The social dimension as a driver of sustainable development: the case of family farms in southeast Spain

The social pillar has often been treated as an ‘add on’ in sustainable development studies, and analyses of its ‘proactivity’ in economic, environmental, and social transformations to sustainability outcomes are scant. The present paper looks at the social dimension as a key driver of sustainable development. Social factors in the farming system in southeast Spain are analyzed to show how family farms and their networks can integrate socio-economic and eco-social goals, promoting the generation of synergies and trade-offs between the dimensions of sustainability. This study contributes to existing debate on the role of family farms in the framework of European rural development.     

Social sustainability performance indicators – experiences from process industry

Sustainable industrial development can be advanced through the development and application of sustainability metrics. This study addressed the application of social sustainability metrics to the measurement of sustainability performance within process industry and to metal production at the plant level in particular. The applied social sustainability indicators are one part of the overall sustainability index which aims at presenting a balanced and holistic view of plant-level sustainability performance. Application of plant-level indicators can support informed decision-making and fill in potential gaps in corporate-level assessments and reporting initiatives with respect to plant-level social sustainability performance. The social part of the overall index provides information on both in-plant sustainability performance and on the direct and in-direct impacts of plant operations on the surrounding society with special emphasis on the supply chain and emerging social due diligence aspects. The results of pilot implementation of social indicators in Ruukki Lappohja plant indicated a very high level of social sustainability performance with minor areas of improvement such as social risk management auditing covering the whole supply chain, suppliers communication on social responsibility requirements to workers and sub-suppliers, signing of the code of conduct by employees and reporting on policies on local community relations, safety in supply chain covering suppliers and contractors and factory health and safety performance in relation to average field of industry performance in this field.     

Manufacturing system sustainability through lean and agile initiatives

Sustainability is one of the most critical issues facing manufacturers today. The industries must develop new and innovative approaches to ensure sustainability in economic, environmental and social aspects. The operational excellence strategies such as Lean and Agile manufacturing can be applied in the industries that add value to the product by eliminating waste and quickly respond to dynamic changes in demand. This paper presents a framework that builds and assesses the sustainability of the manufacturing system with combined lean and agile concepts. Analytical Hierarchy Process and Analytical Network Process are identified as suitable methodologies to analyze the model. The model is validated in an Ayurveda Pharmaceutical industry to identify the most important factors of lean and agile manufacturing that build and enable the sustainability dimensions such as Economic, Environmental, Social, Technological and Ethical. The results show that the industry focuses more on economic aspects of sustainability followed by social, environmental, ethics and technological dimensions of sustainability in the case of a lean perspective. For an agile perspective, the weightage is more for social dimension followed by ethics, economic, technological and environmental dimensions of sustainability.     

基于效果-效率-适应性的养殖废弃物资源化利用管理模式评价框架构建及初步应用

由于产业发展正处于转型阶段,我国畜禽养殖污染治理中的管理问题比技术问题更加突出,选择适宜的组织管理模式尤其重要。融合了效果分析、效率评价和适应性分析,尝试构建一个养殖废弃物资源化利用管理模式综合评价框架,并选择太湖流域4个不同类型的典型案例进行方法例证。研究表明,传统的养殖企业主导型管理模式应用于小型、分散养殖废弃物资源化利用时面临着经济效率低、适应性差难题;农村废弃物处理中心、种植企业和有机肥企业的参与可以改善小型、分散养殖废弃物资源化利用的经济效率;综合考虑效果、效率与适应性,种植企业、有机肥企业主导型模式的适宜推广范围更广。应根据不同地区种植-养殖产业关系、污染治理需求、经济发展水平与政府投入能力等,灵活组合应用不同管理模式。     

Development of composite sustainable supply chain performance index for the automobile industry

The automobile companies are becoming increasingly aware about the importance of sustainability and its challenges. In order to compete in the global market, the industry has responded to these challenges by identifying the sustainability indicators. It is quite difficult to evaluate the performance of the company on the basis of large number of sustainability indicators. Integration of key sustainability indicators is quite essential for effective decision-making. This article presents an integrated method by accommodating both qualitative and quantitative approaches for the development of composite sustainable supply chain (SC) performance index. We applied an integration of fuzzy analytical hierarchy process, Liberatore score and signal-to-noise ratio approaches to compute the index. The proposed methodology demonstrates how quantitative statistical inputs can be combined with expert opinion to construct an overall index of sustainability. The index can be extensively used by SC managers to measure their organization's contribution towards SC sustainability. An application of an integrated methodology is demonstrated for an automobile SC.     

