<p> Companies experience a problem implementing corporate social responsibility reporting standards due to geographical differences, an over-abundance of guidelines, regulatory disparities, and varying levels of stakeholder requirements. These diverse conditions result in inadequate reporting of sustainability efforts and a lack of consistency of what actually gets reported. This exploratory, qualitative case study was based on a theoretical framework consisting of Freeman&rsquo;s stakeholder theory, Suchman&rsquo;s legitimacy theory, and Spence&rsquo;s signaling theory. The sample consisted of six respondents from a research population of 100 multinational corporations (MNCs) with successful reporting practices. The instrument used was a researcher-developed questionnaire. The study addresses three research questions: How did leadership identify sustainability reporting standards, guidelines, or frameworks that would be appropriate for their company; how did the needs of the company&rsquo;s stakeholders for reporting differ from the standards selected; and what CSR activities, indicators, or disclosures are not being included in the guideline that the company might want to report based on the needs of the stakeholders? Based on the results, nine themes emerged: (a) External motivational factors and stakeholders are critical to deciding which reporting guideline to use; (b) the CSR reporting method chosen is selected in order to meet the needs of the most influential actors; (c) companies augment reports with self-created KPIs based on influential actors and situational requirements; (d) the CSR reporting process requires greater internal collaboration within an organization; (e) changes to business strategy and resource allocation may be necessary; (f) both external and internal stakeholders are a source of valuable input and feedback regarding the produced reports; (g) collecting material and nonmaterial data is useful in producing reports and improving transparency; (h) companies want to see the impacts of their use competitors&rsquo; CSR activities and to use their reports to improve their own CSR activities and reports; and (i) standardization of reporting guidelines would benefit all stakeholders by allowing companies to become more transparent, improve comparisons between companies, and provide incentive to improve CSR processes. This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge on CSR reporting and allows companies to better understand CSR reporting process in their own environments.</p><p>

<p> This study involved the use of a quantitative, cross-sectional design to test the tenet of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) that connects a logistics organization&rsquo;s ability to adapt to dwindling natural resources and economic sustainability. Through an examination of the correlation of alternative fuel use and the financial measurement of cost as percent of sales in U.S.-based, publicly traded third party logistics (3PL) companies using 2013 financial data, a statistically significant, strong, negative correlation was affirmed, indicating a correlation between alternative fuel use and improved financial performance. The statistical correlation of implementing alternative fuels and financial performance serves to remove the assumed financial barrier to implementing alternative fuels for logistics practitioners in the context of the impending apocalypse of a global $10.2 trillion transportation system that is fueled by oil that will eventually run out. As a field of study, sustainability in logistics has few theoretical frameworks and there is a clear need for quantitative research to evaluate those that do exist. This study addressed the need for research by adding directly to the body of logistics sustainability knowledge, establishing a template for future research, and reaffirming the need for the standardization of non-financial reporting.</p><p>

The purpose of this research is to understand how the two Swedish companies haveintegrated sustainability into their business, and what the effects of being Sustainable are. By having this insight, the study can provide the academics and other businesses how companiescan relate to sustainable issues and work more proactively. This research has had a qualitative approach when collecting data through interviews. The authors in this multiple case study have moved between the empirical data and gathered theory, making it an abductive research approach. The conclusion of this research is that the investigated companies have in someextent integrated sustainability into their business with the intention of creating a more sustainable environment. The results show that the companies feel responsible for creating strategic choices for the benefit of the environment and society. The companies in this research work in a majority proactively, resulting in benefits for company, society, andenvironment.

The Global Production Networks (GPNs) framework has shown how interactions among various types of firm and non-firm actors at different geographic scales are often crucial to improve the design and implementation of social and environmental standards. However, one set of actors that the GPN framework has largely overlooked are business associations. Sectoral expertise, access to member firms and the ability to represent firms towards external standard-setters make local business associations interesting as regulatory intermediaries between member firms and local and global standard setters. Nonetheless, the ways in which such intermediary roles may operate, and how they may build on local collective action within business associations, remain conceptually and empirically understudied. In seeking to contribute to this gap, this thesis addresses the question: What roles do business associations play in the governance of sustainability standards within GPNs? To address this question, the thesis explores the value-added of an analytical approach that integrates concepts from the literature on associational governance and regulatory governance into the GPN framework. It focuses on collective self-regulation and intermediation as two distinct but potentially complementary roles that business associations can take on in the governance of sustainability standards. In the GPN context, intermediary roles can play out towards local and global standard-setters. This analytical framework is applied to a case study of the CSC9000T standard created by the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC). Empirical data was collected over a 10 months period between December 2014 - September 2015. It includes secondary documents and 58 semi-structured primary interviews with Chinese business associations and firms as well as international actors involved in CSR in China. A congruence analysis is used to examine the extent to which each of the two conceptual roles of self-regulation and intermediation can explain CNTAC's roles in CSC9000T. Findings show that both roles add value to explaining the case study. However, limitations faced in both roles reflect how the association's embeddedness in the overall GPN influences these roles. Overall, the thesis argues that a conceptual lens that views business associations both as collective actors and as regulatory intermediaries may add value to understanding their ability to govern sustainability standards, but needs to be seen in the context of an association's embeddedness in the wider GPN. These findings have implications for considering when, and how, local business associations may be relevant in wider research on sustainability standards in global production.

