Global society is threatened by many social and ecological challenges, together they form a complex environment defined in this thesis as the sustainability challenge. Organizations have a major impact on this challenge, with business strategy being the leverage point. This thesis identifies the gaps and recommendations to address those gaps to strategically move organizations towards reaching a sustainable society. The <IR> Framework by the IIRC is a reporting structure and method that includes sustainability elements within a business orientated context. Through 20 interviews, report comparison and system analysis we have generated the results. These highlight gaps with regards to planetary limits and lack of directing organizations towards sustainability. Based on the findings we conclude that <IR>can be a steppingstone by introducing organizations to sustainability elements within business language. However, <IR> cannot be used as a standalone tool to reach a sustainable society. <IR> does assist and succeed in making organizations more strategic, which prepares them to move to sustainability. Overall, organizations acquire a broader perception and understanding regarding non-financials. Recommendations include integrating systems thinking, formulating ‘success’ and back casting from it to strategically prioritize actions; also referring to other tools and concepts that can assist in niche areas within <IR>.

Organizations operate in a dynamic environment in which they are faced with an ongoing dilemma of maximizing profit and meeting the demand from society to take social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained an increase in interest with its intended aim of corporations taking responsibility for how the business affects the society within an economic, environmental and social perspective. However, its intended aim is being hindered by the idea of a trade-off between profit and social responsibility in CSR theory and practice. We suggest that social entrepreneurship can have an impact on CSR in moving beyond these trade-offs and can furthermore bridge the gap between business’ and society’s demands. Thereby, our thesis has the aim to investigate how CSR research can move beyond the presumed trade-offs through the impact of social entrepreneurship theory. For this purpose, we have chosen a conceptual research approach in order to build a conceptual model that can serve as a theoretical contribution and an inspiration for further practical use. The model suggests that components of social entrepreneurship can be linked to strategic CSR dimensions and, therefore, impact the outcome by creating both economic and social value.

Few studies have rigorously assessed the adaptive value of diel rhythms in animals. We laid the groundwork for assessing the adaptive rhythm hypothesis by assaying diel rhythms of foraging and antipredator behavior in the orb-weaving spider Cyclosa turbinata. When confronted with a predator stimulus in experimental arenas, C. turbinata exhibited thanatosis behavior more frequently and for longer durations during the day. However, assays of antipredator response within webs revealed more complex diel patterns of avoidance behaviors and no pattern of avoidance behavior duration. Assays of prey capture behavior found that the likelihood of exhibiting prey capture behavior varied significantly across times of day and test subjects, but only test subject predicted attack latencies. Although C. turbinata foraging aggression changed over the diel cycle, we found no evidence of a trade-off between foraging behavior and predator vigilance. However, overall patterns of vigilance may be masked by diel changes in antipredator strategies.

Increasing the amount of food produced while simultaneously reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture is one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. A promising approach through which this could be achieved is ‘sustainable intensification’. This thesis contributes to the exploration of sustainable intensification using two complementary modes of investigation. First through the development of a conceptual framework that analyzes agricultural systems through the lens of ecosystem services and the trade-offs associated with using external inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, fossil fuels) as substitutes for them. Then by quantifying the life cycle environmental impacts of a novel aquaculture technology developed as a means for minimizing local ecological impacts. These modes of investigation are linked by using the conceptual framework to analyze trade-offs associated with waste capture in the aquaculture system. This research provides a potentially valuable method for conceptualizing agricultural systems and contributes to the knowledge of the environmental trade-offs associated with aquaculture.

