Sustainable Priorities Research Articles

Appropriation of sustainability priorities to gain strategic advantage in a supply chain

PurposeThe authors develop a methodology to select appropriate sustainable supply chain indicators (SSCIs) to measure Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the global supply chain.Design/methodology/approachSSCIs are identified by reviewing the extant literature and topic modeling. Further, they are evaluated based on existing SDGs and ranked using the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. Notably, the evaluation of indicators is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) process within a fuzzy environment. The methodology has been explained using a case study from the automobile industry.FindingsThe case study identifies appropriate SSCIs and differentiates them among peer suppliers for gaining a competitive advantage. The results reveal that top-ranked sustainability indicators include the management of natural resources, energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and social investment.Practical implicationsThe study outcome will enable suppliers, specialists and decision makers to understand the criteria that improve supply chain sustainability in the automobile industry. The analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of the competitive package of indicators for gaining strategic advantage. This proactive sustainability indicator selection promotes and enhances sustainability reporting while fulfilling regulatory requirements and increasing collaboration potential with trustworthy downstream partners. This study sets the stage for further research in SSCIs’ competitive strategy in the automobile industry along with its supply chains.Originality/valueThis study is unique as it provides a framework for determining relevant SSCIs, which can be distinguished from peer suppliers, while also matching economic, environmental and social metrics to achieve a competitive advantage.

Evaluation and selection of sustainable hydrogen production technology with hybrid uncertain sustainability indicators based on rough-fuzzy BWM-DEA

This study is aiming to propose a framework integrating new criteria system, rough-fuzzy best-worst method (BWM) and rough-fuzzy data envelopment analysis (DEA) for evaluation and selection of sustainable hydrogen production technologies (HPTs) with hybrid types of sustainability indicators (i.e. quantitative and qualitative) and hybrid decision uncertainties (i.e. intrapersonal linguistic vagueness and interpersonal preference randomness). The rough-fuzzy BWM is presented to determine the relative weights of sustainability criteria and the rough-fuzzy DEA is proposed for prioritizing the alternative HPTs with hybrid types of performance data (including crisp number, interval number and group linguistic terms). Such integration combines the collaborative capability of rough-fuzzy number in fully manipulating hybrid uncertainties, the merits of BWM in quickly searching optimal weights and the advantages of DEA in effectively obtaining efficiency with multiscale input and output data. The application of the proposed approach to five typical HPTs with 14 hybrid uncertain sustainability indicators show that the wind-based electrolysis has the most sustainability priority (0.480) for hydrogen production compared with coal gasification (0.035), steam methane reforming (0.056), biomass gasification (0.246) and photovoltaic-based electrolysis (0.182). Moreover, the comparisons with other methods demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

National Versus Local Sustainable Development Plans and Island Priorities in Sanitation: Examples from the Kingdom of Tonga

Sanitation, water supply, and their governance remain major challenges in many Pacific Island countries. National sustainable development strategies (NSDSs) are promoted throughout the Pacific as overarching improved governance instruments to identify priorities, plan solutions, and fulfill commitments to sustainable development. Their relevance to local village-level development priorities is uncertain. In this work we compare national priorities for sanitation in NSDSs with those in village community development plans (CDPs) and with metrics in censuses from the Kingdom of Tonga. Tonga’s Strategic Development Frameworks (TSDFI 2011–2014 and TSDFII 2015–2025) were developed to focus government and its agencies on national outcomes. From 2007 to 2016, 136 villages throughout Tonga’s five Island Divisions (IDs) formulated CDPs involving separately 80% of women, youth, and men in each village. It is shown that censuses in 2006 and 2016 reveal linked improvements in water supply and sanitation systems but identify IDs with continuing challenges. It is found that sanitation and water are a national priority in TSDFI but are absent from the current TSDFII. In contrast, analysis of CDPs, published just after TSDFII, show in one ID, 53% of villages ranked sanitation as a priority and marked differences were found between IDs and between women, youth, and men. CDPs’ sanitation priorities in IDs are shown to mostly correspond to sanitation and water metrics in the censuses, but some reflect impacts of natural disasters. Explanations for differences in sanitation priorities between the national and local development plans, as well as suggestions for improving NSDS processes in island countries, are advanced.

