Product Stewardship Research Articles

Spontaneous intestinal perforation (SIP) will soon become the most common form of surgical bowel disease in the extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infant.

Recent data have revealed declines in the prevalence rates of NEC over the last decade in premature infants. In contrast, SIP has either remained steady or risen during the same epoch. These trends are consistent with our knowledge of the clinical arena. The ability to discern SIP contamination within NEC datasets has slowly improved. Additionally, quality improvement efforts are being utilized to reduce NEC through stewardship of antibiotics, acid inhibitors, central lines and blood products, as well as optimization of human milk diets. These forces are moving us to a new era, where NEC will no longer be the dominant surgical intestinal disease of the extremely preterm neonate. Indeed, in the extremely low birth weight (ELBW) population, SIP may already be the most prevalent reason for abdominal surgery. In this perspective, the reader will find supporting data and references for these assertions as well as predictions for the future.

The National Blood Shortage-An Impetus for Change.

The National Blood Shortage-An Impetus for Change.

Impact of Green Design and inflation on a two-warehouse inventory model

Deterioration becomes a major problem in inventory modeling which increases the carbon emission and effect the climate change. The retailer will store their excess items in a rented warehouse (RW) in order to reduce deterioration and storage space limitations in their own warehouse (OW). During this investigation, shortages are also permitted. By implementing green design and product stewardship, manufactures can reduce their recycling costs. Through green design and product stewardship, a manufacturer can maintain both profit as well as an environmental concern. In this model I determined for maximizing the average profit under the influence of inflation. Numerical example is carried out by using the software Mathematica 12.0 which used to illustrate the proposed model and a sensitivity analysis is carried out to study the effect of different parameters.

Are Natural-RBV Strategies Profitable? A Longitudinal Study of the Brazilian Corporate Sustainability Index

Purpose – The aim of this research is to analyze whether natural resource-based view (NRBV) strategies lead to financial performance, represented by market value in the Brazilian stock exchange (B3) Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE).Theoretical framework – The NRBV foresees three green strategies to achieve sustainable competitive advantage: pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development. Many studies have tested one or two of those strategies. We tested if all three strategies are related to the financial performanceof companies in the ISE index.Design/methodology/approach – We collected five years of data from 18 companies that compose the ISE index and employed panel data analysis in this longitudinal study.Findings – All three strategies of the NRBV are related to the companies’ market value in different ways. The results diverge from the current literature because we found positive and negative links between environmental strategies and financial performance.Practical & social implications of research – This study contributes with empirical results from the B3 to analyze the ISE index using the NRBV approach as a theoretical basis. It suggests that not all environmental initiatives increase companies’ market value, as some actions may end up achieving the opposite outcome. Investors and society, in general, are entitled to know how companies implement sustainable strategies that go beyond those required by law. Originality/value – The major contribution of this study is it addresses all three NRBV strategies to investigate if it pays to be green in terms of market value, by analyzing the Brazilian sustainable organizations that compose the ISE index.Keywords – NRBV, corporate sustainability, financial performance, market value, sustainable development.

Sustain livestock ranching to sustain habitat: land sharing at risk on San Francisco Bay Area exacted conservation easements

Grazing lands supporting livestock production and nature conservation exemplify land sharing conservation. In California, livestock producers own or manage a large portion of land with the highest biodiversity ecosystems. Grazing reduces flammable biomass and can benefit habitat of numerous rare and endangered species. However, the role of grazing, livestock production, and rancher stewardship in conservation is often overlooked. Spatial analysis shows a significant contribution of grazing lands to conservation in the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) that is not recognized in regional planning analyses. Lands protected for conservation cover nearly 0.5 million ha, or 29% of the SFBA, and 43% of the protected land is grazing land. Over 65% of the region’s land described as essential or important to conservation by the regional planning network is grazing land. A case study review is used to examine in greater depth the management dynamics of partial-title acquisition of grazing land for conservation. Exacted conservation easements, a type of easement fulfilling mitigation requirements for land development, are growing in use in the SFBA and throughout California, and they are well funded by development interests to support conservation. Political ecology theory terms a redefinition of territory that can displace resource users and enable others to benefit from newly created economic values, reterritorialization and capital accumulation. A case study of exacted easements on SFBA ranches reveals how the resulting redefining of the land’s purpose and the significance of its various ecosystem services provides funding for third parties for new services required to implement and uphold the easements, but not necessarily to support land sharing and the ranching livelihood that provides grazing needed for habitat management. Planning that considers the needs of the livestock operation would increase the probability of achieving desired conservation outcomes and the durability of appropriate habitat conditions.