R??sum?? : La reproduction entra??ne des d??penses ??nerg??tiques importantes chez les femelles mammif??res. Ces d??penses sont suppos??es diminuer l'??nergie disponible pour d'autres traits positivement corr??l??s ?? l'aptitude ph??notypique et augmenter les besoins d'alimentation. Toutefois, des diff??rences individuelles dans la capacit?? d'acquisition et d'allocation peuvent masquer l'impact n??gatif de l'effort reproducteur. La manipulation exp??rimentale de l'effort reproducteur et le contr??le statistique des effets individuels sont deux approches puissantes et compl??mentaires mises en ??uvre dans le cadre de mon ??tude afin de contr??ler pour l'h??t??rog??n??it?? individuelle. Elles ont permis de montrer clairement un co??t de la reproduction chez le kangourou gris de l'Est (Macropus giganteus). Dans un premier temps, nous avons trouv?? que le co??t de la reproduction affectait le montant d'??nergie allou?? ?? certaines fonctions somatiques (CHAPITRE I). L'effort reproducteur diminuait le gain de masse et la croissance des jambes pour des intervalles de capture sup??rieurs ?? deux ans. Chez les femelles non manipul??es, un effet n??gatif sur le gain de masse ??tait aussi observable pour un intervalle inf??rieur ?? 3 ans. ?? l'??chelle de deux ??v??nements successifs de reproduction, le gain de masse et dans une moindre mesure la croissance des bras, mais non des jambes diminuaient avec un effort reproducteur plus important ?? la pr??c??dente reproduction. Ensuite, nous avons d??montr?? qu'il y avait un co??t de la reproduction en terme de futur succ??s reproducteur (CHAPITRE II). Les individus dont l'effort reproducteur avait ??t?? diminu?? exp??rimentalement produisaient davantage de jeunes qui survivaient au stade 'LPY', ??g??s approximativement de 7 mois, que les femelles contr??les. Ils diminuaient ??galement davantage leur taux de reproduction en allongeant l'intervalle entre les naissances, mais la survie au sevrage n'??tait pas affect??e. Le CHAPITRE III montre que les femelles adaptaient leur comportement alimentaire en fonction de leur statut reproducteur. En comparaison avec les individus manipul??s ou ayant perdu leur jeune, les femelles allaitantes augmentaient leur temps pass?? ?? s'alimenter durant la journ??e, l'intensit?? de leurs bouch??es et de leur mastication sans impliquer de compromis avec la vigilance. Nous avons aussi d??couvert que la survie au sevrage du jeune pr??c??dent menait ?? une augmentation du taux de bouch??es pour l'ann??e en cours. Les CHAPITRES I et II ont mis en ??vidence l'effet non n??gligeable des diff??rences individuelles sur la d??tection des co??ts de la reproduction. En effet, en l'absence de manipulation exp??rimentale ou de contr??le statistique, aucun compromis n'??tait d??tect?? autant en terme de croissance que de prochaine reproduction. Au contraire, des corr??lations positives entre l'effort reproducteur et les autres traits ont ??t?? trouv??es. Le CHAPITRE I sugg??rait notamment que cette variabilit?? du succ??s reproducteur ??tait li??e ?? l'h??t??rog??n??it?? individuelle dans le gain de masse maternelle qui augmentait la survie du jeune. Dans le CHAPITRE II, une corr??lation positive entre les probabilit??s d'avoir un 'LPY' lors de deux ??v??nements successifs de reproduction sugg??rait que certaines femelles ??taient capables de mener ?? bien ou non leur reproduction, mais cela ind??pendamment de l'effort reproducteur pr??c??dent. Enfin dans le dernier CHAPITRE (III), l'effet al??atoire ??tait significatif dans l'analyse de diff??rents comportements d'alimentation, ce qui pourrait ??tre li?? aux diff??rences de gain de masse des femelles pr??sent??es dans le CHAPITRE I. Certaines contraintes individuelles affectant le co??t de la reproduction ont ??t?? identifi??es. La masse et la condition corporelle augmentaient le succ??s reproducteur et diminuaient l'intervalle entre deux naissances successives (CHAPITRES I et II), mais contrairement ?? de pr??c??dentes ??tudes le comportement d'alimentation des femelles n'??tait pas affect?? par leur masse (CHAPITRE III). L'??ge des individus avait ??galement une influence. Les jeunes femelles croissaient davantage, avaient aussi une prise alimentaire plus importante et subissaient un co??t de reproduction sup??rieur. Ce dernier se traduisait par un taux d'??chec plus ??lev?? ?? la reproduction suivante