Screening of process alternatives based on sustainability metrics: comparison of two decision-making approaches

Importance of sustainability concerns demands consideration of sustainability design criteria in early stages of process design. Most often there are several alternatives for a particular process which must be compared in terms of sustainability metrics to select the most sustainable design. There are several tools available for evaluation of process alternatives in terms of sustainability concerns. However, there is a need for a screening method which enables engineers to compare and select several alternatives in terms of a multitude of metrics and also incorporate their preferences if required. This study utilizes a recently developed sustainability evaluator for process evaluation and compares overall impact factor method for process screening with a novel fuzzy-based approach. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated though application of the methodology on ibuprofen case study to select the most sustainable design.     

Irish fish, Irish people: roles and responsibilities for an emptying ocean

Human decisions shape patterns of seafood resource use. Consequently, it is also these decisions made by actors within seafood industries which ultimately determine the environmental impact of fisheries resource extraction from marine environments. In this study, we investigated the roles and influences of various actors within the Irish seafood industry. Our objectives were to learn more about the working dynamics of the industry and identify possibilities for improvements towards industry sustainability. We employed qualitative research methods including semi-structured interviews, focus groups and participant observation to access information from Irish consumers, retailers, wholesalers, scientists and key industry informants. The diversity of seafood products available within the Irish market is generally low. However, consumers who experiment with trying new varieties of seafood are influenced by dining experiences at restaurants or while travelling abroad as well as through cooking shows or cookbooks. Potential for influence on factors including consumer choice, stocking and sourcing decisions, business management and fisheries policy was found within all levels of the seafood industry, though a sense of responsibility in the context of seafood sustainability was less common. In addition, the absence of shortages within the Irish market due to imports, aquaculture and mislabelling appears to be preventing widespread acceptance about claims of overfishing. It is clear that ultimately, responsible policy decisions and effective enforcement will be needed to improve the overall sustainability of the industry. However, pressure for positive change can come from all actors that prioritise sustainability as the most important objective for future industry operation.     

Value in sustainability: the process industry perspective

The most important driver for management is successful business that increases its value to shareholders. The adoption of environmentally responsible business practices can open up an additional range of opportunities for companies, for example by improving material efficiency. The choice to improve environmental performance of a company tends to also improve its financial performance. In this paper, our aim is to study the value of sustainability in process and mining industry from the perspective of interest groups such as investors, customers and the public, by using case examples. Interviews and workshops were employed to investigate whether or not investors and customers are interested in sustainability in the process and mining industries. We also illustrate how easy it can be to jeopardize corporate reputation through. The present situation and challenges faced in bringing sustainability into everyday business practices are summarized and proposals made concerning ways to achieve increased sustainability.     

Decision-making for sustainable location of a cement plant in the state of Florida

Site selection is a typical strategic decision for many industries that deals with specifying the most appropriate location for a facility. In the context of sustainable development, site selection decisions need to be improved by adopting environmental, economic and social requirements. This study aims to frame sustainable location decisions by conducting a case study of siting a new cement plant in the state of Florida. As a part of the study, a wide range of technical and sustainability criteria has developed. These criteria can help decision-makers in the cement industry evaluate the selection of a location with the requirements of sustainable development. The sustainability characteristics of alternative sites in the state of Florida are evaluated based on the criteria to identify the most appropriate ones. The analytical hierarchy processand geographic information system techniques are utilized to weight the criteria and evaluate the characteristics of site candidates.     

Understanding and communicating sustainability: global versus regional perspectives

While there is no single definition of sustainability, most would agree that it implies that a system is to be maintained at a certain level, held within certain limits. Sustainability denies run-away growth, but it also precludes any substantial set backs or cuts. This sustainability path is hard to reconcile with the renewal cycle that can be observed in most living systems developing according to their natural intrinsic mechanisms. Besides, since different human dominated systems are in significantly different states and stages of development, sustaining those states assumes maintaining social disparities in perpetuity. This creates a challenge in communicating the ideas of sustainability in different regions. Systems are parts of hierarchies where systems of higher levels are made of subsystems from lower levels. Renewal in components is an important factor of adaptation and evolution. But then sustainability of a system borrows from sustainability of a supra-system and rests upon lack of sustainability in subsystems. Therefore by sustaining certain systems beyond their renewal cycle, we decrease the sustainability of larger, higher level systems. The only way to resolve this contradiction is to agree that the biosphere as a whole with humans as one of its components is the only system which sustainability we are to seek. Readers should send their comments on this paper to BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