Detecting environmental hotspots in extensive portfolios through LCA and data science: a use-case perspective

Today, businesses need to reduce environmental impacts significantly along the entire value chain. Yet, full organisational product stewardship seems tough for extensive portfolios of several thousands of individual products varying in material and functionality, as well as production processes and locations. In addition, identifying relevant levers for improvement is more challenging with an increasing amount of influencing parameters. Moreover, while a quantification of environmental sustainability performance is required to derive sound management decisions, life cycle assessment (LCA) approaches particularly for large portfolios traditionally fail to provide effective, time efficient means of assessing more than a couple of scenarios per study. In this context, Fraunhofer IBP determined the CO2-footprint of around 24,000 individual screws in the portfolio of Würth, market leader for assembly and fastening materials, to demonstrate a data science framework for efficient scale-up of environmental sustainability assessments. Hereby, the identification of key hotspots in the portfolio along the value chain was focussed, as well as transparently displaying results and levers for improvement. This contribution builds upon proven methods and tools from LCA and data science and a modularly built approach to achieve a high degree of workflow automation. It offers practical insights into CO2-footprinting and further environmental sustainability analyses for portfolios with large amounts of individual products.

Sustainable Strategy to Sustainable Business: An Empirical Analysis on Energy-Efficient Light Bulb

Energy Efficiency is one of the key elements of the Environment-Economic aspect of the three spheres of sustainability. To make any business sustainable in the light bulb industry, it could be applied as a strategy to gain competitive advantage in the functional level. This paper investigates the market awareness of environmentally friendly products such as the energy efficient light bulb (or energy bulb) and its market availability, demand, quality and brightness, low waste (e-waste), sustainable consumption (durability), warranty, commission rate, and profitability. It also finds that energy efficiency and low waste are valuable strategies to create market demand for energy bulbs to make sustainable profit and product stewardship eventually to contribute to the e-waste management. A 500 sample survey is conducted in Bangladesh to analyze the energy bulb buyers’ and sellers’ view about this product locally. After the results and interpretation through descriptive statistics and regression of the variables, this study finally draws a pathway model to show that sustainable energy definitely leads to sustainable business. From the buyers’ point of view, sustainable consumption and low waste as well as from the sellers’ point of view profit and sustainable product both support sustainable business backed by sustainable strategy, energy efficiency being the key. To make the competitive advantage enduring, ensure profitability and profit growth for the shareholders of the corporate world, especially the electrical and electronics industry; with the energy bulb in particular, an energy efficiency strategy could be implemented in businesses worldwide. As the COP26 (The 2021 United Nations Conference on Climate Change) limits the global warming rise by 1.5%, energy bulb has been the pioneer in promoting sustainable products to adopt the sustainable strategy to limit carbon emissions globally.

Recent trends in global insecticide use for disease vector control and potential implications for resistance management

Insecticides have played a major role in the prevention, control, and elimination of vector-borne diseases, but insecticide resistance threatens the efficacy of available vector control tools. A global survey was conducted to investigate vector control insecticide use from 2010 to 2019. Out of 140 countries selected as sample for the study, 87 countries responded. Also, data on ex-factory deliveries of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) were analyzed. Insecticide operational use was highest for control of malaria, followed by dengue, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. Vector control relied on few insecticide classes with pyrethroids the most used overall. Results indicated that IRS programs have been slow to react to detection of pyrethroid resistance, while proactive resistance management using insecticides with unrelated modes of action was generally weak. The intensive use of recently introduced insecticide products raised concern about product stewardship regarding the preservation of insecticide susceptibility in vector populations. Resistance management was weakest for control of dengue, leishmaniasis or Chagas disease. Therefore, it will be vital that vector control programs coordinate on insecticide procurement, planning, implementation, resistance monitoring, and capacity building. Moreover, increased consideration should be given to alternative vector control tools that prevent the development of insecticide resistance.

