The subject matter of this paper is a comparative review of egg production systems for theircontribution to sustainable development of egg production in order to assess the perceived challenges of eggfarmers in Germany. The thesis features a case study which presents two farms located in Germany, andimplementing different farming methods. The floor-range farming method and the organic system illustrate thisexample. The methodological approach is based on a three-phase framework, in which significant issuesconcerning sustainable development are presented (Phase 1), the significant issues are translated into sustainableindicators (Phase 2), and the contribution of sustainable indicators to sustainable development is assessed (Phase3). Phase 1 and 2 build on an extensive literature review and farmers consultation. Phase 3 relies on numericalcomparisons. A comparative analysis of the empirical data is based on theories and the developed conceptualframework. Based on the comparison of two specific farms, the results of this work indicate that the organicfarming system reveals the least negative contribution to sustainable development of egg production in Germany.The floor-range farming system shows a slightly more negative contribution to sustainable developmentcompared with the organic EPS. The organic farming system, therefore, is considered the better animal-friendlysystem. It is certainly noteworthy to mention that the organic system however fail to contribute to sustainabledevelopment from an economic perspective. Thus, the main perceived challenge for the organic farmer is tooperate his organic business in a more profitable way. The floor-range system on the other hand, succeeds tocontribute to sustainable development in economic terms, but fails to contribute positively from an ecologicaland social perspective. Therefore, the farmer operating the floor-range EPS needs to improve the ecological aswell as social conditions on his farm in order to achieve an equal positive contribution to sustainabledevelopment.

Title: Linking the Intent of Sustainability Reports to Sustainable Development. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the link between the extent of sustainability reporting and sustainable development among Swedish companies. Method: The study uses a quantitative method where data is collected among 28 companies from annual – and sustainability reports. This data is later compiled and creates the foundation for the qualitative part that holds an extensive analysis. Result & Conclusions: The conclusion of the study is that sustainability reporting alone does not lead to positive sustainable development. Although, we could see that extensive sustainability reporting is connected to sustainable development and shows signs of managerial leadership. Simultaneously, the study shows tendencies of symbolic management at companies with a negative sustainable development,. The study therefore shows a relation between sustainable development and the extent of sustainability reporting. Suggestions for Future Research: Further studies could include more parameters in the calculations of SV. We recommend that further studies also take new technologies into account when calculating SV because it can have impact on the result. It could also be interesting to see the same study made on a wider set of companies to further prove the impact of sustainability reporting on sustainable development. Contribution of the Thesis: The study contributes to improved understanding of the relation between the extent of sustainability reporting and sustainable development, and thus contributes to the understanding of why companies present their sustainability reports the way they do. Keywords: Sustainability, sustainability reporting, sustainable development, environment, relation / Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan hållbarhetsredovisningens omfattning och företagens hållbarhetsutveckling Metod: Studien använder en kvantitativ metod där data samlats in via hållbarhetsredovisningar och årsredovisningar från 28 företag. De data som samlats in har sammanställts och senare använts som grund för valet av företag i den kvalitativa delen, där en omfattande analys av hållbarhetsredovisningar gjorts. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att enbart implementering av hållbarhetsredovisning inte leder till en positiv utveckling av hållbarhetsarbetet. Vi fann dock att företag med omfattande hållbarhetsredovisning visar en bättre hållbar utveckling och även visar tecken på materiellt ledarskap. Samtidigt kunde studien uttyda att företag med negativ trend i hållbarhetsredovisningen visar tendenser av symbolisk ledning. Således visar studien ett samband mellan en omfattande hållbarhetsredovisning och företagets hållbarhetsprestationer. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Fortsatta studier bör inkludera fler parametrar i uträkningen av SV. Vi rekommenderar även att vidare studier tar hänsyn till nya teknologier gällande beräkningar, då dessa kan ha en stor inverkan på SV. Det kan vara intressant att se samma studie genomföras på ett bredare urval företag för att ytterligare påvisa hållbarhetsredovisningens verkningsgrad på hållbarhetsarbete. Uppsatsens bidrag: Denna studie bidrar till en ökad förståelse för hur sambandet mellan hållbarhetsredovisningens omfattning och hållbarhetsarbetet ser ut och bidrar således till en ökad förståelse till varför företag utformar hållbarhetsredovisningen på olika sätt. Nyckelord: Hållbarhet, hållbarhetsredovisning, hållbar utveckling, miljö.