Innovative Business Models (BMs) are essential in commercialising new technologies that are initially seen as inferior. Battery second use (B2U) brings used batteries from an electric vehicle (EV) into a secondary storage application and holds the potential to improve the sustainability of EVs while generating value for stakeholders across the automotive and energy sectors, as well as for the environment and society (Gohla-Neudecker et al. 2015; Neubauer et al. 2015). However, important knowledge gaps exist as the potential value of second-life batteries and how to better extract that value are still poorly understood by both practitioners and researchers. To fill the knowledge gap, this study explores the BMs of repurposing a second life for the retired EV batteries through rich empirical case studies. The main outcomes of the research are firstly, a deeper understanding of the sustainable value of second-life batteries as is currently being achieved by industry, which also provides a comprehensive view of the potential value of B2U. Secondly, the critical B2U challenges are identified from a multi-stakeholder’s perspective across the value chain that present a fresh overview of the key factors that might impair the potential value of B2U. Thirdly, an empirically-generated typology of existing B2U business models is proposed that shows how B2U stakeholders are interacting in different ways to create and capture value from B2U. Fourthly, three critical BM design elements, namely, lifecycle thinking, system-level design and the shift to services are proposed as helpful aspects for B2U stakeholders to consider to better design their B2U business models. Fifthly, Business Model of a Technology (BMoT) is proposed as a new perspective to understand the value potential of second-life batteries and how to maximise the total value creation from B2U at the system level. The research has filled a literature gap, has met an industrial need, and has made contributions to knowledge on sustainability and BMs in the specific context of B2U. Practically, the findings have the potential to inspire practitioners toward better understanding the potential value of second-life batteries and improve their BMs to better extract value from B2U.

Submitted by Renato Lago Pereira Chaves (renatochaves.jazz@gmail.com) on 2016-12-07T12:00:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação versão final - completa.pdf: 944839 bytes, checksum: 8b600dfc73c30bb2aa4684d3725ced47 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Janete de Oliveira Feitosa (janete.feitosa@fgv.br) on 2016-12-07T19:18:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação versão final - completa.pdf: 944839 bytes, checksum: 8b600dfc73c30bb2aa4684d3725ced47 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-20T16:02:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação versão final - completa.pdf: 944839 bytes, checksum: 8b600dfc73c30bb2aa4684d3725ced47 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-31 / The impacts of the so-called craft beer revolution reached Brazilian beer industry in the first years of this century. As a result, a group of new entrepreneurs emerged in the country, who argue that they are restoring beer to its rightful status, not only as a local business but also as a product that may bring a specific regional personality. The recent evolution of the craft beer segment is paving the way to the development of different forms of organizing, such as contract brewing, designed for companies which do not own physical brewing facilities. Although most companies still understand contract brewing as a transitional business model, it did change into a permanent form of organizing. Limited to contract breweries from the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, this research attempts to assess how contract breweries changed from a temporary, transitional business model into a permanent form of organizing. Furthermore, in view of some distinctive features observed in the models adopted by contract breweries, which may differ from each other considerably with regard to their temporariness and the ability to survive in the long term, I propose a typology of contract breweries. / Os impactos da chamada revolução da cerveja artesanal chegaram à indústria de cerveja brasileira nos primeiros anos deste século. Por conseguinte, um grupo de novos empreendedores surgiu no país, segundo os quais eles estariam retornando a cerveja a seu devido lugar, não apenas como um negócio local, mas também como um produto que pode conferir uma personalidade regional específica. A recente evolução do segmento de cerveja artesanal está abrindo caminho para o desenvolvimento de diferentes formas de se organizar, tais como produção por contrato, modelo desenhado para empresas que não dispõem de instalações fabris próprias. Embora a maior parte das empresas ainda perceba produção por contrato como um modelo de negócio de transição, este modelo evoluiu até tornar-se uma forma permanente de organização. Limitada a cervejarias por contrato da região metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro, esta pesquisa busca analisar como as cervejarias por contrato evoluíram de um modelo de negócio temporário e de transição para uma forma permanente de organização. Ademais, haja vista algumas características específicas observadas nos modelos de negócio adotados pelas cervejarias por contrato, que podem diferir consideravelmente uma das outras no que concerne a sua temporariedade e capacidade de sobreviver a longo prazo, uma tipologia de cervejarias por contrato é proposta.

