporated in supply chain management. Our research shows a business based on sustainable, efficient handling of the food safety of its product and certification along the supply chain, as well as an adaptable purchasing policy. By reviewing the literature and information provided by the company, we confirm that the case study is a business leader in innovation, thought process, and action related to sustainability practices. Our research illustrates how business operations and culture can be explored to achieve sustainable buying processes and practices.


2022 ◽  
pp. 82-102
Author(s):  
Manpreet Arora ◽  
Swati Singh

This chapter focuses on the possibilities of exploring the areas where credit intervention can be done by the government in the form of schemes which are dependent on sustainable business practices. Nature has provided us abundance of raw material which if used wisely can help to remove poverty across the globe; on the same hand we can preserve the natural resources also if we use sustainable practices. In the current scenario where the world is facing pandemic and natural calamities, the time has to come to focus on sustainable rural micro financing activities which can not only solve the problem of linking the deprived sections of society with the mainstream, but it can also help them to improve their standard of living, and simultaneously, it can take care of various environmental issues too.


Author(s):  
Laura Ballerini ◽  
Sylvia I. Bergh

AbstractOfficial data are not sufficient for monitoring the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): they do not reach remote locations or marginalized populations and can be manipulated by governments. Citizen science data (CSD), defined as data that citizens voluntarily gather by employing a wide range of technologies and methodologies, could help to tackle these problems and ultimately improve SDG monitoring. However, the link between CSD and the SDGs is still understudied. This article aims to develop an empirical understanding of the CSD-SDG link by focusing on the perspective of projects which employ CSD. Specifically, the article presents primary and secondary qualitative data collected on 30 of these projects and an explorative comparative case study analysis. It finds that projects which use CSD recognize that the SDGs can provide a valuable framework and legitimacy, as well as attract funding, visibility, and partnerships. But, at the same time, the article reveals that these projects also encounter several barriers with respect to the SDGs: a widespread lack of knowledge of the goals, combined with frustration and political resistance towards the UN, may deter these projects from contributing their data to the SDG monitoring apparatus.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4247
Author(s):  
Elena Bulmer ◽  
Cristina del Prado-Higuera

The seventeenth Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations, Partnerships for the Goals, aims to strengthen the means of the implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. The successful implantation of the UN’s seventeenth Sustainable Development Goal will aid the execution and achievement of the other sixteen goals. This article explores the importance and viability of Sustainable Development Goal 17, using a case study based in Valencia, Spain. The study presents an illustrative stakeholder situation, where we see that there are conflicting interests among conservationists, fishermen, municipality representatives, and others. Data collection was done using desk-based research and semi-structured interviews. The interview process was performed between October 2018 and October 2019. In total, 21 different stakeholders were interviewed. For the data analyses, a stakeholder register, Power–Interest Matrices, and a stakeholder map were used, and, to complement the latter, narratives were developed. The different analyses showed that most project stakeholders supported the project, while there was really only one stakeholder, the fishermen themselves, who were reticent about participating. However, it was shown over time that, by developing a common vision with them, the fishermen came on board the project and collaborated with the scientists. Stakeholder engagement analyses are especially useful in the application of Sustainable Development Goals at the project level. Although this case study is specifically applicable to a marine conservation context, it may be extrapolated and applied to any other Sustainable Development Goals’ context.


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