R3SOLVE: A Serious Game to Support End-of-Life Rooftop Solar Panel Waste Management

A complex systems model is necessary to holistically address the end-of-life (EoL) solar panel waste problem. However, there is a significant challenge in communicating such a model to stakeholders. Serious games can overcome this challenge by simplifying a complex model via a user-friendly interface. It enables stakeholders to experiment with different decisions and understand their long-term impacts in a safe environment. In this paper, a serious game called R3SOLVE was designed from a previously developed system dynamics (SD) model. The goal of the game is to achieve certain collection and recovery outcomes through a mix of decisions ranging from product stewardship strategies, landfill regulation, technological investment, promotional effort, reuse strategy, and infrastructure improvement. The game has a single player mode, where a player can access all decisions, and a multiplayer (turn-based) mode, where two players with different roles work collaboratively to achieve the desired outcome. Rewards and penalties also exist in the game to promote players’ extrinsic motivation to use critical thinking. Both game modes have been tested in separate workshops to identify bugs and issues regarding goal clarity and in-game information. Future directions to conduct stakeholder workshops and the evaluation approach are also suggested at the end of this paper.

A comparative analysis of green-lean-six sigma enablers and environmental outcomes: a natural resource-based view

PurposeDespite differing strategies towards environmental sustainability in developed and developing nations, the manufacturing sector in these regional domains faces substantial environmental issues. The purpose of this study is to examine the green-lean-six sigma (GLSS) enablers and outcomes for enhancing environmental sustainability of manufacturing firms in both, a developed and developing country context by using an environment-centric natural resource-based view (NRBV).Design/methodology/approachFirst, a framework of GLSS enablers and outcomes aligned with the NRBV strategic capabilities is proposed through a systematic literature review. Second, this framework is used to empirically investigate the GLSS enablers and outcomes of manufacturing firms through in-depth interviews with lean six sigma and environmental consultants from New Zealand (NZ) and Pakistan (PK) (developed and developing nations).FindingsAnalysis from both regional domains highlights the use of GLSS enablers and outcomes under different NRBV capabilities of pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development. A comparison reveals that NZ firms practice GLSS to comply with environmental regulatory requirements, avoid penalties and maintain their clean-green image. Conversely, Pakistani firms execute GLSS to reduce energy use, satisfy international customers and create a green image.Practical implicationsThis paper provides new insights on GLSS for environmental sustainability which can assist industrial experts and academia for future strategies and research.Originality/valueThis is one of the early comparative studies that has used the NRBV to investigate GLSS enablers and outcomes in manufacturing firms for enhancing environmental performance comparing developed and developing nations

Sustainable Manufacturing Strategies Adopted by ConstructionEquipment Manufacturing Industries in India

India is a developing country and is laying emphasis on the infrastructure growth and is focusing on development of telecommunications, airlines, airports, ports, highways, railways, housing, power, motor vehicles, banking, manufacturing and others. The impact of development is seen on the environment in the form of air pollution, greenhouse gases emission, water pollution, land pollution, noise pollution, waste generation and its management, depletion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, loss of water bodies, deforestation, threat to animal life and so on. An approach to balance development, environment impact and wellbeing of society is the need. Sustainable development, along with sustainable manufacturing strategies and sustainable performance measures, is required to facilitate and monitor the infrastructure growth, manufacturing growth and use of goods and services to keep a balance between environment and growth. For the infrastructure development, construction equipment are widely used and hence it is important that their manufacturing and use should be sustainable. This paper focuses on the sustainable strategies adopted by earthmoving and construction equipment manufacturing industries in India which include prevention of pollution, clean technology, product stewardship, life cycle assessment and impact on the environment in the entire life cycle of the product. The paper concludes that the efforts in this direction are presently focused on reducing CO2 emissions, energy conservation and designing and manufacturing the products reducing impact on environment by making them more fuel, carbon and consumable efficient. The scope of this paper is limited to original equipment manufacturers of the earthmoving and construction equipment and does not cover the complete value chain in the life cycle of product. The methodology deployed included introduction to the topic, review of literature, formulating questionnaire and getting responses on questionnaire from the earthmoving and construction equipment manufacturing organisations and use of the statistical tool of Relative Importance Index (RII) for analysing the result. The goal of this paper is to identify the sustainable strategies adopted by these organisations and what aspects are currently being focused and what are the other focus areas. The same is adequately described in the result and discussion section. High importance is given to technologies reducing CO2 emissions, energy consumption and conservation and designing the product to be more fuel-, carbon- and consumable-efficient. Circular economy concepts, integrating the suppliers to reduce environmental impacts in value chain, and renewable energy use are in the initial phase and catching up.

