Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Nicole M. Laster / The adoption of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy affords a company with the opportunity to engage with stakeholders in a manner that is not necessarily tied directly to a company’s business as usual. CSR research has burgeoned in the last several decades, keeping pace with companies worldwide and their steady incorporation of CSR policies into their business models. To that end, research has been primarily focused on CSR policy perception from external stakeholders or managers. This research project examines the sensemaking processes related to an environmental sustainability-related CSR policy among a diverse group of internal stakeholders at a mid-sized electric utility company. An analysis of the data suggests that hierarchical divisions of employees are non-existent when the CSR policy is enduring, consistent, and upholds company values. Moreover, employee enactment of CSR policies operates as a mechanism whereby employees internalize the promoted corporate values. Such environmental CSR policies tacitly reinforce an organization’s cultural values among its employees. Additionally, environmentally sustainable CSR policies supported by environmentally exhausting companies induce a minimal justification hypothesis when dissonance is present between the nature of a company’s industry and practices related to sustaining the environment.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / This study was conducted to investigate on what basis hospitals in Ontario could justify the capital and resource requirements needed to implement green initiatives. The study used two theoretical references as the basis for the literature review as well as for the interpretation of the results. The one reference used was a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) in 2009, that addressed the responsibility of hospitals towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The second reference looked at a theoretical model that discussed four potential competitive environmental strategies that businesses can use to differentiate themselves based on green initiatives. The literature review more specifically discussed the seven opportunities that were identified by the WHO and HCWH that hospitals can use to reduce their carbon footprint. These were: (1) energy efficiency; (2) built environment; (3) alternative energy; (4) transportation; (5) waste; (6) water; and (7) food. Each opportunity was discussed in detail and was evaluated in both a competitive and non-competitive environment. In addition, each opportunity was evaluated in light of its ability to be used in one of the competitive environmental sustainability strategies. In order to assess what the regulatory pressures are on Ontario hospitals, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act was evaluated. No major environmental legislative pressures on hospitals could be identified. Another important part of the literature review was the evaluation of the funding model for Ontario hospitals. It was seen, that hospitals in Ontario received around 85 percent of their funding from the Ontario government and that hospitals and the ministry are both under financial pressure. This is an important indicator that funding to hospitals is very restricted. The research data for this study was obtained through a survey that was conducted among hospital representatives who have already implemented some form of green initiatives. The results from 33 questionnaires indicated that hospitals primarily implemented green initiatives to obtain cost savings. In this regard, an eco-efficiency strategy would be a logical competitive strategy for Ontario hospitals to follow. This is a clear indication that green initiatives are seen more as a cost reduction tool than a direct attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Projects that are quick to implement, require low capital and have a quick payback, are favoured. The areas on which hospitals have focused, were energy efficiency, waste management and water savings. In general, it seems that most green initiative projects were still in an immature stage. Further results also showed that hospitals had no opportunity to increase revenue by making use of the benefits of green initiative projects. The research concluded that the only basis on which Ontario hospitals could justify the capital and resource required to implement green initiatives, were on a cost savings basis. This report concludes with a discussion on the use of certain competitive strategies in a non-competitive environment before recommendations are made on how to improve the current situation. The study concludes with shortcomings of this study and recommendations on further research to be done.

The research into the relationship between social-environmental responsibility and financial performance continues to draw the attention of both scholars and practitioners. This is because previous studies have not presented an unequivocal outcome as to the direction of causation between the two constructs. To address this obvious gap, this study explores the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and financial performance with a focus on the extractive sector where previous studies least investigated empirically and one of the worst culprits in environmental degradation. The study explores the impact of corporate environmental responsibility on the financial performance in the extractive sector using a pooled secondary data of 101 multinational extractive companies for the period of 2008-2010 and primary data from a survey of 275 extractive sector managers. The results of this study show that there is no relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and financial performance while the environmental attitude of managers is positively related to the perceived corporate reputation of their companies. A further investigation shows that sector unique characteristics are responsible for the neutral relationship between corporate environmental responsibility and financial performance. However, some results show statistically insignificant positive relation and this points to the fact that in the long-term, poor sensitivity to the environment may not be sustainable.