A coordination perspective on dialogue processes between planners and developers in a sustainable urban development project

Several of Sweden’s Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) use developer dialogue processes between them and building actors to aid in the implementation of urban development projects. The idea is often to achieve ambitious local sustainability and to encourage a generally appreciated collaborative culture; however, processes of planners/developers interactions are challenging to manage in practice. In this study, we aim to depict and analyse a developer dialogue process used by a Swedish LPA in an on-going sustainable urban development project through the theoretical lens of organizational coordination mechanisms. Particular focus is placed on exploring how planners and develops interact while negotiating and implementing locally defined sustainability priorities. Empirical material was collected through document analysis, workshops and interviews with LPA representatives. Findings from the ongoing study indicates that the LPA manage a mixture of formal and informal interdependencies throughout in an attempt to achieve a greater fulfilment of their sustainability goals, and better outcomes in terms of product compliance. Furthermore, the use of coordination mechanisms for analysing the project seems to represent an important instrumental knowledge gap for better understanding sustainable urban development projects’ implementation and outcomes.

Delivering sustainable transport infrastructure projects (railway) in Nigeria: Frameworks, indicators, method and tools

This study presented the issue of railway transportation infrastructure sustainability which involves multi-dimensional view of sustainability criteria such as economy, environment and society with the problem of non-systematic method of assessment in Nigeria. The aim of this study is to ascertain the extent of practice of sustainability in railway transportation infrastructure projects through the frame work, methods, tools and identify infrastructure sustainability priority indicators amongst stakeholders. In this research, weighted sum model technique in multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), was used. This section formulates the mathematical model for computing the sustainability index (SI) using the Weighted Sum Model (WSM) which is structured in three steps. Also employed in the assessment is cognitive/reasoning map decision aid for infrastructure sustainability appraisal. This study also discussed the issue of key performance project indicators for transport infrastructure using sustainability appraisal in infrastructure projects (SUSAIP). Sustainability indicators are discoursed base on regional level(s), for example All-region represents cumulative results from the four regions. The result of the questionnaire based indicators validation by the stakeholders indicates that some indicators can easily be influence due to unexpected changes or regional priorities. Because of non-availability of systematic method of appraisal of sustainability criteria and priority indicators in practice level. This paper proposed gradual exploitation and collaborating decision frameworks for evaluation and mathematical foundation models. This method employed computational analysis in quantitative based decision-making crisp value and sustainability index for railway transport infrastructure projects assessment in Nigeria.
 Keywords: Cognitive/reasoning map, key performance indicators, Sustainability criteria, sustainability assessment tools, transport infrastructure projects, and weighted sum model.

Regenerativescapes: Incremental Evaluation for the Regeneration of Unresolved Territories in East Naples

The unresolved territories are privileged places for the proliferation of degradation phenomena that affect the environment and human well-being. The impacts of their critical conditions go beyond the limits of the damaged urban fragments, involving the built environment, society, economy, culture, and conditioning quality of life. This paper proposes a methodological approach to landscape design supported by an evaluation framework to orient strategic design planning with specific attention to unresolved territories consistent with the circular economy perspective. The circular city principles are applied to landscape spatial planning, by operationalising Ecosystem Services, Landscape Services, and Ecosystem Disservices, as interpretative categories for multi-dimensional regenerative strategies. Starting from a theoretical framework, the objective of the analysis is to implement an approach to the regenerative design of landscapes of waste, defined wastescapes. The industrial area of East Naples is the case study where an incremental evaluative approach has been defined to design scenarios to provide services and values, aimed to drive the conversion in a regenerativescape. A multi-criteria analysis through preference ranking organisation method for enriched evaluation (PROMETHEE)-GAIA method has been implemented to compare the base case scenario with two incremental new scenarios and identify situated sustainable priorities.

Social sustainability and the argan boom as green development in Morocco

Morocco markets argan oil as a fair-traded, organic health and beauty elixir that women extract in an ancient forest protected internationally to clean the world’s air. Since the 1990s, the kingdom has partnered with global governance organizations and foreign investors to develop the argan forest as a coveted natural resource, designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1998. Large-scale investments in reforestation and “arganiculture” propose to mitigate carbon emissions, alleviate poverty, and empower women workers at proliferating state-subsidized argan oil cooperatives in the export-oriented commodity value chain. This impact evaluation of the booming argan enterprise weighs the social benefits and costs of a transnational push that prioritizes economic growth over social sustainability. Empirical data from 829 surveys with local residents depict an unregulated, informal commercial sector at odds with the inclusive neoliberal development narrative on the whole. Results show rural women and their communities exposed to risks in a centralized, market-driven extractivist industry geared toward consumers. The top-down argan boom has triggered new legislation and innovations in science and technology that have shifted control of the land, agroforestry practices, and oil extraction process from local producers to the state. Women and the rural poor have thus been divested of their patrimony and marginally sustained as manual labor rather than effectively empowered. Moving forward, rebalancing economic, environmental, and social sustainability priorities will require initiatives informed by empowerment indicators, revised regulatory policies, diversified investment strategies, and commitment to assuring compliance, transparency, and impartial assessment of benefits and costs to women workers.