Interseeding alfalfa into corn silage increases corn N fertilizer demand and increases system yield

Interseeding alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) into corn (Zea mays L.) harvested as silage can increase rotation productivity and reduce negative environmental impacts, but the importance of N fertilizer management for successful implementation of the interseeding system remains unexplored. Nitrogen fertilizer enhanced leaf chlorophyll content, corn silage yield, and total N content of corn with interseeded alfalfa and conventional solo-seeded corn at two locations in southern Wisconsin. However, greater N rates (additional 83 kg N ha−1 at one location; could not be estimated at second location) were needed to maximize corn silage yield when alfalfa was interseeded, suggesting that alfalfa effectively competed with corn for N. Maximum corn silage yields were depressed by 7–16% when alfalfa was interseeded, but interseeded alfalfa yields in the subsequent year were 40–160% greater than spring-seeded alfalfa, resulting in greater total forage yield over the 2-year study period. Alfalfa plant density after corn silage harvest was greatest at low N rates, but all N rates resulted in acceptable stands with good yields in the second year of the studies. This is the first demonstration that application of additional N fertilizer can ensure high interseeded corn silage yields without causing major issues with alfalfa establishment. Additionally, split N application where half of the N rate was broadcast at planting and the balance banded along the corn row as a side-dressing did not influence most corn or alfalfa N responses compared to a single broadcast application at planting. Results of this work and previous studies suggest near maximal yields of corn silage can be obtained in this interseeding system if N is applied at 224 kg ha−1, but further refinement of fertilizer and other crop management practices is, however, needed to maximize the forage production and environmental stewardship potential of this system.

Realignment of Product Stewardship towards Chemical Regulations, the Circular Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility – a Delphi Study

Realignment of Product Stewardship towards Chemical Regulations, the Circular Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility – a Delphi Study

Sustainable development in aviation logistics: Successful drivers and business strategies

AbstractFirms looking to implement sustainable development confront the problem of choosing among myriad options. To help them overcome it, this study develops two‐stage data‐driven analytics aimed at establishing which alternatives for sustainable development are most likely to succeed, based on careful scrutiny of sustainable‐aviation cases. Specifically, it first ascertains the factors that are most critical to aviation logistics in general and then goes on to identify the vital drivers of successful sustainable development in the same field. The analytical results of the proposed models reveal that sustainable initiatives (ecological conservation and environmental R&D), weight, conversion, and fuel efficiency are successful drivers for organizations to achieve environmental sustainability in aviation logistics. Furthermore, natural‐resource‐based view theory is utilized to develop business strategies that involve eco‐friendly initiatives, product stewardship, and clean technologies.

Foxes Guarding the Hen House?

For the first time since the enactment of the Waste Minimisation Act 2008, New Zealand is applying regulated (or mandatory) product stewardship to several priority products. By making those who manufacture, sell and use products responsible for minimising the waste those products cause, well-designed product stewardship schemes can act as a critical tool in the transition to a circular economy. However, the New Zealand government has put its faith in industry to lead scheme design. Such an approach threatens to vitiate robust, ambitious schemes and foreground industry interests over those of wider society and the natural environment. This article juxtaposes the radical potential of product stewardship against the probable outcome of industry-led schemes, and recommends reforms that the minister for the environment should pursue in order to shift the dial towards more inclusive design of product stewardship schemes.

Dynamic modelling of Australian rooftop solar photovoltaic product stewardship transition

As rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption in Australia is exponentially growing in the past decade, there is a need to promote effective product stewardship for PV panels reaching their end-of-life (EoL). This paper presents the development of a System Dynamics (SD) model for managing EoL rooftop PV panels based on the circular economy concept. Four stages of the SD modelling process include problem scoping and variable identification, model conceptualisation, SD model development, and scenario analysis. Stakeholder engagement is central to this research as the system under study is underpinned by high uncertainties and limited data availability. Four socio-technical transition pathways examined in this study include market-driven growth, conservative development, shared responsibility, and disruptive change. The simulation results indicated an improvement of collection and recovery performance when a stringent product stewardship scheme is enabled and improvement of installers’ participation in the collection program. This study argued that a system of shared responsibility will be capable of balancing techno-economic motivations of stakeholders across the supply chain to participate in the recovery scheme, while being less disruptive to PV adoption. Under this scenario, a gradual change in regulatory requirements (e.g. recovery target and material recovery rate requirements) is introduced to allow a period of industry and market development.

