Until recently, the concept of green logistics has been disregarded by various logistics and transport companies in South Africa. The study on which this dissertation is based explored the green logistics practices that these companies are currently implementing in terms of the key drivers, benefits and barriers. A quantitative research approach was followed, were a survey (Lime) served as the primary research instrument. A census was conducted among 160 companies in Gauteng. The results of the study revealed a significant difference between SMEs (<200) and large (200 and above) companies with regard to their importance rating on green logistics practices. To achieve the primary objective of the study, a framework in green logistics was drafted for SMEs and large companies in South Africa, which outlined practices and opportunities companies can implement in their own businesses to benefit from ‘going green’. The usefulness of the latter mentioned guidelines needs to be tested in future research. / Public Administration and Management / M.. Com. (Logistics Management)

本研究透過永續發展三重盈餘理論，以虛擬故事法設計問卷，針對金融業永續發展進行研究消費者對於其企業形象、個人及企業購買意願與知覺風險四構面的影響。 本研究針對各校企業管理研究所碩士生客群為抽樣對象，共收集有效問卷225份，並利用結構方程模式檢驗研究假說。研究結果歸納如下： 1.金融業永續發展對企業形象有正向影響關係，社會面及環境面表現是關鍵因素。 2.金融業永續發展對個人購買意願、企業購買意願與知覺風險有正向影響關係，經濟面表現是關鍵因素。 3.永續教育非為讓受試者更重視各構面社會及環境面向的關鍵要素。 透過文獻回顧與資料分析實證研究，本研究的研究貢獻如下： 1.以往文獻較少探討金融業永續發展對於消費者行為的議題，僅有是以企業社會責任為基礎的情況下探討，本研究透過永續發展理論，釐清與企業社會責任關係，針對金融業進行研究消費者行為相關議題。 2.實證金融業永續發展對於企業形象、個人購買意願、企業購買意願及知覺風險有正向的影響效果，並發現影響各構面的關係面向因素。 3.實證受試者接受永續教育及對永續認知的多寡與各構面的關係。 4.研究對象為各校就讀企業管理研究所學生，此群學生對於永續發展議題的觀點對於未來金融業發展永續作為相關實務有其參考價值。 / The research is a study of Corporate Image, Personal Purchasing Intention, Enterprise Purchasing Intention and Perceived Risk based on the sustainable development theory - Triple Bottom Line through the scenario approach to design the questionnaire. The study collected 225 valid questionnaires from students who are major in business administration in master degree and took advantage of SEM to verify research hypotheses. Results and discussions are concluded below： 1.The sustainable development of the financial industry has a positive impact on Corporate Image. Social and Environmental aspects performance are the key factor. 2.The sustainable development of the financial industry has a positive impact on Personal Purchasing Intention, Enterprise Purchasing Intention and Perceived Risk. Economic aspects performance is the key factor. 3.Thera are not having positive result on through sustainable education can let the subjects pay more attention to Social and Environmental aspects performance. Through analysis of empirical research and literature review, research contributions of this study are concluded below： 1.Past researches few investigated the case of the financial sector for sustainable development issues in consumer behavior and most of researches are based on corporate social responsibility. Therefore, this study clarifies the relationship between corporate social responsibility and studies cusomers behavior issues through sustainable development theory. 2.Through the Empirical Study, found that the sustainable development of the financial industry has a positive impact on Corporate Image, Personal Purchasing Intention, Enterprise Purchasing Intention and Perceived Risk and further found the relationships between various aspects (Economic, Social and Environmental). 3.Through the Empirical Study, found the relationships among sustainable education, awareness of sustainable development and various aspects. 4.This reasarch, target group are students study for MBA, can apply financial institutes for some pratical reference value when financial institutes want to do the sustainable development.