Inclusive Economic Sustainability: SDGs and Global Inequality

In view of the 2020 global health crisis and its repercussions on the global economy, the need to redirect conventional economic thinking towards securing global economic sustainability is most critical. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a significant move in this direction. However, in the past few years, a clearer understanding of inclusive economics and sustainability indicators have progressed our ability to reduce economic exclusion, chiefly represented by global inequality. Collective wellbeing within the “global village” is shaped largely by these avenues/directions, thus presenting the question: can an improved combination of sustainability priorities be identified that would substantially enhance countries’ adoption of the SDGs? New, inclusive paths to economic progress are essential to a world economy in crisis recovery mode. The aim of the paper is to qualitatively identify key indicators from these different directions to, collectively, address some of the most significant drivers of global inequality, thus improving the adoption rate of the SDGs. As its main contribution, the study found that for economic inclusivity to realistically reduce global inequality its full integration into three areas is necessary: business models, public policy and community development. This should also be supported by “social covenants” to facilitate improved SDG adoption by countries.

Towards a Sustainable Vocational Career

The goals of sustainable development set priorities for a broad range of stakeholders, i.e. individuals, organisations, societies, and states. They translate into career management priorities, with a view to making careers sustainable. The article presents the preliminary results of the analysis of the concept and the range of meanings of a sustainable career. As a result of a critical analysis and the placement of this concept in the area of management and quality, the assumptions and the definition of a sustainable vocational career were formulated, indicating that it is a sequential arrangement of personal work and outof-work experience related to the performance of work that make it possible to retain physical and mental health and to match competences in a manner enabling productive and meaningful work over a long period.

Sustainability Management of Organic Food Organizations: A Case Study of Azerbaijan

Potentially, sustainable development can lead to the global alignment of goals and values, such as social justice and environmental balance. This study examines the supplier sustainability management programs that exist in the food industry and combine economic, environmental, and social priorities using sustainability theory. The study aims to identify sustainability priorities and develops recommendations for Azerbaijani agrifood policy in order to ensure the dynamic sustainable development of the national food industry and economy. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model and the priority theory enabled the identification of global priorities in relation to Ganja Agribusiness Association (GABA). These priorities include climatic conditions issues, certification standards and labels, possibility of acquiring land in private ownership, price of land, and qualification characteristics of the workforce.

Changes in Sustainability Priorities in Organisations due to the COVID-19 Outbreak: Averting Environmental Rebound Effects on Society

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected societies and organisations in an unprecedented way. This has resulted in negative impacts to economic and social issues, but it is a “blessing in disguise” for environmental issues. This paper analyses how the outbreak has affected organisations’ sustainability priorities. Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, such priorities were on the economic dimension followed by the environmental and social dimensions. A survey was sent to 11,657 organisations to analyse such changes, with a 5.60% response rate. The results show that for organisations, the main priority is now on the social dimension, followed by the economic one; however, the environmental dimension has suffered a negative impact in prioritisation, regardless of organisation type, country where they are based, organisation size, or the time they have been working on sustainability. We are currently facing an environmental conundrum, where air quality has improved and pollution has decreased in societies, but organisations are starting to neglect such environmental issues. The COVID-19 outbreak is an opportunity for organisations to better contribute to sustainability by ensuring that the efforts that have been undertaken in the last three decades are not forgotten, and that societies and organisations are better coupled to face such crises and avert rebound effects.