si les jeunes femelles avaient eu un jeune l'ann??e pr??c??dente (CHAPITRES I, II et III). Des contraintes environnementales fortes influen??aient la reproduction des femelles. La croissance, le succ??s reproducteur, l'intervalle entre les naissances et les comportements d'alimentation variaient suivant le site et l'ann??e d'??tude. Le site du Promontory et l'ann??e 2011 apparaissaient particuli??rement limitants. En effet en 2011, le gain de masse et le succ??s reproducteur ont diminu?? et l'intervalle de naissance et la prise de nourriture pour les femelles allaitantes ont augment?? (CHAPITRE I,II et III). Nous cherchions ??galement ?? mettre au jour une allocation diff??rentielle des m??res suivant le sexe de leur jeune. Si le co??t sup??rieur d'avoir un m??le par rapport ?? une femelle ??tait ??vident quant aux taux de bouch??es (CHAPITRE III), il s'est av??r?? plus difficile ?? d??tecter sur d'autres traits. ?? Anglesea, les jeunes m??res avaient moins de probabilit?? d'avoir un jeune qui atteigne le stade 'LPY' apr??s avoir eu un fils qu'une fille (CHAPITRE II). Toutefois, des r??sultats contraires ?? nos attentes ont ??t?? trouv??s, du moins au premier abord, sur la croissance et le succ??s reproducteur subs??quent. Ainsi, les femelles qui avaient eu une fille perdaient davantage de masse (CHAPITRE I) et avaient g??n??ralement une probabilit?? moindre de produire un jeune qui atteigne le stade 'LPY' ou qui soit sevr?? par la suite (CHAPITRE II). En revanche, l'intervalle de naissance n'??tait pas diff??rent suivant le sexe du jeune alors qu'il ??tait fortement affect?? par le co??t de la reproduction d??montr?? gr??ce ?? la manipulation, invoquant une autre explication qu'un co??t sup??rieur des filles par rapport aux fils. En effet, les femelles qui ??taient en mauvaise condition corporelle gagnaient de la masse quand elles produisaient une fille, mais pas un fils (CHAPITRE I). De surcro??t, les jeunes m??res avaient moins de chances de sevrer un jeune ?? l'??v??nement de reproduction suivant si elles avaient eu un fils plut??t qu'une fille, et le succ??s reproducteur des m??res des fils n'??tait plus diff??rent de celui des m??res des filles dans les ann??es plus difficiles (CHAPITRE II). Enfin, les m??res des fils augmentaient la quantit?? de nourriture ing??r??e si elles avaient sevr?? un jeune l'ann??e pr??c??dente, mais les m??res des filles la diminuaient. Ces diff??rents r??sultats sugg??raient fortement qu'un ajustement du sexe-ratio ??tait utilis?? quand les ressources individuelles ou environnementales contraignaient davantage la reproduction. En conclusion, pour limiter le d??calage entre les besoins ??nerg??tiques et la disponibilit?? en nourriture, les femelles chez le kangourou gris de l'Est pourraient modifier l'allocation de leurs ressources ?? la reproduction en reportant la prochaine mise bas et en produisant un jeune du sexe le moins co??teux en accord avec les contraintes individuelles et environnementales. Ces r??sultats soulignent l'importance d'??tudes avec un suivi individuel sur plusieurs ann??es afin de pouvoir comprendre la variabilit?? des strat??gies de reproduction et leurs cons??quences sur la dynamique des populations. // Abstract : Reproduction in living beings, particularly in female mammals that produce milk, is costly, potentially involving trade-offs with life-history traits if resources are limited and an increase in foraging effort. Individual differences may, however, hide the negative effects of this cost on life-history traits. I used two powerful and complementary approaches, to deal with individual heterogeneity: experimental manipulation of reproductive effort and statistical control of individual effect. Using both approaches, I investigated the effect of presence, size and sex of young on growth, subsequent reproduction and individual foraging behaviours of females. I used data of tagged free-ranging eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) collected over six years at five study sites in Victoria, Australia. There was a clear cost of reproduction. Reproductive effort decreased mass gain and limb growth for inter-capture intervals greater than two years. Over two successive reproductive events, mass gain and arm growth were reduced but leg growth was independent of reproductive effort (CHAPTER II).In addition, survival to Large Pouch Young ('LPY') stage, about 7 months of age, was higher and birth rate lower in manipulated compared to control females but survival to weaning was not affected (CHAPTER III). CHAPTER IV shows that lactating females cope with current reproductive costs by increasing ivtime spent foraging as well as bite and chewing rates without decreasing vigilance comparedto non lactating ones. Bite rate was also greater for females that weaned a young at the previous reproductive event. My study supports reproductive cost hypothesis while showing substantial individual differences. To limit mismatch between energetic needs and resource availability, females of eastern grey kangaroo could modify resource allocation to reproduction by delaying birth date of subsequent young and producing the less costly sex according to individual and environmental constrains. My thesis shows the importance of experimental approach and individual monitoring over multiple years to understand the diversity of reproductive strategies and their consequences in evolutionary ecology and population dynamic.

No description available.

Migratory behaviour of the Ya Ha Tinda (YHT) elk population is diminishing while the number of residents remaining on the YHT winter range year-round is increasing. Previous research addressing the fitness consequences of each migratory strategy assumed there was no advantage to either segment when they shared the YHT winter range. In testing this assumption, I found no spatial segregation of migrant and resident home-ranges during winter. Both groups were exposed to similar forage resources and residents were exposed to higher night-time, but not day-time predation risk. Residents were better than migrants at reducing the foraging costs of vigilance and increased vigilance in areas of high wolf predation risk, but not near human activity because of habituation. Migrants were not habituated to humans and exhibited more constant vigilance regardless of spatial variations in risk. My results do not support the previous assumption. Instead, I found residents may be at an advantage on the winter range while forage is abundant and no snow is present. / Ecology

Cette recherche s’inscrit dans le domaine de la fiabilité des systèmes sociotechniques complexes, et vise à développer une nouvelle approche des arbitrages entre performance et sécurité : l’ingénierie de la résilience. La capacité des systèmes à risques à résister aux perturbations dépend, en dernière analyse, des acteurs de ces systèmes. Ceux-ci doivent réaliser des arbitrages entre des critères qui peuvent entrer en conflit : critères économiques immédiats (assurer la performance commerciale, par exemple), critères de sécurité (renoncer à satisfaire l’objectif immédiat de production). La thèse porte sur l’activité d’opérateurs d’une compagnie aérienne, en charge de répondre en temps réel à des appels d’équipages d’avions, qui signalent une complainte technique. Celle-ci peut-elle être traitée immédiatement : est-elle bénigne ou, au contraire, doit-elle conduire à l’annulation du vol concerné ? La thèse défendue est que, dans un système ultra sûr et ultra réglé, les conflits entre performance et sécurité se produisent lorsque la « sécurité gérée » rentre en conflit avec la « sécurité réglée ». Pour défendre cette thèse, trois études empiriques ont été mises en œuvre. Ainsi, plusieurs méthodes ont été utilisées en combinaison : l’observation et l’analyse de l’activité, la simulation d’activité, les questionnaires et les autoconfrontations.Les résultats obtenus ont permis, dans un premier temps, d’objectiver les arbitrages entre performance et sécurité, puis dans un second temps, d’identifier les critères qui président à ces arbitrages et d’expliciter les processus qui les sous-tendent. Ces résultats permettent, d’une part, de proposer des solutions acceptables telles que le retour d’expérience par la confrontation des pratiques, et d’assimiler la « sécurité gérée » comme un sous-ensemble de la « sécurité réglée », et d’autre part, de dépasser notre vision négative des violations, en les assimilant à une forme d’intelligence des opérateurs dans l’action. / This research is in the field of reliability of complex socio-technical systems and aims to develop a new approach to allow trade-offs between performance and safety: engineering resilience. The ability of systems to cope with