Importance Of Sustainable Practices Research Articles

Exploring sustainable food supply chain management practices to enhance food security

Background: The food industry faces longstanding challenges in meeting sustainability practices within its supply chain, often prioritising commercial obligations and profit motives. However, there is a growing recognition of the critical role that sustainable food supply chain management (SFSCM) practices play in enhancing food security.Objectives: This study aims to establish the significance of SFSCM practices in enhancing food security. Furthermore, the study explores approaches to reduce challenges against implementation of SFSCM practices.Method: The study employed a qualitative approach and used stratified and purposive sampling techniques to interview 22 participants from a population of 9 gatekeeper institutions within the Zimbabwean food industry.Results: The findings highlighted several essential SFSCM practices covering waste management, logistics optimisation, water and energy conservation, employing qualified individuals, carbon emission reduction, corporate social responsibility, cost reduction, pricing efficiency, fair food distribution and continuous consumer taste surveys. Approaches to reduce SFSCM implementation challenges were also identified, and these include stakeholder communication plans, capacity building programmes, integrating sustainability into mission statements, budget allocation, lobbying for government support, and fostering collaborative engagements. Open information sharing was also emphasised.Conclusion: It is concluded that the adoption of identified SFSCM practices by food producers, intermediaries, suppliers, consumers and other stakeholders can significantly enhance food security and minimise hunger in nations.Contribution: This article contributes to the understanding of addressing SFSCM implementation challenges and provides valuable insights into the importance of sustainable practices in improving food security within the Zimbabwean food industry and the world at large.

Environmental Sustainability Practices of Albanian Micro Enterprises and SMEs

There is a growing global awareness on the importance of sustainability practices. Some major reasons for the growing awareness of sustainability practices are increased legal requirements by governments, customer demands, and political/societal pressure. This paper discuses environmental sustainability practices of micro enterprises and SMEs in Albania. Nine Albanian SMEs were interviewed about their sustainability practices and the results are discussed. The results of this study show that even though there is a lack of detailed sustainability requirements in Albania many SMEs are aware of environmental sustainability and are beginning to implement sustainability practices. For some Albanian SMEs and micro businesses, the implementation of sustainability practices are viewed as a requirement to access lucrative international markets such as the European Union.

Possibility of overcoming obstacles to adopt sustainable practices of road paving layers in Iraq

It is evident that there is an increasing need, day by day, to adopt sustainable practices due to the increasing volume of harmful impacts on the environment, especially in the transportation sector. The situation in Iraq is very clear because of the complete dependence on vehicles in the process of transporting and shipping goods due to the absence of alternatives. The previous literature on the importance of sustainable practices in improving the properties and specifications of roads has been studied, and then the current reality of roads in Iraq has been explained. In the last part, a questionnaire was conducted to clarify the obstacles that impede the use of these sustainable practices, and the reasons were reached. The study concluded that addressing this growing problem begins through education and cultural development of society by all concerned parties while supporting research. The planning process should include finding all special instructions and regulations that affect the safety of the environment, such as granting building or import permits, or in the field of agriculture and industry to serve these practices. The adoption of sustainable practices must meet the local circumstance represented in the behavior, culture and economy of the population community as well as the geographical location and climate of such environment.

Possibility of overcoming obstacles to adopt sustainable practices of road paving layers in Iraq

It is evident that there is an increasing need, day by day, to adopt sustainable practices due to the increasing volume of harmful impacts on the environment, especially in the transportation sector. The situation in Iraq is very clear because of the complete dependence on vehicles in the process of transporting and shipping goods due to the absence of alternatives. The previous literature on the importance of sustainable practices in improving the properties and specifications of roads has been studied, and then the current reality of roads in Iraq has been explained. In the last part, a questionnaire was conducted to clarify the obstacles that impede the use of these sustainable practices, and the reasons were reached. The study concluded that addressing this growing problem begins through education and cultural development of society by all concerned parties while supporting research. The planning process should include finding all special instructions and regulations that affect the safety of the environment, such as granting building or import permits, or in the field of agriculture and industry to serve these practices. The adoption of sustainable practices must meet the local circumstance represented in the behavior, culture and economy of the population community as well as the geographical location and climate of such environment.