Diversification of Municipalities Located in the Impact Area of National Parks in Terms of Environmental Requirements of Sustainable Tourism

The main objective of the paper was to show the diversification of Polish municipalities that have national parks within their boundaries in terms of implementing sustainable tourism priorities. The study focused on ecological and environmental aspects, primarily related to the shaping and maintenance of green areas, as well as waste and wastewater management. The assessment was based on statistical data taken from the Local Data Bank for the years 2012–2018. The authors determined their own set of indicators, describing green areas management, the environmental risk associated with waste and wastewater generation, and the reshaping of the forest and agricultural landscape. The obtained results were compared with the spatial diversification of the surveyed administrative units in terms of tourist attractiveness carried out by us in 2018. The study made it possible to indicate, among others, municipalities that are prime tourist destinations and have highly developed tourist facilities, but do not keep up with sustainable tourism activities. There are also units that carry out activities in the field of forest and agricultural land protection, invest in public green areas, properly manage sewage and wastewater, and, at the same time, are not attractive for tourists.

Historical aspects of sustainable development and economic evolution interconnection

The research is based on idea that sustainable development like a basic idea remains the same from the beginning but its content, priorities, and methods are evolving simultaneously with the economy. The comprehensive analysis of stages of evolution and prognosis of economic development will give a clue of the future sustainable priorities. Evolutionary changes in the economy created the background and incentives to the concept of sustainable development progress. The main idea of sustainable development, which could be briefly described like balancing between the scarcity of resources and infinity of ideas (desires) for an uncertain long period of time, is consistent with the basic principles of the economy. That gives us a possibility to predict when the next step in sustainable development will be done in accordance with the world economic dynamic. Systematization and analysis of economic development through the prism of sustainable development give us a clue for understanding instigators in the sustainable development evolution: The necessity of overcoming economic resections and crises in the most efficient and effective way. That means that we also need new ideas, new imperatives for development and basis for overcoming social inequity which has been deepening during every economic trouble and slowed down the reforming because of low governmental support; the increasing world inequality which exacerbates the global imbalance and at the end slows down the world economic development. The evolution becomes possible when coming through all stages of evolutionary development - de-coordination, re-coordination, new order. The first phase corresponds to the creation of a point of disturbance, which could be a potential source of growth or change. The second phase is the process of re-coordination of macrolevel (macro order) as a result of continuing dissatisfaction of local unites and the impossibility of meso level to solve them. The third phase is the creation of the new order, different from the older one by its approaches, methods, tools for solving the problems raised from the microlevel and also added through globalization processes and openness. This is the evolution of sustainable development, and these processes can be tracked and predicted through the evolutionary economy.

Cruise and container shipping companies: a comparative analysis of sustainable development goals through environmental sustainability disclosure

ABSTRACT The shipping industry, due to the ships’ gigantism trend and the concentration of operations in specific regions, is considered the source of both positive and negative impacts for port-cities. The ambitious objective of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for the decarbonisation of the sector till 2050 has further shifted attention on the activities and policies that shipping companies adopt and implement not only for complying with international regulations but moving beyond, integrating sustainability priorities and goals into their corporate strategic planning. In the context of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, this paper aims at investigating the nature and orientation of voluntary disclosure practices and environmental sustainability for achieving the SDGs in the maritime industry, focusing on the cruise and container shipping markets. Analysis confirms the companies’ commitment towards meeting the 2030 Agenda through dedicated sustainability strategies. However, it revealed the qualitative nature of reported information and the lack of specific indicators for measuring and evaluating sustainability performance at the corporate level.

Rural development and shifts in household dietary practices from 1999 to 2010 in the Tapaj\xf3s River region, Brazilian Amazon: empirical evidence from dietary surveys

English abstractBackgroundResearch on changing dietary practices is rare in lower and middle income countries, and understanding the impact of global economic processes on population health and nutrition is important, especially of rural communities. We analyzed the diet of 22 families in Brasília Legal, a riverside community in the Tapajós River region of the Brazilian Amazon, using nonparametric tests to compare dietary surveys taken in 1999 and 2010.ResultsData from the two surveys show that food obtained through commercial supply chains became more frequent in household diets, corresponding to significant increases in daily consumption of food items rich in energy, protein, and sugar. At the same time, there was a decline in traditional Amazonian food intake.ConclusionsComparing these results with household socio-economic characteristics and drawing on open-ended interviews, we consider the multiple influences that economic development processes may have had on local diets. The introduction of new income sources and employment opportunities, infrastructural and transportation expansion, as well as environmental change appear to have influenced the observed dietary shifts. Such shifts are likely to have important implications for the nutritional status of communities in the Amazon, highlighting concerning trade-offs between current development trajectories and human health. Public policies and health education programs must urgently consider the interactions between sustainable development priorities in order to address emerging health risks in this rapidly changing region.

