Sustainability as a Trend for Competitiveness Challenges PDF Download

Author: Mihaela Ștefănescu
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527538370
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
Defining a future development pathway through the lens of sustainability and competitiveness is a unique trademark of any free market. Going beyond this aspect, this book is an invitation to identify relevant correlations between the circular economy, trade, adaptation to climate change, land degradation neutrality, fair-trade, corporate social responsibility, culture, and gender. Among all of these sectors, we are currently witnessing various types of synergies. The key is to distinguish those adaptive solutions which are applicable to real-time changes. This volume scrutinizes the role played by the sustainability agenda in international negotiations, and proposes new perspectives on sustainable management. Through all its chapters, the book focuses on the possibilities to broaden our perspectives when defining policy recommendations.

Author: Chris Laszlo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351278312
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Companies know how to meet the demands of shareholder value: years of managerial excellence testify to this achievement. Many also know how to create stakeholder value – through traditional approaches such as CSR and philanthropy which predictably lead to trade-offs and added costs. What remains elusive is discovering is how to meet both shareholder and stakeholder requirements in the core business – without mediocrity and without compromise – creating value for the company that cannot be disentangled from the value it creates for society and the environment. What if sustainability was embedded into the DNA of your organization? How can you incorporate environmental, health and social value into its very core? Many companies, despite their best intentions, "bolt on" sustainability as an afterthought to their core strategies. They trumpet green initiatives and social philanthropy which lie at the margins of the business, with symbolic wins that inadvertently highlight the unsustainability of the rest of their activities. Today's ecological and social pressures require a different business response – one that existing strategy frameworks fail adequately to address. In Embedded Sustainability, authors Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva explain and predict how companies can better leverage global challenges for enduring profit and sustained growth. They introduce the marquis concept of embedded sustainability: the incorporation of environmental, health, and social value into the heartbeat of the product life-cycle with no trade-off in price or quality – no social or green premium. This book helps readers to comprehend and implement the notion of embedded sustainability. At its best, embedded sustainability is invisible, similar to quality. In addition to delivering socially and environmentally conscious products for consumers, it is capable of considerably motivating employees. Most of all, it enables smart companies to create even more value for both their shareholders and stakeholders.

Author: Stefan Schaltegger
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351280503
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 809

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Book Description
The difficulties in moving towards corporate sustainability raise the question of how environmental and social management can be integrated better with economic business goals. Over the last decade, the relationship between environmental and economic performance, and more recently the interaction between sustainability performance and business competitiveness, have received considerable attention in both theory and practice. However, to date, only partial aspects of the relationship between sustainability performance, competitiveness and economic performance have been studied from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. And, to date, no unique relationship has prevailed in empirical studies. A number of explanations have been put forward to explain this, including methodological reasons, such as the lack of statistical data, the low quality of that data, or the fact that such data is often available for short time periods only. Other theoretical explanations have been developed, such as the influence of different corporate strategies or the relatively small influence of environmental or sustainability issues as one factor among many on the economic or financial success of firms. So, how should the business case for sustainability be managed? This is the starting point for this book, which compiles insights on a large number of aspects of the link between sustainability performance, business competitiveness and economic success in an attempt to provide a comprehensive and structured view of this relationship. The book provides an unrivalled body of knowledge on the state of theory and practice in this field and identifies prospective future fields of work. The book includes: conceptual frameworks for the interaction of social, environmental and economic issues in business environments; case studies of companies that have successfully integrated social, environmental and economic issues; analyses of the causal and empirical relationship between environmental and/or social performance, business performance and firm-level competitiveness; concepts and tools useful for improving business value with proactive operational strategies; assessment of the factors influencing operational sustainability strategies and their economic impact; and comparisons of interactions between sustainability performance and firm competitiveness across industry sectors and countries. Managing the Business Case for Sustainability is the definitive work in its field: the most comprehensive book yet published on the theory and practice of managing sustainability performance, competitiveness, environmental, social and economic performance in an integrated way. It will be essential reading for managers, academics, consultants, fund managers, governments and government agencies, NGOs and international bodies who need a broad and comprehensive overview of the business case for sustainability.