disturbances ultimately depends on the operators of these systems. They must make trade-offs between criteria that may conflict: immediate economic criteria (i.e. to ensure business performance), safety criteria (i.e. give up to meet the immediate production objective). The thesis focuses on the activity of an airline’s operators, in charge of assistance via telephone for aircrew who report a technical complaint. It can be treated immediately; is it benign, or conversely should it lead to the cancellation of the flight?The thesis assumes that in an ultra-safe and ultra rule-based system, conflicts between safety and performance occur when the "rule-based safety" conflicts with "adaptative safety". To defend this thesis, three empirical studies have been implemented. Thus, several methods were used in combination: observation and activity analysis, simulation of activities, questionnaires and auto-confrontation.The results obtained allowed at first to objectify the trade-offs between performance and safety, then in a second instance to identify the criteria governing such trade-offs and explain the processes that underlie them.These results permit, on one hand, to propose acceptable solutions such as the feedback by comparing the practices and assimilate the “adaptative safety” as a subset of “rule-based safety”, and on the other hand to overcome our negative view of violations by treating them as a form of operators’ intelligence in action.

The Earth is facing many complex challenges. Social gaps between poverty and wealth are continuously growing, climate changes threaten the planet as well as its living creatures and the irresponsible human consumption goes on. Sachs (2015) mentions these issues as contribution to today’s existing unsustainable world and further argues that companies should take more responsibilities in the transformation process into a more sustainable world, where Herremans and Nazari (2016) identify industrial companies as the ones that should be the most responsible for sustainable actions. Furthermore, Lueg and Radlach (2016) argue that the usage of control mechanisms is a critical component of strategic sustainability actions. However, previous research has focused less on explaining how companies strategically work with sustainability, why this study aims at developing a deeper understanding of how industrial companies strategically take sustainable actions. Through ten qualitative semi-structured interviews within six industrial companies the study aims to achieve its purpose, with help of Elkington’s (1999) concept Triple Bottom Line (containing the dimensions profit, planet and people) and Malmi and Brown’s (2008) theoretical model of control mechanisms. The study shows that the strategic sustainable actions taken by industrial companies tend to differ depending on how long they have actively been working with sustainability. Initially the companies base their strategic sustainable actions on economic benefits and external pressure such as legislation and governmental verdicts, while companies who have been working longer with sustainable actions tend to voluntarily base their work on long-term visions of economic returns on sustainable investments. Further, the study shows that the control mechanisms culture and administrative functions tend to generate the most impact on sustainable actions. While the administrative functions expect to be more effective when implementing great changes in processes or routines, the culture tends to, due to its low abilities to change, be more helpful in the maintenance of sustainable behavior and values. / Planeten står inför många komplicerade utmaningar. Samhällsklyftan mellan rika och fattiga ökar, klimatförändringar hotar planetens och dess varelsers överlevnad och den mänskliga konsumtionen fortsätter att flöda. Sachs (2015) beskriver samtliga problem som bidrag till den ohållbara värld som idag existerar och menar vidare att företag kan spela en viktig roll i arbetet för en mer hållbar värld. Det torde enligt Herremans och Nazari (2016) vara industriföretag som i störst omfattning genom sin massproduktion bidrar till kritiska hållbarhetsproblem såsom global uppvärmning och människans överkonsumtion. Lueg och Radlach (2016) menar vidare att användning av styrfunktioner inom företag är en kritisk komponent i arbetet för en mer hållbar