Application of fuzzy QFD for enabling sustainability

Contemporary manufacturing organisations recognise sustainability as an important concept for survival. Environmental awareness and recycling regulations have been compelling manufacturers and consumers to evolve sustainable strategies. The modern customers' voices need to be translated with care into technical requirements. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a technique extensively used for this purpose. In order to cope with the vagueness associated with relationships and correlations in QFD, fuzzy numbers have been integrated within a QFD framework and fuzzy QFD has been used in this study. The study is concerned with the application of fuzzy QFD for enabling sustainability in an Indian modular switches manufacturing organisation. The approach is effective in the identification of sustainable competitive bases, sustainable decision domains, sustainable attributes and sustainable enablers for the organisation. The improvement in sustainability has been measured from three perspectives. The results gained as a result of the study indicated that fuzzy QFD could be used as an enabler of sustainability.     

Stakeholder requirements for building energy efficiency in mass housing delivery: the House of Quality approach

Threats of climate change and future energy price uncertainty have led to a global debate on energy efficiency, particularly the energy efficiency of housing projects. This serious global problem calls for improvement in energy efficiency from all sectors, especially the building sector which is considered a major energy consumer. Adoption of energy efficiency design practices in the housing sector has been perceived to have a significant potential to contribute greatly to the sustainable building process. Additionally, most studies indicate that the understanding and integration of stakeholder requirements has an enormous potential towards increasing the sustainability perspectives that relate to social, environmental, economic and technical issues of buildings. However, there is enough evidence from several studies suggesting a lack of common perspective on stakeholder requirements towards building energy efficiency (BEE) in housing development. Hence it is argued that stakeholders’ alignment for energy efficiency improvement is crucial and a fundamental challenge that needs to be addressed if the goal of energy use reduction in buildings is to be achieved. The aim of this paper is to identify the important building energy requirements among stakeholders of mass housing projects and their impact on technical characteristics of mass housing projects. Through a survey of building industry stakeholders and using the House of Quality model for analysis of the data obtained, the study identified five (5) most rated BEE stakeholders’ requirements in respect of housing development. The study gives a new insight into the considerations of building stakeholders regarding energy efficiency. This insight is useful towards achieving sustainable building solutions that meet the sustainability features of housing development in Ghana and other countries with similar energy and housing challenges.     

Social metrics in the process industry: background,theory and development work

Sustainable development as the leading global development paradigm and sustainability as a cornerstone of modern industrial development have guided this development work on social metrics in the process industry. This study addresses the development of social metrics in the process industry and for metal production, in particular, at the plant level. The developed social indicators are one part of the overall sustainability index that aims to present a balanced and holistic view of plant-level sustainability performance, encompassing information on all different dimensions. This development work was preceded by the benchmarking and review of existing global reporting frameworks, initiatives and the literature. Current indicators of industrial sustainability mainly satisfy the needs of corporate-level management and capital investors. Therefore, plant-level indicators are critically needed to support and fill potential gaps in corporate-level assessments and management with a special emphasis on plant-level sustainability. The purpose of our development work for social indicators was to operationalise the concept of sustainability and associated performance measurement at the plant level. The development of social indicators was carried out through workshops with industry partners. As a joint effort, eight core social indicators and their associated sub-indicators were developed. We also report the results of our benchmarking and review of existing frameworks, initiatives and the literature. The social part of the overall sustainability index provides the information on both in-plant sustainability performance and the direct and indirect impacts of plant-level operations on the surrounding society including various stakeholders, interest groups and citizens.     

Impact of policies favouring organic inputs on small farms in Karnataka, India: a multicriteria approach

Over 56% of the population of Karnataka state in India depends on agriculture for its livelihood. A majority of these are small and marginal farmers, with land under 2?ha, responsible for nearly half the food production in the state. The increasing rate of farmers’ suicides in the state is reportedly fuelled among others, by increasing input costs, crop failure and accumulating debt. This triggered several policy measures, intended to improve the sustainability of farm livelihoods including those promoting organic practices in farming. The paper presents the results of a multicriteria analysis conducted to comprehend the effects of two different practice–policy scenarios on smallholders in Karnataka—one scenario ‘with policy’ (WP) to support organic agricultural practices and the other a ‘business as usual’ (BAU) scenario that continues to stress on market-based, synthetic inputs for cultivation. The paper integrates results from quantitative and participatory techniques to compare and project effects on ecological, economic and socio-cultural indicators. Ecological and economic indicators in WP are projected to be significantly higher than BAU in a majority of the study sites, while socio-cultural indicators show mixed outcomes, depending on regional and social characteristics. Across the study sites, small and rain-fed farms are benefitted better in WP compared to large and irrigated farms, respectively. Among small and rain-fed farms, soil fertility, water quality, agro-diversity, net income and freedom from indebtedness improve considerably, while there is slight reduction in collective activities and no perceivable change in land-based subsistence.     