In the remarkable developments that have occurred recently in all sectors of society, e.g. environmental, social, and governance (ESG) integration, responsible investing, social entrepreneurship, and strategic philanthropy, the measurement of extra-financial (or non- financial or external) information remains a key issue. While 'making a difference' is the goal of such developments, no integrated externality measurement framework (IEMF) has been proposed, recognized as a reasonable candidate, or adopted by practitioners. The overall objective of this thesis is to develop such an IEMF which would facilitate meaningful measurements and interpretations of the 'quantum of difference' (e.g. in the context of ESG information) and applications thereof towards resource allocation strategies. The aim is not so much to develop some putative 'perfectly accurate model of reality' but an epistemic framework which would serve as a communicative and organizational anchor. The overall objective derives to five research imperatives, which are responded to by five core chapters in the thesis. The following key findings emerge: Finding 1. The ESG metric landscape exists in a patchwork. In particular, while social impact metrics have proliferated recently, they constitute an incoherent domain of its own, separate from the environmental and governance metric literatures. In devising an IEMF, the key challenges include aggregating disparate metrics and disaggregating causalities. Once such a framework has been devised and adopted by practitioners, one can innovate various resource allocation strategies. Finding 2. The attitudes and approaches toward measurement and metrics can broadly be typologized as being fetishistic, positivistic, cynical, and pragmatic. Taking the pragmatic stance allows us to ascribe an appropriate epistemic status to metrics and calibrates the philosophical proclivity of the culminating IEMF. Finding 3. A geography of philanthropic governance exists. In particular, there are variegated similarities and differences in the perceptions and usage of ecosocial metrics. Significant overlaps in the domain and geographic foci of giving signify the feasibility of meaningful comparison, competition and collaboration among such organizations with metrics at the centrepiece. Finding 4. While best practice benchmarks in the usage of metrics in driving positive tangible changes are rare, a highly innovative integrated rural development program known as Saemaul Undong serves as a solid example. It is possible to maximize the efficiency in resource-deployment, induce participation and competition, and scale a parochial initiative to a national level through the usage of performance metrics. Finding 5. Calibrating appropriate philosophical stance, aggregating widely disparate measuranda, disaggregating casual attribution are among the key challenges towards developing an IEMF. Identifying and adopting appropriate formalisms facilitate addressing such challenges. For adoption in practice, however, one must factor in human expertise and judgements when making resource deployment decisions along with the numbers calculated through such a framework. The findings above constitute a series of 'firsts' of the kind in each relevant bodies of literature, paving the way for further explorations.

We are witnessing a time of unprecedented human impact on the natural environment. Coral reefs, one of the most biologically diverse and productive ecosystems, are at the forefront of enduring these human impacts. Despite widespread recognition of coral reef degradation, counter measures have not reached a scale to offset the threat. The magnitude of this and other environmental issues call for a deeper understanding of the role the private sector can play in sustainable development. In response to environmental pressures and the shortcomings of global-scale governance, private sustainability governance initiatives have developed. In the last decade, these initiatives have flourished, resulting in a diversity of formats including third-party certification, consumer product transparency systems, and industry roundtables. In many industries, these programs compete to define the transformation and evolution of sustainability governance in an industry. This dissertation draws on a case study of the marine cultured-pearl industry to highlight the early adoption dynamics of private sustainability governance initiatives. The marine cultured-pearl industry provides an illuminating case study for the adoption of private governance, based on the potential strength of the positive environmental impact and farm presence in ecologically vulnerable coral reef areas. Yet despite these strengths, no formal sustainability initiatives have developed. This research project explores the early adoption of private governance initiatives through a mixed-methodological, case-study approach. The first study, a quantitative survey of US jewelry consumers, examines the impacts of environmental messages on perceptions of luxury value. The second study assesses the effect of networked legitimacy on producer perceptions in private governance initiatives. The final study investigates the impact of value chain structure on competing private governance initiatives. The research results provide evidence of a strong business case for the development of industry-wide sustainability initiatives and highlights distinctions between the rival private governance initiatives. The US jewelry consumer research shows that consumer messages featuring sustainability standards to protect coral reefs outperform third-party certification on luxury attributes. The marine cultured-pearl producer research highlights the legitimacy advantages of consumer product transparency when compared to third-party certifications. The value chain research indicates that, when compared to third-party certifications, consumer product transparency systems have characteristics that provide an advantage in addressing producer upgrading opportunities. Results from each of the three studies highlight the potential advantages of consumer product transparency systems over third-party certification initiatives in this and other settings. These results helped inform participatory action research to assess alternative pathways for private sustainability governance.