Sustainability is one of the key challenges facing society in the twenty-first century. The adoption of sustainable practices in the heritage sector resonates with its long-established objectives to conserve and enhance the historic environment, although its implementation can also present significant dilemmas for the commodification, integrity, authenticity, accessibility and viability of these resources, particularly where sites are tourist attractions. The aim of this thesis was to investigate progress in the adoption of sustainable practices in heritage properties and sites in Devon and Cornwall. The findings were based on the compilation of an inventory of selected heritage resources; an extensive questionnaire survey of managers of historic houses and castles, historic churches, and museums and archives (416 responses), which investigated the extent of, and opinions about, sustainable management approaches; and semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with eight heritage managers, which probed key issues in much greater depth. The results of the research demonstrated some similarities with the adoption of sustainable practices in other sectors, such as the practical issues associated with costs and lack of knowledge. There were also some heritage-specific issues, such as perceived conflicts with protection duties, the consequences of being largely dependent upon volunteer staffing, and the institutional role of larger parent organisations, which have been overlooked in previous research. Most significantly, the results indicated that very few heritage sites produced sufficient surpluses to facilitate investment in sustainable practices that might ultimately enhance their financial viability and fund enhanced conservation activities. Future strategies for the sector as whole must therefore not only deal with capacity-building, such as access to information and training on sector-specific sustainable management, but also address the institutional factors governing heritage in the UK, such as strategic leadership, the most effective models for governance and funding mechanisms for sustainability, and the creation of local and regional heritage networks.

Bakgrund: Miljöhänsyn utgör en påtaglig konkurrensfaktor hos dagens företag. Samtidigt finns barriärer mot grönare verksamheter. Miljöaktiviteter upplevs problematiska att operationalisera och att affärsmässigt motivera. Forskare har identifierat lean-modellens resurseffektivitet och operationaliseringsverktyg som en potentiell lösning. Däremot finns begränsat stöd för hur lean kan miljöanpassas i en inomorganisatorisk kontext. Således är det relevant att kartlägga hur svenska lean-företag organisatoriskt samordnar miljöaspekter och lean-aktiviteter. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att utreda hur miljöaspekter och lean-aktiviteter organisatoriskt kan samordnas för att realisera de fördelar ett integrerat arbetssätt kan medföra. Därtill ger studien konkreta rekommendationer för verksamheter liknande de studerade. Metod: Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi. Den empiriska undersökningen utgörs av en fler-fallstudie innefattande 23 intervjuer med lean- och miljörespondenter på 12 företag. Företagen har klassificerats i en kartläggande analysmodell för att ge upphov till diskussion om styrningsområdenas integreringspotential. Slutsats: Resultatet visar trots positiv teoretisk motivering samt förståelse för lean-modellens positiva miljöpåverkan att majoriteten av de studerade verksamheterna inte nått höga integreringsnivåer. Vi menar att miljöarbetet bör anpassas för att passa lean-modellens struktur. En tydligare miljömässig ansvarsfördelning, tvärfunktionellt arbete, ned-brutna miljömål, integrerad måluppföljning samt inkludering av miljö-aspekter i daglig styrningsmetodik kan medföra såväl kostnads-besparingar som stärkt miljömässig hållning. / Background: In today’s businesses the awareness is increasing on the environmental impact as a significant competitive factor. At the same time, companies face barriers developing into a greener company. The environmental activities are experienced as challenging to operationalize and commercially justify. Researchers have identified resource efficiency and the operationalizing tools of the lean model as potential solutions. However, there is limited research on how lean can be adapted to environmental aspects in an organizational context. This study is therefore essential to chart how Swedish manufacturing companies co-ordinates the lean and environmental activities organizationally. Aim: The purpose of the study is to investigate how lean and environmental activities can be coordinated organizationally to obtain the advantages of an integrated approach. This in order to present recommendations for similar companies. Methodology: The study has been conducted with a qualitative research strategy. The empirical study includes 23 interviews with lean and environmental respondents from 12 manufacturing companies in a multiple case study design. The companies have been charted in an analytical model to provide a discussion on potential integration of the management areas. Conclusion: The findings of the study indicate that the majority of the companies have not reached a high integration level despite theoretical statements and the awareness that positive effects of the lean-model can be obtained through an environmental perspective. We consider that the environmental activities should be adapted into the lean-model structure. More distinct delegation of environmental responsibilities, cross-functional teams, degraded goals, integrated measuring systems and inclusion of the environmental aspects in the daily management can result in financial savings and enhanced environmental sustainability.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what barriers and drivers influences the internationalization of private Swedish cleantech firms. The model of a multiple case study was chosen together with a qualitative method and an abductive approach. This was done by acquiring primary information from seven private cleantech companies, all located in Sweden and active in international markets. Furthermore, the theoretical framework presented the Uppsala model, network perspective, international new ventures, born globals, transaction cost theory and the OLI-model. With this theoretical framework, a conceptual model was created which shows how the parts are connected. In the empirical chapter, the primary data is presented to visualize what each individual company said regarding the different constructs of internationalization, drivers, barriers and internationalization decisions. Moreover, the analysis chapter visualizes the similarities and the dissimilarities between the theory and the empirical findings. The thesis concludes that there are both general, as well as specific barriers and drivers that are influential in the internationalization process of private Swedish cleantech firms. These are shown to influence the internationalization decision of managers to take an incremental approach to internationalization. The authors of the thesis also present the view that Swedish cleantech companies are generally too small, lack the financial resources and managerial drive needed to internationalize. The authors also present the theoretical and practical implications and provide recommendations for future research.

