scholarly journals Making Major Retail Establishments Sustainable: The Case of the Mall at Robinson

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew M Mehalik ◽  
Court Gould ◽  
Beth Edwards

This case serves as a leadership example of what is initially possible for existing mall retail establishments regarding sustainability. The discussion consists of a case study of how a multidisciplinary team of Pittsburgh-regional experts conducted a comprehensive analysis using a systems approach [1] to identify and provide recommendations for sustainable business solutions to benefit a large retail shopping mall in the Pittsburgh Region, The Mall at Robinson. The convening organization for this project was Sustainable Pittsburgh. Findings from the assessment include solutions that will save or make money and increase the mall's effectiveness and resource efficiency. Other impacts include recommendations for becoming better stewards of the environment and community and increasing the mall's public profile. The project approach has been to focus on opportunities for continuous improvement where the interests of people, business, and environment meet.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-217
Author(s):  
Kirill E. PIVNYK

Subject. This article assesses the effectiveness of companies' financial policies using logistic regression. It considers the financial policy assessment as a comprehensive analysis that helps evaluate the company's financial performance and make a conclusion based on a single criterion. Objectives. The article aims to develop a single (universal) criterion helping conclude of the company's financial policy effectiveness. Methods. For the study, I used a comprehensive approach based on the developed logit model, financial analysis, systems approach, and an overview of literature sources on the subject. Results. The article presents a developed methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of financial policy determined by the effectiveness of financial policy (EFP) equation for Russian electric power companies. Relevance. The results obtained can be used in practice to evaluate the financial policy by company external and internal users.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Norol Hamiza Zamzuri ◽  
Khairil Wahidin Awang ◽  
Yuhanis Abdul Aziz ◽  
Zaiton Samdin

The growth of the event sector is underpinned by the demand of organizing a business event.  Thus, it leads to an increase in economic and social impact. However, the problems from the growth of this sector potentially results from the use of several event materials, transportation and infrastructure development.  Organizing a green event is seen as one of the strategies to reduce the environmental impact.  Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the issues involved throughout the process of greening an event by applying Mair and Jago Model.  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with event managers from six Malaysia business event companies that encourage green practices during their event.  Findings suggest that impact, initiative, support and performance motivates event organizers in organizing a green event.  It has also been found that knowledge, resources and behaviour are the barriers faced by event organizers throughout the process of organizing a green event.  Based on the findings it appears that two important factors have emerged from the data collection and analysis that showed a deviation from the Mair and Jago Model, namely “impact” for the motivation element and “support” for the barrier element.  The main limitation of this study was the scope of the study; as it only focuses on business events.  However, as the main purpose of this study is to explore the issues of organizing a green event, it has been found that there are other issues need to be explored in other contexts and geographical area.  Apart from this, as this is a case study, it can only replicate according to the circumstances of this case study. However, this study can be generalized in terms of the theory that has emerged from it.  It is suggested that further research should explore more issues in other contexts and geographical areas. 


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Wang ◽  
Jianbin Sun ◽  
Qingsong Zhao ◽  
Yaqian You ◽  
Jiang Jiang

It is difficult for many classic classification methods to consider expert experience and classify small-sample datasets well. The evidential reasoning rule (ER rule) classifier can solve these problems. The ER rule has strong processing and comprehensive analysis abilities for diversified mixed information and can solve problems with expert experience effectively. Moreover, the initial parameters of the classifier constructed based on the ER rule can be set according to empirical knowledge instead of being trained by a large number of samples, which can help the classifier classify small-sample datasets well. However, the initial parameters of the ER rule classifier need to be optimized, and choosing the best optimization algorithm is still a challenge. Considering these problems, the ER rule classifier with an optimization operator recommendation is proposed in this paper. First, the initial ER rule classifier is constructed based on training samples and expert experience. Second, the adjustable parameters are optimized, in which the optimization operator recommendation strategy is applied to select the best algorithm by partial samples, and then experiments with full samples are carried out. Finally, a case study on a turbofan engine degradation simulation dataset is carried out, and the results indicate that the ER rule classifier has a higher classification accuracy than other classic classifiers, which demonstrates the capability and effectiveness of the proposed ER rule classifier with an optimization operator recommendation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4851
Author(s):  
Ming-Hui Liao ◽  
Chi-Tai Wang