What started as a grassroots effort to aid tradespeople in developing nations, Fair Trade and similar certification models have, over the last sixty years, successfully established themselves as a viable alternative to conventional international trade; the ongoing growth of their market share and volume emphasize the increasing market demand for these alternatives. For coffee, Fair Trade's oldest and most established commodity, over two billion pounds was sold as certified in 2012 alone and the percentage of certified coffee continues to grow in share each year (Volcafe, 2012, Fair Trade USA 2012). As Fair Trade continues to grow, so does the variety of participants in the program and with this shift, Fair Trade is challenged to continuously evaluate how it can support both its producer base and the customers driving demand. This is, at its core, a challenge of maintaining its mission while appealing to new customers and channels. Fair Trade's expanding customer base, particularly with larger and more conventional businesses, has driven increased pressure for Fair Trade to prove and improve its impact and value. The research presented in this thesis explores Fair Trade's history, its current state and its future with a focus on impact and value creation. While Fair Trade is ultimately only a third party certification scheme with a mission singularly focused on improving producer livelihoods, its certification has inadvertently developed a global value chain network. This research focuses not on the mission, but on the supply chain of Fair Trade. This thesis reviews two existing bodies of literature; the first, the past and present of Fair Trade and its current challenges, the second sustainable supply chain management and supply chain governance. Following this review, we also explore the work of Keurig Green Mountain, the largest US procurer of Fair Trade coffee (Fair Trade USA, 2013). From here, we develop a conceptual model and framework by which to view the current supply chain actors within Fair Trade. Finally, through our research and a series of semi-structured interviews with key industry players, we explore the future of Fair Trade and the opportunities within the supply chain to optimize operations and explore the potential benefits. Based on the results of our qualitative research, our study seeks to highlight a gap in the existing literature of Fair Trade by exploring its opportunities from a business and supply chain management perspective.

Energy access remains a significant challenge in nations lacking access to resources and strong infrastructure systems, creating barriers to economic development and to increased standards of living. Small scale biomass gasification energy (BGE) systems have been developed to meet energy needs in rural areas, creating synergies between agricultural and agro-forestry systems through utilization of biomass feedstock for energy generation. The sustainability of such systems requires sophisticated planning and coordination of the biomass supply chain. The goal of this thesis is to investigate and improve structural and process related characteristics of sustainability assessments for small scale bio-energy systems, specifically focusing on establishment and management of biomass supply chains through the development and dissemination of a generic sustainability assessment framework for biomass supply chains of small-scale BGE systems in rural East Africa. Building on a preliminary sustainability assessment framework (Christensen, 2013; Joerg, 2013) this research develops an assessment tool designed to capture sustainability requirements of the biomass supply chain in the ecological, social, and economic spheres through testing on three case studies in rural Uganda. Application and analysis of a preliminary framework on pilot projects in a rural east African context using Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodologies contributes to development of strategies for energy system analysis and building stakeholder capacity to incorporate social, economic, and environmental considerations. The assessment process is outlined, including scoring, data collection, contextual considerations. Model application is discussed, including the impact of weighting on decision outcomes, uncertainty management, sensitivity analysis, and identification of tradeoffs among criteria. Finally, discussion of tool usefulness verses usability contributes to bridging academic research with practitioner priorities.