Marriott's strategic sustainability priorities in the Chinese hotel industry

Using Mihalic et al.'s (2012) hotel sustainability business framework as its lens, this study provides an empirical analysis of a leading western hotel chain's sustainability priorities in its entry and subsequent operations in China's emerging hotel industry. A qualitative study of company documentation and semi-structured interviews with 12 senior managers at Marriott International in China indicated that seven sustainability strategies were prioritised by the chain (i.e., domestic employee development and satisfaction, resource allocation and education, guest satisfaction, domestic government engagement, the power to change participation, and the need to establish a positively differentiated labour-market position). This study and proposes a range of sustainability research opportunities in emerging hotel industry contexts. In addition to this, a range of practical implications for sustainability management in emerging hotel industry settings are presented.

Marriott's strategic sustainability priorities in the Chinese hotel industry

Marriott's strategic sustainability priorities in the Chinese hotel industry

Mental healthcare in Pakistan

Background: According to the latest report, over 15 million people in Pakistan are suffering from some form of mental illness. But for a population of 220 million, only 400 trained psychiatrists exist with few state-run psychiatric hospitals and a small number of psychiatric units in teaching and general hospitals. In a traditionalist society, there is frequently a social disgrace together with discussing dysfunctional or abnormal behaviors as mental health problems and is generally described as a “shortcoming of character.” Methods: We carried out comprehensive literature review to collect data on the current mental health picture in Pakistan, and we also compared and formulated the recommendations from the literature of the related countries in the region and developed countries whenever possible. Results: Mental healthcare is still not a priority in the health system in Pakistan. A dire need still exists for a recognition from both public and private sectors for improving mental health planning and services in the country. Government must actualize social strategies that should be simple, equitable, and practical, as well as being able to address the issues of the regular needs. Asset allotment for emotional wellness is horrifyingly low and wasted away by defilement and fumble. A requirement exists for expanded spending on mental healthcare and psychological and emotional well-being just as appropriate usage of accessible assets. Conclusion: In this review, we suggest that a progressive change is required in the current state of psychiatry in Pakistan and that a need exists for a continuing review about existing strategies with a focus on setting sustainable priorities in the field of mental health, especially in policymaking, capacity building, awareness among public, and the use of media to minimize stigma.

Better healthcare setting for better healthcare service quality

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess and compare different private healthcare settings based on perceived service quality in Indian context using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The Indian private healthcare sector has been controlled by three categories of healthcare settings, namely, nursing clinics (NCs), non-corporate hospitals (NCHs) and corporate hospitals (CHs). Design/methodology/approach AHP was used to rank order of healthcare setting regarding the service quality dimensions and relative standings of every service provider with respect to its competitors. The authors collected random data from nine private hospitals situated in eastern and southern India. The authors proposed a feasible appraising approach based on AHP to decide the sustainability priority of dimensions like reliability, physical environment, empathy, efficiency, timeliness, transparency, affordability, communication, appropriateness and consistency in the Indian private healthcare industry. Findings The result demonstrates that Indian NCHs are performing better on customers’ perceived service quality, followed by CHs and NCs. The comparative performance of healthcare settings is an attempt to establish a performance ranking. Originality/value This research assesses dimensions of the service quality that need urgent attention. The results may provide insight to healthcare managers as to how they can improve their service quality in order to match customer expectation and to improve business performance.

Sustainability for Food Consumers: Which Perception?

A sustainable future for the community is one of the objectives established by the European Union Agenda 2030. Furthermore, sustainable consumption has been identified as one of the possible trajectories for sustainable development. It is for this reason that food production, distribution and consumption ways cannot be overlooked for sustainability achievement, as well as the consumer’s related perception. In this research the Best–Worst scaling methodology was adopted to explore the priorities declared by a sample of 801 consumers among 12 different sustainability definitions selected from the scientific literature. The choice experiment was carried out through face-to-face interviews during two food and wine events closely related to the sustainability theme in the food sector. The respondents considered as sustainability priority definition the “preservation of natural resources”, followed by “decent working conditions” and “accessibility for everyone to healthy and safe food”. Moreover, 5 consumer’s clusters were identified according to the priorities assigned to the different sustainability definitions, as well as to individuals socio-demographic characteristics. The description of the priorities assigned by the clusters to the different sustainability definitions have also been described as guidelines for consumer attitudes towards the different sustainability dimensions (environmental, social, economic and governance).