näringsverksamhet. Dock finns en avsaknad av tidigare studier som förklarar hur företag arbetar strategiskt med hållbarhetsfrågor. Genom den teoretiska ramen bestående av Elkingtons (1999) koncept Triple Bottom Line och Malmi och Browns (2008) modell för styrfunktioner samt empirisk insamling i form av tio kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer, syftar studien till att skapa en förståelse för hur industriföretag arbetar strategiskt med hållbarhet. Studien visar att det strategiska hållbarhetsarbetet tenderar att skilja sig åt beroende på hur länge respondentföretagen arbetat aktivt med hållbarhetsaspekter. Initialt styrs företagens strategiska hållbarhetsarbete främst av ekonomiska fördelar samt extern påtryckning såsom lagstiftning och myndighetsbeslut, medan företag som arbetat längre tid med hållbarhet tenderar att frivilligt basera sitt hållbarhetsarbete mer på en framtidstro med visioner om långsiktig ekonomisk avkastning på hållbarhetsinvesteringar. Vidare visar studien att styrfunktionerna kultur respektive administrativa funktioner i olika syften tenderar att generera störst inverkan på hållbarhetsarbetet, varvid administrativa funktioner antas mer effektiva vid implementering av större förändringar i processer och rutiner. Kulturen antas å andra sidan, på grund av dess trögrörlighet, vara mer behjälplig i bevarandet av hållbara beteenden och värderingar.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:51:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1682.pdf: 417611 bytes, checksum: f3bb31cafc516608bc2bbdbf8237aa4d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-12-21 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / This dissertation aims to evaluate technology spin-offs Brazilian economy in the context of internationalization of multinational companies. Since 1980, the multinationals modify its international production strategies stressing efforts in R&D and other high value-added activities and affiliated companies gain a more important role at the international strategy of the group. As an indirect result of the technological role of the affiliated in national economy technology spin-offs are an important subject that need to be more attention. This work analyses the chacteristics of spin-offs from different origins focusing on affiliated as the parent organization. / Pretende-se avaliar, neste trabalho, alguns dos efeitos da mundialização das empresas multinacionais presentes na economia brasileira. A partir da década de 80 as empresas multinacionais passaram a atuar de forma diferenciada em relação à produção internacional. Essa alteração está evidenciada no aumento do investimento direto estrangeiro e em mudanças na sua forma de organização. A empresa passa a atuar como um grupo maior divisão internacional do trabalho em base mundial, integrando funcionalmente suas diversas operações forâneas e a de seus fornecedores. Essa atuação diferenciada ganha forma também nas atividades tecnológicas (P&D). Contudo, os estudos que contemplam essa temática revelam a concentração geográfica desses investimentos, especialmente em economias desenvolvidas. A preocupação reside em entender a contribuição das atividades das multinacionais em uma economia como a brasileira que configura um dos principais receptores de Investimento Direto Estrangeiro dentre os países em desenvolvimento através da formação de spin-offs de base tecnológica. As especificidades dessas empresas na economia brasileira como sua organização fonte (parent organization), diferenciais de desempenho, e formas de atuação no cenário econômico nacional e internacional são relevantes para o seu fomento e desenvolvimento. O estudo foi baseado na análise de uma base de dados de 102 EBTs nacionais. A análise empírica mostrou que existem algumas características que estão presentes em todas as EBTs independentemente da origem, como a concentração setorial. Porém, algumas diferenças são signficativas e não devem ser negligenciadas. EBTs oriundas de outras empresas destacam-se em indicadores econômicos, enquanto aquelas advindas de universidades apresentam melhor desempenho tecnológicos. As EBTs oriundas de multinacionais apresentam singularidades, mas possuem peso relativamente menor nos indicadores econômicos das EBTs oriundas de outra empresas. Palavras-Chave: Spin-offs, EBTs, Multinacionais, P&D, Inovação Tecnológica.