The use of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the primary measure of economic progress has arguably led to unintended consequences of environmental degradation and socially skewed outcomes. The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) was designed to reveal the trade offs associated with conventional economic growth and to assess the broader impact of economic benefits and costs on sustainable human welfare. Although originally designed for use at the national scale, an interest has developed in the United States in a state-level uptake of the GPI to inform and guide policy. However, questions exist about the quality and legitimacy of the GPI as a composite indicator. These questions include concerns about the underlying assumptions, the monetary weights and variables used, statistical rigor, magnitude of data collection required, and lack of a transparent governance mechanism for the metric. This study aims to address these issues and explore the GPI through a design-thinking lens as both a design artifact and intervention. The leading paper in this dissertation offers the first GPI accounting for all 50 U.S. states. State GPI results are introduced and compared to Gross State Product (GSP). Then an analysis of the components to GPI reveals which drive the differences in outcomes, including examining the sustainability aspects of the state-level results. The second paper investigates the quality of the GPI as a composite indicator by testing its sensitivity to numerical assumptions and relative magnitudes of components, with particular attention to the possible unintended policy consequences of the design. The third paper seeks to answer the question of both efficiency (data parsimony) and effectiveness (comparatively to other indicators) by analysis of correlations between GPI components and with other state-level indicators such as the Gallup Well-Being Indicator, Ecological Footprint, and UN Human Development Index. To garner insight about possible GPI improvements, goals, and governance gaps in the informal U.S GPI network, the final paper dives into processes, outputs, and outcomes from the community of practice as revealed through a facilitated U.S. GPI workshop.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing restaurant Owner-Managers’ decisions to adopt sustainability innovations in restaurants. A cross-sectional survey research design is used for this study, which entails distributing a survey to restaurants in the City of Richmond, Virginia, to gain an understanding of the factors influencing sustainability innovation adoption. Drawing from both the innovation adoption theory and the theory of planned behavior, the researcher contributes a baseline of the restaurants’ sustainability and the Owner-Managers’ intrinsic motivations. By integrating innovation adoption theory’s perceived innovation characteristics and measuring restaurants’ past sustainability behavior, this study increases the overall explanatory power of the theory of planned behavior. The findings demonstrate the need for new policy that effectively increases the rate of sustainability innovation adoption throughout Richmond’s restaurant industry. This study’s baseline contribution enables policymakers to move from planning to the implementation of the initiatives needed to achieve the economic development goal and first objective detailed in the City of Richmond’s sustainability plan, RVAgreen: A Roadmap to Sustainability (2011).

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discover how management information models provide organizations that have the will to perform sustainable, with a tool that gives them knowledge and practical guidance to reach sustainability and avoid the practice of greenwashing as a result. Therefore, the research question is: How can management information models serve as a tool to improve the sustainability performance and reduce the practice of greenwashing of an organization? Methods The authors approached this research from a balanced and pragmatic view. The primary data in the research is collected with a qualitative approach in the form of semi-structured interviews. The interviews are conducted with respondents from Swedish organizations in different sectors in order to increase the reliability of the study. The respondents are responsible for sustainability and management information models in their organizations. Findings The results present the need to enhance management information models by including the sustainability elements economic, social and environmental, also called the Triple Bottom Line (Elkington 1999). An evolution of the Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan & Norton 1996) is needed to reach a management information models that improves the sustainability performance. In addition, this study shows the importance of including a knowledge section in such models. Also, it is of high importance to place the measured outcomes of sustainability in context in order to provide insight in the true impact of the sustainability performance of the organization. Implications The implications of this research consists of three theoretical implications and three practical implications. The three theoretical implications include the three core elements of a sustainability model, simplification of complex knowledge especially on the knowledge performance and prescribing only the essential elements of a model. The three practical implications exists of dividing the implementation into phases, ensure responsibility of sustainability on a high management level and integrate sustainability into culture. KeywordsSustainability; greenwashing; management information models; contextsustainability; knowledge.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics / Carol W. Shanklin / This study used two operational research components to explore strategies to decrease waste in university dining facilities. Component one assessed students’ beliefs and behaviors toward food waste in a selected dining center. The relationships between students’ food waste behavior, sustainability beliefs, and demographics were evaluated with the use of a self-administered survey and continual food waste monitoring. This study also assessed whether simple prompt-type message interventions had an impact or if the addition of more personally relevant feedback-based data elicited a greater change in consumer beliefs and behaviors On average, more than 57 grams of edible food was left on each tray. Food waste behaviors were not influenced by demographic factors. Individuals with higher levels of food waste beliefs also disposed of less edible food items. The simple prompt-type messages stimulated a 15% reduction in food waste. The addition of more personalized feedback-based messages did not stimulate a change above that of the prompt message. These findings indicate that simply making university students aware of the topic of food waste may be useful in improving their behaviors. Component two evaluated the operational feasibility of implementing tray free dining at Kansas State University Dining Services. Telephone interviews with managers of university dining facilities involved in tray free dining were conducted to identify best practices. Focus groups of students were used with a written survey to gain insight into their perceptions of tray free dining. Benefits included: decreased waste, reduced chemical, resource, and food costs, and improved student satisfaction. Managers identified complaints and dining room cleanliness as negative outcomes. Student involvement, education, and communication were strongly recommended by both managers and students. This research supports the recommendation to consider the implementation of tray free dining at Van Zile. Decreased costs, improved satisfaction, and positive public perception are likely positive outcomes.