The chemical industry has sustained the development of global economies by providing an astonishing variety of products and services, while also consuming massive amounts of raw materials and energy. Chemical firms are currently under tremendous pressure to become lean enterprises capable of executing not only traditional lean manufacturing practices but also emerging competing strategies of digitalization and sustainability. All of these are core competencies required for chemical firms to compete and thrive in future markets. Unfortunately, reports of successful transformation are so rare among chemical firms that acquiring the details of these cases would seem an almost impossible mission. The severe lack of knowledge about these business transformations thus provided a strong motivation for this research. Using The Open Group Architecture Framework, we performed an in-depth study on a real business transformation occurring at a major international chemical corporation, extracting the architecture framework possibly adopted by this firm to become a lean enterprise. This comprehensive case study resulted in two major contributions to the field of sustainable business transformation: (1) a custom lean enterprise architecture framework applicable to common chemical firms making a similar transformation, and (2) a lean enterprise model developed to assist chemical firms in comprehending the intricate and complicated dynamics between lean manufacturing, digitalization, and sustainability.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6944
Author(s):  
Emma Anna Carolina Emanuelsson ◽  
Aurelie Charles ◽  
Parimala Shivaprasad

With stringent environmental regulations and a new drive for sustainable manufacturing, there is an unprecedented opportunity to incorporate novel manufacturing techniques. Recent political and pandemic events have shown the vulnerability to supply chains, highlighting the need for localised manufacturing capabilities to better respond flexibly to national demand. In this paper, we have used the spinning mesh disc reactor (SMDR) as a case study to demonstrate the path forward for manufacturing in the post-Covid world. The SMDR uses centrifugal force to allow the spread of thin film across the spinning disc which has a cloth with immobilised catalyst. The modularity of the design combined with the flexibility to perform a range of chemical reactions in a single equipment is an opportunity towards sustainable manufacturing. A global approach to market research allowed us to identify sectors within the chemical industry interested in novel reactor designs. The drivers for implementing change were identified as low capital cost, flexible operation and consistent product quality. Barriers include cost of change (regulatory and capital costs), limited technical awareness, safety concerns and lack of motivation towards change. Finally, applying the key features of a Sustainable Business Model (SBM) to SMDR, we show the strengths and opportunities for SMDR to align with an SBM allowing for a low-cost, sustainable and regenerative system of chemical manufacturing.


Systems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Raquel Balanay ◽  
Anthony Halog

This systematic review examines the importance of a systems/holistic approach in analyzing and addressing the footprints/impacts of business-as-usual activities regarding the development of a circular economy (CE). Recent works on why current CE approaches have to be examined in terms of reductionist vs. systems perspectives are reviewed to tackle questions pertaining to the right or the wrong way of CE implementation. ‘Doing the right thing right’ is essential for sustainability—the ultimate goal of a CE, which must be viewed as a system to begin with. The limited reductionist approach overlooks and thus cannot prognosticate on the formidable unintended consequences that emerge from ‘doing the right things wrong’, consequences that become too costly to undo. The systems approach, being holistic, is complicated and difficult to pursue but open to exciting opportunities to integrate innovations in CE analysis and implementation. Complexity is an inherent downside of the systems approach. However, both approaches are complementary, as reductionist models can be combined to create a system of comprehensive analysis to correct the approach towards implementation of current CE initiatives. This review reports that advancements in systems analytical frameworks and tools are highly important for creating general guidelines on CE analysis and implementation.


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