Purpose: The increasing importance given to sustainability issues by governments, companies, consumers, suppliers, researchers, students and the authors of this paper in addition to the scarce empirical studies on the topic of sustainable last mile logistics operations in the food retail industry in Sweden provides relevance to the choice of topic. This paper presents an exploratory single-case study on a Swedish food retailer with a strong sustainability-oriented decision-making body, and will seek to understand how they manage to adopt best sustainable practices and which drivers and most responsible for it. Objective: The aim of this study is to present through an empirical study, how food retailers operate their last mile logistics operations according to the triple bottom line approach, contributing to this young field where a profusion of data to confirm the existing theory remains deficient. Furthermore, the focus is placed on the different drivers for food retailers to adopt sustainable practices in their transportation operations from the distribution warehouse to their stores located in urban areas. Approach: A Swedish food retailer that strives for best practices will be studied in order to obtain key empirical data, which will allow the authors to compare theory and empirical data.  The study will focus on the sustainability-oriented operations approach in the Last Mile Logistics of the chosen retailer and observe the different drivers regarding their operations following all aspects of the triple bottom line. A single-case study analysis of a leading company in terms of sustainability-driven operations will provide more insight on how this “category” of food retailers manages to operationalize their environmental-friendly culture and strategy for inbound Last Mile Logistics successfully, without losing their competitive edge and remaining economically sustainable. Findings: After juxtaposing the secondary data issued from the existing theories on sustainable LML in the food retail industry to the primary data obtained from Axfood, a Swedish food retailer, the results have demonstrated that a business cannot neglect economic drivers to be financially sustainable, (cost optimization, enhanced efficiency, etc.) it remains important and cannot be overridden to enable a shift towards optimal sustainability practices in LML operations. However, the drivers that have proven to make the cut in order to succeed in achieving best sustainable practices are; a highly proactive management, stakeholder pressure (particularly consumers and NGOs amongst others) and innovative technology (including those that imply a short-term economic trade-off for long-term greater good to the TBL dimensions). Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainable practices; Last Mile Logistics; Sustainable Last Mile Logistics; Triple Bottom Line; Food Retailers; Food Retail Industry; Drivers.

To decrease the ecological footprint, humans either have to adjust their lifestyles, or the large scale industries must take corporate social responsibility. This study is based on the well-developed field of energy efficiency in industries by applying technology and organizational-focused proposals. The proposals are based on three different aspects, the economic, the environmental, and the social. These three aspects combined are called the triple bottom line perspective. An original case of the study objects energy balance was determined to develop the conclusions, with the simulation program IDA ICE. The study object was GKN ePowertrain, located in Köping. Energy efficiency cases were simulated in IDA ICE to observe the change in the energy balance. The cases and interviews of the employees were the foundation of the discussion where the improvements were critically reviewed from the triple bottom line perspective. The result shown that the temperature was too high for working conditions, the ventilation system consumes a large quantity of energy, and the internal flow of information is insufficient. In conclusion, GKN ePowertrain would increase their overall value by investing in a cooling system and more efficient heat exchangers for their ventilation system. These investments would notably increase their short term value of environmental sustainability and the social aspect. Furthermore, their economic value would increase in the long term. The cooling system would improve the working environment, and a new ventilation system would increase the heat recovery and decrease the energy consumed, even more than the consumption of the cooling system. Finally, GKN should also be more distinct in their information to the employees in the building regarding energy aims and their working environment, to have a positive gain of value in all the fields.

Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

The leaders of all countries of each sector and level of society are compelled to work together to address [social and environmental] challenges by maintaining sustainable human development and ensuring that the benefits of globalization are shared more widely. It is in the interests of businesses that these benefits continue both for companies and for others in society.   The Venture Capital is a financial capital provided to the startup firms in their early stages which has a high potential for growth but also entail high risk. The Venture capital firms typically look for new and small businesses with a perceived long term growth potential that will result in a high payout for investors. Venture capital is a subset of private equity of the firms. On other hand, Private equity is an asset class consisting of equity securities, which are not quoted in the stock market. An investment in private equity most often involves either an investment of capital in a mature firms as well as buyout firms.             The purpose of this study is to explore the gap between UK and U.S venture capital and private equity firms on the base of ESG criteria into investment decision making process. To find a relationship between venture capital and private equity firms mainstream investment with ESG criteria and also highlight new trends and the issues, which are potential barrier of ESG criteria implementation in UK and US firms. The authors used different academic literature, previous studies to find a gap and a relationship of ESG criteria into mainstream investment decision making process in UK and U.S firms.   The research is based on both primary &amp; secondary data under descriptive nature of study. A technique with the name of content analysis was used to collect the quantitative data from the U.K and U.S Venture Capital and Private Equity firms. These firms are further categorized in the sample size under the umbrella of clean tech and non-clean tech. Total sample size is 120 firms (60 VC &amp; 60 PE), where 56 are clean tech and 64 are Non-clean tech firms. The find a relationship between variables regression analysis technique is used through SPSS for verifying the validity and variability of collected Data.   We found that, an ESG criterion is on development stage, and there is no such technique and standards that are developed by the venture capital and private equity firms. We found, that firms are mostly focusing on responsible investment strategy; it is somehow same like whole ESG for purpose of their investment screening process. We found that ESG consideration in some UK and U.S venture capital and private equity firms exist, but vary from firms to firms. Some firms are considering just one factor while some other firms consider more than one.  Large firms have more focus on ESG as compared to small firms; due to the nature of business and size, and number of employees, focus is only limited towards investment options and development of strategies for the firm. The result of this study interpret that the U.S firms are focusing more on investment returns, and pay less attention towards ESG as compared to U.K firms, Where UK Venture capital and private equity firms results shows that, they are more focused towards ESG and feel free to incorporate ESG criteria into their investment strategies without incurring any cost in terms of risk and returns.

Most theories that attempt to describe the relationship between corporate sustainability strategies and a company’s triple bottom line also make the assumption that there is insufficient evidence to produce generalizable conclusions. This study contributes to the overall body of knowledge, as there is a lack of significant generalizable knowledge on corporate sustainability strategies and a company’s triple bottom line. To provide a methodologically more rigorous review, we performed a meta-analysis on 18 scholarly articles from top-tier academic journals containing 64 experimental treatments that measured an observed (not self-reported) behavioural outcome, which yielded a sample size of 23,871 observations. Most studies combined multiple treatments, which preclude definitive conclusions on the most effective treatments. The findings suggest that there is a positive medium to strong relationship between sustainability-oriented strategies, for both reactive and proactive behaviours (Dyllick et al., 1997; Gminder et al., 2002), and a company’s “triple bottom line.” Furthermore, regardless of the firm type (e.g., multinational corporation or local establishment, emerging economy firm or developed nation business), proactive sustainability-oriented strategies tend to have a higher payoff than firms that adopt reactive sustainability-oriented strategies. This meta-analysis establishes a greater degree of certainty with respect to corporate sustainability strategies and a firm’s triple bottom line relationship than currently assumed by many business scholars. To conclude, the sustainability concept has significantly expanded the scope of measuring organizational performance according to economic, social, and environmental components (Robins, 2006), which are collectively described as the “triple bottom line.” Organizations have determined that specific products and processes can have serious environmental and social implications beyond providing typical economic benefits (Sarkis, 2001). Based on the results of this study, companies should develop more diversified sustainability strategies that will help them to identify and capture value (McMullen, 2001). The results demonstrate that sustainability can provide companies with a strategic advantage, which is vital for the organization’s long-term viability and success (Orlitzky et al., 2003). This study also examines the balance between reasonable return on investment and long-term organizational viability, which greatly impacts organizational decision-makers that contend with numerous stakeholder issues, pressure from environmental agencies, and increased social consciousness that affects workers, consumers, and communities. It supports the conclusion that being proactive in responding to these conflicting pressures and barriers helps organizations to achieve higher levels of performance.