Evaluation of food industry by-products as feed in semi-arid dairy farming systems: the case of Jordan

Dairy feeding systems in many semi-arid countries are based on imported concentrates and forages. This has economic and ecological implications given the increase in global feed prices and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use change. This paper aims to explore alternative dairy feeding systems under semi-arid conditions, using Jordan as an example. The feedings systems under investigation vary in their share of food industry by-products (replacing concentrates in the diet) and are compared against the current concentrate-based feeding systems. The systems are evaluated against three criteria: their nutritional value, their impact on the cost of milk production, and their GHG mitigation potential. Feed samples from eleven food industry by-products and ten conventional feeds were collected from food factories and from three typical dairy farms, representing the typical large-, medium- and small-scale farm types, respectively. Feed samples were analysed for their chemical composition and metabolisable energy contents. In addition, economic and production farm data were collected and entered into a model for GHGs calculation and economic evaluation. The results suggest that inclusion of locally available food industry by-products in the rations of milk cows in semi-arid production systems can be instrumental in reducing production costs and mitigating GHG emissions. Cost of milk production in the model farms can be lowered by up to 14 %; mitigation of CO₂ eq. emission ranged between 70 and 290 g CO₂ eq./kg milk. The degree to which these benefits can be reaped is positively related to the level of inclusion of by-product feeds in lactating cows’ diets.     

A Systems Based Framework to Examine The Multi-contextural Application of the Sustainability Concept

A conceptual framework is generated through systems principles to explain sustainability’s wide diversity of interpretation and contextual application. Sustainability is reduced to a literal interpretation as the ability to sustain, and then expressed in simple systems as the ability of one system to sustain another system over time. This reinforces the importance of time in the sustainability debate, and suggests the concept can be legitimately applied to timeframes that have absolute limits. The framework is expanded to complex systems as the changing ability of one or many systems to sustain the changing requirements of one or many systems, over time. This accommodates multiple relations and system dynamics, and hints at the extraordinary complexity encompassed by the sustainability concept. Practical implications relate to the evolving meaning of sustainability, the need for continual change to remain sustainable, and that the sustainability concept can be validly applied to virtually any context or situation that exhibits a dimension of continuity. Derived criteria useful for clarifying contextual applications of sustainability include stating the how, what, why, who and for how long of sustainability, along with indicating the most appropriate hierarchical tier at which the concept is being applied.     

Sustainable supplier selection criteria classification for Indian iron and steel industry: a fuzzy modified Kano model approach

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work is to provide a systematic approach for sustainability criteria clustering into different useful categories. For this purpose, a methodology has been proposed with the following three steps. (i) A comprehensive set of the sustainability criteria in economic, environmental and social dimension has been extracted from the literature and have been customised for the iron and steel industry. (ii) A fuzzy Kano methodology has been used to classify these sustainability criteria into useful Kano cluster like must-be, one-dimensional, and attractive cluster (iii) further, must-be and attractive criteria derived from the second step were further sub-classified into three categories using Type IV Kano model. All steps have been examined in the iron and steel industry of India and findings indicate that quality and delivery criteria are classified as high must be criteria in the economic realm. Further, environmental and energy management system in the environmental dimension and social responsibility and right of stakeholders criteria in the social dimension are classified as high must be criteria. Prioritising must be and attractive criteria enable decision makers of other industries to select the appropriate criteria to adopt sustainability.     

Structure of industrial or corporate sustainability programmes

The 15 years up until 2008 have seen an escalating growth in corporate or industrial sustainability programmes to a current level of about 25% of the Fortune 1000 firms. This preliminary study of corporate sustainability programmes yielded a repeatable structure of these programmes that may be unique to industry in the broader sustainability field. These corporate sustainability programmes are different from the prior corporate social responsibility programmes and also are a subset of the vast current use of the word sustainable. The corporate sustainability model is built on four pillars (business excellence, innovation, human contribution and environment) that offer important directions for long-term decision making. In-depth sustainability programme studies revealed recurring principles that reflect current industry or corporate sustainability programmes.