Author: Marta Peris-Ortiz
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319296779
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
This book discusses the main issues, challenges, opportunities, and trends involving the interactions between academia, industry, government and society. Specifically, it aims to explore how these interactions enhance the ways in which companies deliver products and services in order to achieve sustainable competitiveness in the marketplace. Sustainable competitiveness has been widely discussed by academics and practitioners, considering the importance of protecting the environment while sustaining the economic goals of organizations. The Quintuple Helix innovation model is a framework for facilitating knowledge, innovation and sustainable competitive advantage. It embeds the Triple and the Quadruple Helix models by adding a fifth helix, the “natural environment.” The Triple Helix model focuses on the university-industry-government triad, while the Quadruple adds civil society (the media- and culture-driven public) as a fourth helix. The Quintuple Helix model facilitates research, public policy, and practical application of sustainable competitiveness principles. Applying the most recent developments and theoretical insights of this model, the contributors to this volume address such questions as: how do government, academia, industry and civil society actors interact for promoting sustainable competitiveness at the country (regional) level? How do these actors influence sustainable operations management at the company (business) level? In so doing, they shed new light on the dynamics of economic growth, sustainability and competitiveness.

Author: Elena I. Lazareva
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811940053
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 559

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Book Description
This book describes the current innovative tendencies characteristic of multifaceted scientific research and practical developments in the field of international business development and sustainable management. This book shows how companies are forced to change development strategies and business models, which actualizes new priorities for scientific research in the field of international business and sustainable management. Therefore, completely new subject areas of research are being formed; management guidelines are being transformed; new business development tools are being developed; the very system of academic research is changing. This book “Innovative Trends in International Business and Sustainable Management” is devoted to the discussion of these and other issues related to all major areas of international business development and sustainable management. This book systematically describes multidimensional trends, challenges, and opportunities for the development of international business and sustainable management in the context of a global pandemic. In this sense, it is unique and relevant for both scientific researchers and modern business practitioners. This book uniquely highlights new priorities of scientific and practical research in the field of international business and sustainable management that require a systematic knowledge of the ongoing transformations of trends, challenges, and opportunities for the development. Aimed at scholars and practitioners, the book provides illustrations of international best practice for conducting business beyond borders. The main goals of the book are firstly to provide opinions on current innovative approaches and technologies for solving modern problems of international business, as well as on the formation of a multi-level system of sustainable management of the socioeconomic systems’ development, secondly, to integrate research from academia, as well as practitioners in order to form priorities, approaches and models of company management in the context of globalization, strategies for the development of management systems in the context of the “new reality”, thirdly, to find the most relevant new areas of research, the results of which can be useful to companies for making management decisions, and concludes to analyze new tools for the development of international business, their capabilities, and areas of application

Author: Arnold Tukker
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351280589
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 595

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Book Description
Selling products used to be the standard way of doing business. Traditionally, it is left to the user to transform the purchase of a product into something that fulfils effectively a final-user need. Today, two streams of research – business management and sustainability – normally with very distinct perspectives on the world, have surprisingly converged to form a common conclusion: selling products is old-fashioned business. Companies should switch their focus to selling need fulfilment, satisfaction, or experiences. Or, in other words, selling integrated solutions or product-services. The business management literature argues that, by focusing on the integrated, final-client needs, and delivering integrated solutions fulfilling these needs, companies will be able to improve their position in the value chain, enhance added value of their offering, and improve their innovation potential. In a business world where many products are becoming equally well-performing commodities, this strategy is one of the ways to avoid a sheer competition on price – a type of competition that Europe never can win with emerging and low-cost economies such as China. In that sense, product-services can mean new business for old Europe. The sustainability knowledge stream argues that need-focused solutions could be inherently more sustainable than products. Product-services could offer the value of use instead of the product itself and decrease the environmental load in two ways. First, companies offering the service would have all the incentives to make the (product-)system efficient, as they get paid by the result. Second, consumers would be encouraged to alter their behaviour as they gain insight into all the costs involved with the use. Until today, the connections and interchange between the two research streams have been quite limited. The question of whether product-services truly are the avenue to a sustainable world is still under discussion. This book aims to develop a systematic view on this issue. The potential of product-services to enhance competitiveness and contribute to sustainable development prompted the EU to invest heavily in the theme under the EU's 5th Framework Programme (FP5; 1997-2002). A variety of research and development projects in the field were supported under the umbrella of the Sustainable Product Development Network (SusProNet). These included MEPSS (Methodology Product Service Systems); Home Services; HiCS (Highly Customerised Solutions); Prosecco (Product-Service Co-design); and Innopse (Innovation Studio and exemplary developments for Product-Service). The projects were undertaken by a mix of European research institutions and companies including Orange, Philips and Nokia. Some of these projects focused on developing methods that could help industries change their output from a product to a service. Others focused on the development of new product-services or solutions (HiCS, Prosecco, Innopse), and yet others tried to analyze under which circumstances product-services are likely to be implemented and accepted by consumers (Home Services). One project focused on dissemination of the concept to SMEs (Lean Services). Other projects focused purely on new product-service development, such as Brainfridge (an intelligent fridge managing its supply chain), ASP-NET (application service providers), Protex (intelligent enzymes) and IPSCON (receivers for wireless telephones). New Business for Old Europe brings together the key outputs from all of these groups to present a state-of-the-art collection on product-service development, prospects and implications for competitiveness and sustainability. The book has a number of aims. First, it attempts to bridge the gap between business and sustainability literature to lead to a better-founded understanding of the business drivers for embarking on product-service development, and its relation with sustainability and competitiveness. Second, the book reviews the large amount of studies that have developed toolkits, methods and approaches that can support marketers, product developers and strategists in business to develop product-services, selects the best-practice approaches and analyses any gaps. Third, the book examines what opportunities there are for product-service development in a variety of key areas including base materials, information and communication technologies, offices, food and households. Each chapter in this section discusses the area, developments that will stimulate or hinder the market opportunities for product-services, product-service examples, and typical implementation challenges for product-services in that area. These chapters serve as a quick introduction for companies interested in developing product-services in a specific area. Fourth, the book translates all the lessons into suggested approaches for product-service development by companies. Annexes include a lightweight "product-service development manual" and an alphabetical list of useful underlying tools.