The Importance of Sustainable Practices in Value Creation and Consumers’ Commitment with Companies’ Commercial Format

Sustainable economic models are essential for any economic sector of the country. Companies must manage their relationships with the agents involved in their economic activity through a strategy based on dialogue and the constant pursuit of a balance among economic, social and environmental interests. In this regard, there has been an increase in customers’ interest in products or businesses that display a comparatively higher commitment with workers, the environment, or society as a whole. This study aims at gaining further insight into the relationship between the committed customer and the company by analyzing the influence of corporate social responsibility on key variables such as customer perceived value or customer commitment as regards its engagement dimension (customer motivations). In order to reach this goal, we perform a review of the literature, followed by a structural equation model that incorporates said variables. This model is tested on a sample of 707 customers of supermarkets and hypermarkets. The results confirm that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) directly affects commitment and that customer perceived value influences both variables (CSR and commitment). In addition, the study confirms the indirect effect of perceived value on customers’ commitment with the commercial format, which is mediated by CSR.

Performance Evaluation of Root Zone Heating System Developed with Sustainable Materials for Application in Low Temperatures

The proposed system was developed to help the farmers of the Yangtze River Delta to grow greenhouse plants over winter, as the region has very low winter temperatures. For this reason, the experiment was undertaken during winter in extremely low temperatures to obtain optimal results. Keeping in mind the importance of sustainable practices, the authors developed the system using sustainable materials. The system was heated for 6 hours and then the hourly heat transfer rates were measured for 12 hours. The power consumption data of the heating system during different ambient temperatures were collected. Additionally, a simulation model of the heating system was developed using the COMSOL Multiphysics 5.3a package. The heat transfer in a porous media model was used in this study. Finally, the simulation results obtained from the COMSOL Multiphysics 5.3a package were analyzed and compared to the experimental results; these results were found to be in good agreement, thus authenticating the simulation model. After analyzing the data obtained from both methods, the power consumption of the heating system during different ambient temperature conditions were also calculated, which ranged from 15.73 W to 70.02 W in the simulated method and 28.2 W to 91.2 W in the experimental method. It was found that the root zone temperature remained in the range of 0–35 °C. This range of root zone temperature is suitable for many greenhouse horticultural crops such as tomato, cucumber, pepper, strawberry, lettuce, etc. The optimal root zone temperatures of many greenhouse horticultural plants are verified by many researchers.

A framework for assessment of SSCM strategies with respect to sustainability performance: an Indian thermal power sector perspective

The explosion of the population in India has put a tremendous pressure to generate huge amount of energy, particularly electrical energy. Indeed, more than 50% of the total electrical energy produced in the country is generated by the coal based thermal power plants and is expected to be continued for another 2-3 decades. Growing concern over the environmental effects caused by the supply chain activities of the power industries that affects ecosystems and quality of life adversely as well natural resource depletion has been drawing attention of organisations to focus on sustainability practices. Realising the importance of sustainable practices in traditional supply chain management, an effort has been made to develop a framework by using AHP TOPSIS to study SSCM strategies. The findings of the research will facilitate the analysis and assessment of managerial approaches for SSCM in power generation facilities with its differing aspects rather than few limited aspects.

An Exploratory Study of the Importance of Sustainable Practices in the Meeting and Convention Site Selection Process

The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop a list of sustainable practices at convention facilities and assess the importance of these items according to meeting planners. The recycling of items had the highest levels of importance. Significant differences were found between third party and association meeting planners’ levels of importance in the areas of water resources, energy efficiency, and recycling. Length of being a Certified Meeting Planner was not related to the importance of sustainability practices. Females placed more value on programs that capture separate organic waste for composting and on energy certification than did their male counterparts. Results give meeting planners and venues a clearer picture of the current state of sustainable practices and its importance in the meeting, incentive, convention and event (MICE) industry. However, further research is needed, and discussed.