Necessity to sustain resources has risen in recent years with significant number of people affected by lack of access to essential resources. Framing policies that support environmental sustainability is necessary for addressing the issue. Effective policies necessitate access to a framework which assesses and keeps track of sustainability. Conventional frameworks that support such policy-making involve ranking of countries based on a weighted sum of several environmental performance metrics. However, the selection and weighing of metrics is often biased. This study proposes a new framework to assess environmental sustainability of countries via leveraging unsupervised learning. Specifically, this framework harnesses a clustering technique and tracks progressions in terms of shifts within clusters over time. It is observed that using the proposed framework, countries can identify specific ways to improve their progress towards environmental sustainability.

Thesis advisor: James Keenan / Environmental conservation is a pressing issue for modern humans. Health care systems and the consumption of medical goods should therefore be assessed in light of environmental sustainability. While the primary focus of environmental bioethics has been hospitals and health care facilities, ethicists must also address the offerings of the medical industry going forward. My dissertation proposes four principles to assess the environmental sustainability of current and future medical developments, techniques, and procedures. The four principles of green bioethics are: 1. General allocation of resources should precede special interest access: distributive justice 2. Current human needs over current human wants: environmental conservation 3. Simplicity before complexity: reducing dependence on medical intervention 4. The common good should drive health care instead of financial profit: ethical economics. The four principles of green bioethics will move environmental bioethics into the 21st century in a responsible and sustainable manner. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Employee engagement has been used in previous literature as a management concept increasing the success of an organisation. Environmental sustainability has become a critical issue for all levels in the society and poses an urgent pressure to act. Previous research confirms that employee engagement is effective when working towards environmental sustainability development. Universities can have a substantial impact on how the collective mind is formed and transformed and are therefore important stakeholders for environmental sustainability development in the society. This thesis uses the previous work of Kahn and Gruman & Saks to examine the role of employee engagement in environmental sustainability and explores the management activities stimulating the increase of engagement among employees in environmental sustainability. To answer these questions, employees and managers have been interviewed at Jönköping University in Sweden. This thesis finds that employee engagement appears to have a supporting role in environmental sustainability development. Additionally, an extension of the Engagement Management Model is developed, providing the engagement management literature with a holistic view of how engagement in environmental sustainability can be managed in universities.

A definição de desenvolvimento sustentável da World Commission on Environment and Devolopment aponta para um desenvolvimento econômico e social capaz de atender às necessidades desta geração, não comprometendo o atendimento das necessidades das gerações futuras. A gestão do uso da água, enquanto estratégia para preservação deste recurso, vem ao encontro do conceito de desenvolvimento sustentável, uma vez que pretende garantir que haja água disponível para as gerações futuras e que, sem este recurso, não há possibilidade de vida no planeta. Em relação a edifícios, a conservação da água pode ser alcançada através do emprego de práticas e de tecnologias que levem a uma utilização mais sustentável deste recurso, sem que haja interferência no conforto dos usuários. O presente trabalho pretende ser uma contribuição e um incentivo às práticas de conservação da água no ambiente construído, além de ser uma contribuição para a aplicação dos conceitos de sustentabilidade ambiental no projeto e execução de sistemas prediais hidráulicos e sanitários na construção civil brasileira. Para isso, detalha-se a maneira como alguns sistemas de avaliação de sustentabilidade ambiental de edifícios de escritórios avaliam itens relacionados aos sistemas prediais hidráulicos e sanitários e ao uso da água. O objetivo é aprofundar os critérios de avaliação de sustentabilidade ambiental dos sistemas prediais hidráulicos e do uso da água propostos para edifícios de escritório com base na documentação técnica e normalização brasileira consultadas. / The World Commission on Environment and Development definition for sustainable development points towards a social and economic development capable of taking care of the necessities of this generation without compromising the necessities of future generations. Water management creates strategies that secure the preservation of this resource and also fits the concept of sustainable development, since it intends to ensure the availability of water for generations to come and understands that without this resource there is no possibility of life on Earth. When it comes to buildings, water preservation is possible through the application of practices and technologies that will lead to a more sustainable use of this resource, without interfering on the daily activities of users and their needs and comfort. The purpose of this study is promoting actions regarding water preservation in buildings and contributing to the application of environmental sustainability concepts in hydraulic and sanitary systems on the Brazilian construction industry. For that reason it contains the details and the evaluation criteria on how some of the environmental assessment methods actually evaluate items that are related to hydraulic and sanitary systems and water usage. Therefore its main objective is to study the evaluation criteria for environmental sustainability on hydraulic and sanitary systems and water use for office buildings based on the consulted technical documentation and relevant Brazilian standards.