Fokus i denna uppsats ligger i att jämföra fyra organisationers hållbarhetsredovisningar och se i vilken utsträckning de uppfyller GRI:s riktlinjer för ekonomisk påverkan. De fyra organisationer som granskas är Sveriges storbanker, Handelsbanken, Nordea, SEB och Swedbank. Eftersom att de agerar inom den finansiella sektorn har en avgränsning gjorts till det ekonomiska ansvaret eftersom det är det mest relevanta och intressanta att titta närmare på.  Problemformuleringen i denna uppsats lyder: På vilket sätt, i sina hållbarhetsredovisningar, tillämpar Sveriges fyra storbanker GRI:s riktlinjer för ekonomisk påverkan?  Syftet är att se hur bankerna har presenterat sin ekonomiska påverkan enligt GRI:s riktlinjer och jämföra dessa med varandra. För att få fram information om detta har respektive banks hållbarhetsredovisning för år 2010 granskats och tolkats. Den teoretiska referensramen som uppsatsen har utgått ifrån är CSR , ett begrepp som beskriver de tre ansvarsområdena ekonomi, socialt och miljö. Dessa tre områden är i grunden TBL (tripple bottom line). En stor del av teoridelen består av GRI:s riktlinjer och ramverk som även de bygger på TBL:s tre byggstenar.

It is acknowledged that the primary objective of any company should be the creation of shareholder-value. However, it is also recognised that there are other stakeholders, with their own financial and/or non-financial objectives, which could impact on a company's overall financial performance. Management should therefore identify stakeholder-groups which could impact on the company and formulate a model in addressing their objectives. This study integrates elements from the theory of shareholder-value, the agency-theory, the theory of property rights and different stakeholder orientation-models to develop the approach of responsible stakeholder-management in the creation of shareholder-value. Stakeholders can be grouped into economic, social and environmental components. The concept of sustainable development has exploded in recent years. Three main elements of sustainable development were identified, namely economic, social and environmental development, referred to as "Triple Bottom Line (TBL)". Several organisations have started focussing on the concept of sustainability by guiding the development of sustainability policies. However, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has become the de facto global standard for reporting on sustainable development. The concept of TBL, and how the three elements of sustainability could contribute to the maximisation of shareholder-value, is discussed. The results of the empirical study, where the financial performance and shareholder-growth of companies listed on the JSE and which adopted and reported on the GRI-guidelines, were compared to a group of companies in the same index grouping of the JSE that had not formally adopted and reported on the guidelines, identified a clear trend that those reporting on their sustainability policies had had a much better growth in five of the six financial measures used than the comparative group. / Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

It is acknowledged that the primary objective of any company should be the creation of shareholder-value. However, it is also recognised that there are other stakeholders, with their own financial and/or non-financial objectives, which could impact on a company's overall financial performance. Management should therefore identify stakeholder-groups which could impact on the company and formulate a model in addressing their objectives. This study integrates elements from the theory of shareholder-value, the agency-theory, the theory of property rights and different stakeholder orientation-models to develop the approach of responsible stakeholder-management in the creation of shareholder-value. Stakeholders can be grouped into economic, social and environmental components. The concept of sustainable development has exploded in recent years. Three main elements of sustainable development were identified, namely economic, social and environmental development, referred to as "Triple Bottom Line (TBL)". Several organisations have started focussing on the concept of sustainability by guiding the development of sustainability policies. However, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has become the de facto global standard for reporting on sustainable development. The concept of TBL, and how the three elements of sustainability could contribute to the maximisation of shareholder-value, is discussed. The results of the empirical study, where the financial performance and shareholder-growth of companies listed on the JSE and which adopted and reported on the GRI-guidelines, were compared to a group of companies in the same index grouping of the JSE that had not formally adopted and reported on the guidelines, identified a clear trend that those reporting on their sustainability policies had had a much better growth in five of the six financial measures used than the comparative group. / Thesis (M.Com. (Accounting))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.