The ongoing transformation of the energy system along a more sustainable trajectory requires advancements in a range of technological fields, as well as active involvement of different societal groups. Integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems in the built environment in particular is expected to play a crucial long-term role in the deployment of renewable energy technologies in urban areas, demanding the successful cooperation of planners, architects, engineers, scientists and users. The realisation of that technological change will require innovation at both an individual (within firms and organisations) and a collective (sector) level, giving rise to systemic approaches for its characterisation and analysis of its drivers. This study investigates the processes that either accelerate or hinder the development and diffusion of Building-Integrated PV (BIPV) applications into the market. Affected by developments in both the renewable energy and construction industries, the BIPV innovation system is a multi-sectoral case that has been explored only partially up to now. Acknowledging the fact that drivers of innovation span the globalised BIPV supply chain, this research adopts both an international and a national spatial perspective focusing on the UK. The analysis is based on a novel analytical framework which was developed in order to capture innovation dynamics at different levels, including technological advancements within firms, competition and synergy with other emerging and established innovation systems and pressures from the wider socio-economic configuration. This hybrid functional framework was conceived by combining elements from three academic strands: Technological Innovation Systems, the Multi-Level Perspective and Business Studies. The empirical research is based on various methods, including desktop research, semi-structured interviews and in-depth firm-level case studies. A thorough market assessment provides the techno-economic background for the research. The hybrid framework is used as a guide throughout the empirical investigation and is also implemented in the analytical part of the study to organise and interpret the findings, in order to assess the overall functionality of the innovation system. The analysis has underlined a range of processes that affect the development and diffusion of BIPV applications including inherent technological characteristics, societal factors and wider transitions within the energy and construction sectors. Future approaches for the assessment and governance of BIPV innovation will need to address its hybrid character and disruptiveness with regards to incumbent configurations, in order to appreciate its significance over the short and long term. Methodological and conceptual findings show that the combination of insights from different analytical perspectives offers a broader understanding of the processes affecting innovation dynamics in emerging technologies. Different approaches can be used in tandem to overcome methodological weaknesses, provide different analytical perspectives and assess the performance of complex innovation systems, which may span multiple countries and sectors. By better reflecting complexities, tensions and synergies, the framework developed here offers a promising way forward for the analysis of emerging sustainable technologies.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. February 2015. / This study examines the practice of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) by South African mining transnational companies (TNCs) operating some mining projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It analyses whether and how South African mining TNCs carry out EIAs for their mining projects in the DRC, especially whether they follow (1) the DRC EIA policies, (2) the South African EIAs policies (3) international EIA policies, or (4) internal company policies. It also examines what motivates the companies to follow any of the policy path, by assessing whether financial or policy regimes evaluations motivates the TNCs to follow the certain path. Through the case studies of AngloGold Ashanti and Metorex (Pty) Limited, the study demonstrates the complexity involved in making decisions on choosing a policy path to follow which confronts TNCs. The conclusion we draw from this study is that TNCs do not follow a single policy path in carrying out EIAs but integrate a number of policies and standards and the integration of various policies and standards demands highly qualified and well trained staff as well as availability of an enabling scientific and research infrastructure within the host country.