SMEs’ charismatic leadership, product life cycle, environmental performance, and financial performance: A mediated moderation model

In recent years, researchers have begun to examine the effects of charismatic leadership on environmental performance. Previous studies have considered how the stages of product life cycles influence green manufacturing, but have neglected to explore the connections among charismatic leadership, environmental performance, and product life cycle. To investigate these connections, survey data were collected from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) along the east coast of China. The main findings included a mediated moderation effect to connect those concepts and enriched the literature of organizational context and natural-resource-based view. Precisely, we concluded that the product life cycle is a contextual factor in the effects of charismatic leadership on environmental performance to support the strategy of product stewardship; SMEs’ charismatic leadership helps share visions among stakeholders for promoting environmental performance and sustainable development; and environmental performance ultimately improves financial performance for sustainability.

Green banking: a conceptual framework

The purpose of this study is to develop a multidimensional framework for Green Banking Adoption. The study proposes the Green Banking Adoption based on the Natural-Resource-Based View (NRBV) of the firm. The first-order constructs in the framework have been derived from the three green capabilities in NRBV of the firm. These reflective constructs lead towards the second-order construct of Green Banking Adoption. The proposed framework is developed and justified on a theoretical basis and through secondary data. This paper develops the second-order construct of Green Banking Adoption in congruence with the NRBV capabilities i.e. pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development. The framework proposes a pathway for the adoption of Green Banking. The analysis and discussion are based on various examples of the adoption of the proposed indicators by existing Green Banks. This framework can serve as a benchmark for gauging a bank's progress along the Green Banking Adoption paths. The discussion reveals that the proposed green constructs can create a reflective relationship with Green Banking Adoption by undertaking a phase-wise adoption path. The propositions are based on existing industry standards and best practices by industry leaders.

A Submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry on the Right to Repair

Executive Summary: The Productivity Commission is to be congratulated for producing a comprehensive discussion paper on the complex and tangled topic of the right to repair. Taking an interdisciplinary, holistic approach to the issue, the Productivity Commission shows a strong understanding that the topic of the right to repair is a multifaceted policy issue. Its draft report covers the fields of consumer law, competition policy, intellectual property, product stewardship, and environmental law. The Productivity Commission displays a great comparative awareness of developments in other jurisdictions in respect of the right to repair. The policy body is also sensitive to the international dimensions of the right to repair – particularly in light of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Productivity Commission puts forward a compelling package of recommendations, which will be useful in achieving law reform in respect of the right to repair in Australia.

Adaptation of resilient regenerative agricultural practices by small-scale growers towards sustainable food production in north-central Arizona

The demand for agricultural lands for other uses because of population growth and extreme climate in Arizona led to 57% decrease in average farm size and 127% increase in farm numbers from 1997 to 2017, which threaten sustainable local food production. Small-scale family farms of less than 10 acres make up 50% of the farmer population in the state and have a vital role in resilient and sustainable practices that maximize land use with less negative impact on the environment. This study investigated land use and farm practices among small-scale growers in north-central Arizona in their resilience in sustainable food production. The finding revealed 52% of the small farms are family operations with dominant regenerative and sustainable practices (27% cover cropping, 26% compost, 23% crop rotation, 22% animal and green manure, 21% no-till, and 18% reduced tillage) with less interest in conventional practices (5% intensive tillage and 13% synthetic fertilizers). Ninety-five percent of the growers used biological, cultural, or mechanical practices for weed, pest, and disease control, while only 5% used conventional synthetic chemicals. For water use, 78% of the growers used water-saving irrigation practices (drip, subsurface, and sprinklers), while 11% used open flood irrigation. Driving forces for the sustainable practices among the small-scale growers are their consumers (community supported agriculture, restaurants, Farmers' Markets, and farm stands) and extreme climate conditions. Small-scale growers have great potential in advancing resilient, environmentally friendly practices for sustainable local food production and environmental stewardship.