Submitted by Elba Lopes (elba.lopes@fecap.br) on 2018-05-23T18:14:58Z No. of bitstreams: 2 CATARINA DE OLIVEIRA CANO.pdf: 298081 bytes, checksum: 95d335f591fe7e4831eef6f1191a5d09 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-23T18:14:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 CATARINA DE OLIVEIRA CANO.pdf: 298081 bytes, checksum: 95d335f591fe7e4831eef6f1191a5d09 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-29 / The subject of this survey is to verify whether the positive and negative news in regards of sustainability, released by Valor Economico vehicle of communication in the period of January 1st, 2010 to June 30th, 2016, had greater negative or positive impact to the companies pertaining to the ?????ndice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE)???, Business Sustaining Rate, or not belonging to the ?????ndice de Sustentabilidade (N??o ISE)??? sustaining rate (non ISE).In total, 66 companies were analyzed, taking as a basis the market model. Afterwards, the average of accumulated abnormal returns were tested to verify if it is significantly different to zero. The focal point was the event date (0,0) and, from this date on, it was evaluated the windows (-22,0), (-15,0), (-10,0),(-5,0), (-4,0), (-3,0), (-2,0), (-1,0), (0,0), (0,+1), (0,+2), (0,+3), (0,+4), (0,+5), (0,+10), (0,+15) and (0,+22). Supposing the connection between the companies members to ISE, a more expressive impact due to the own guidelines and requirements to the rate???s insertion, an event survey was made aiming to verify the presence of statistically significant abnormal returns around and in the news??? announcement date. The results of the analysis indicate the existence of an expressive negative abnormal return before the event, and non-significant abnormal return after the event and absence of abnormal returns around the event, proposing effect previous to the dated of announcement, which suggests privileged or considered information. / O objetivo do presente estudo, ?? verificar se not??cias p??blicas, positivas e negativas relacionadas ao tema sustentabilidade, divulgadas por meio de an??ncios, no per??odo de 01.01.2010 a 30.06.2016 no ve??culo de comunica????o Jornal Valor Econ??mico, apresentaram mais impacto negativo ou positivo para empresas pertencentes ao ??ndice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial (ISE) ou n??o componentes ao ??ndice de Sustentabilidade (N??o ISE). No total, 66 empresas foram analisadas, tomando como base o modelo de mercado (market model). Posteriormente, a m??dia dos retornos anormais acumulados foi testada para verificar se ?? significativamente diferente de zero. O ponto central foi o pr??prio dia do evento (0,0) e, a partir desta data, avaliou-se as janelas (-22,0), (-15,0), (-10,0),(-5,0), (-4,0), (-3,0), (-2,0), (-1,0), (0,0), (0,+1), (0,+2), (0,+3), (0,+4), (0,+5), (0,+10), (0,+15) e (0,+22). Tendo como pressuposto a liga????o existente entre empresas componentes ao ISE, um impacto mais expressivo pelas pr??prias diretrizes e requisitos para inser????o ao ??ndice, foi realizado um estudo de evento com o intuito de verificar a exist??ncia de retornos anormais estatisticamente significantes em torno e na data do an??ncio da not??cia. Os resultados da an??lise indicam a exist??ncia de um retorno anormal significativamente negativo antes do evento, um retorno anormal n??o significativo ap??s o evento e a aus??ncia de retornos anormais significativos em torno do evento, sugerindo um efeito anterior a data do an??ncio, o que pressup??e informa????o privilegiada ou cogitada.

Global consumption levels currently extend far beyond what planet Earth in terms of natural resources can regenerate in a sustainable manor and will by 2050 reach levels corresponding to what it would require three Earths to sustain. This overexploitation and unsustainable management of the Earth’s resources in combination with the necessity of mitigating climate change and reaching net zero CO2 emissions by 2050 require action across all sectors, not least the manufacturing industry. This thesis covers how large manufacturing enterprises can implement and utilize strategic targets and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to align with the principles of a Circular Economy (CE), and as a result, improve sustainability and business performance. Based on a case study conducted at Siemens Energy (SE) involving a literature study, interview study, and focus groups, a carefully selected set of strategic circularity targets and KPIs are presented to measure, evaluate, and drive circularity performance within large manufacturing enterprises. Since the thesis’ ambition was to provide valuable insights beyond SE, strategic circularity targets and KPIs specifically directed at SE were further generalized to be universally relevant for academia and other large manufacturing enterprises. Enterprises within the given sector share several key characteristics such as extensive material resource flows and complex value chains, hence strategic targets and KPIs emphasize material efficiency through decreasing virgin material dependency, increasing recirculation rates, and transitioning towards circular business models. While suggested targets and KPIs are universally directed at large manufacturing enterprises, individual organizations are recommended to conduct internal investigations and analyzes to further tailor and adapt strategic targets and KPIs towards the specific enterprise. In addition to strategic targets and KPIs, the thesis also presents an overview of opportunities, benefits, risks, and potential impacts for large manufacturing enterprises aspiring to increase circular initiatives, highlighting key principles to manage risk and capitalize on opportunities. The findings conclude that the main opportunity enabled by CE is to leverage synergies which align environmental, economic, and strategic corporate incentives, with key benefits including aspects such as decarbonization and reduced environmental impact, increased revenues and cost savings, risk management, and new business opportunities. Risks associated with CE include rebound effects, organizational insufficiencies, lack of material quality and safety, as well as a low product performance, which further can lead to potential impacts mitigating the positive effects of CE, or at worst setbacks causing a net negative output from implemented circular measures. In summary, the opportunities and benefits associated with CE are many, but implemented circular measures require risk awareness and continuous management to ensure efficiency.