Author: Peter Winsemius
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136572740
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
'What does it mean for the environment?' is a strategic corollary of almost any significant business decision today, and companies must take seriously their responsibilities to regulators, customers, employees and the wider society. A Thousand Shades of Green is aimed at business leaders in need of a clear understanding of the key corporate environmental challenges and the insight and vision to meet them - imperatives such as engaging stakeholders and developing partnerships, understanding the policy-making process, forming corporate responses and drafting environmental management strategies - with the promise of genuine competitive advantage for their companies. Drawing on their extensive consultancy experience with some of the most progressive companies around the world, the authors examine why and how businesses must confront the rapidly developing agenda set by environmental constraints and social and regulatory pressure. They identify the corporate environmental challenge with that of change management and advocate a recognition that there is no single strategy or endgame applicable to all companies - there are a thousand shades of green. Only by pursuing thorough, reflective, consistent, competitive and proactive strategies will businesses be able to avoid being embroiled in costly and complex reactive approaches.

Author: Costa, Vânia
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799892875
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
The hospitality industry is one of the most significant drivers of economic growth and socioeconomic advances in both developed and developing countries. This industry contributes directly to gross domestic product, job creation, income level, destination expansion, and economic development. Forecasts for 2020 indicated a promising year was ahead for this industry, but the COVID-19 pandemic had a catastrophic impact. Hospitality companies are experiencing one of the biggest, unprecedented crises to date, and experts must now rethink strategies to ensure these businesses’ recovery. Sustainability and Competitiveness in the Hospitality Industry focuses on complex issues from a hotel industry perspective. It surveys existing research by reflecting on the pandemic’s impacts and generates scenarios for how to strengthen business structures. Covering a wide range of topics such as digital hospitality and tourism products, this reference work is ideal for managers, business professionals, entrepreneurs, practitioners, researchers, academicians, instructors, and students.

Author: Marek Jabłoński
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 3039211854
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Ensuring the sustainability of early stage companies and increasing awareness of the need for balancing targets against different stakeholder groups among young companies are not well developed. Young companies, in the first place, want to achieve financial success very often without regard for aspects such as the environment, positive relationships with employees, suppliers or other stakeholder groups, fulfilling requirements of labor law, etc. Another issue is that of companies whose business models are based on actuarially-preferred concepts, such as sharing economy, sustainable development, e-comers, e-commerce, renewable energy, social media, and others. A key issue is the resignation of companies from an approach to business, based on the foundations of classical economics to the sharing economy. Theory and practice seek new solutions in the sphere of value sharing in these new areas of sharing, and innovative forms of its implementation. Intriguing is the relationship of these business models with sustainability issues, as well as wondering how technology can influence sustainability. A contemporary approach to consumer value fits in with the assumption of a shared economy. It is interesting how it affects the assumptions of sustainability of business. The ongoing changes in the value system of potential consumers create new conditions for the design of sustainability business models and creation of innovation.

Author: Rafał Śliwiński
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000476995
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Understanding the latest trends and technologies and their impact on enterprises, organizations or state administrations is essential to successfully develop a business in the age of Industry 4.0. This book presents a unique selection of topics and offers the reader an understanding of the implications of the newest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR) and new trends like social media and sustainable competitiveness in business. It presents the impact of the newest trends on businesses, consumers, and the result on the economy. Contributions showcase the technical perspective of new technologies and provides an innovative and enriching perspective on the implementation of AI in e-commerce and the developmental barriers it can create, modern social media usage in enterprises, the newest trends in innovation management, sustainable competitiveness in the business context, the influence and effect of augmented reality, and the privacy problem of Internet of Things to consumers. This book illustrates how to develop innovation cooperation between business, academia and public institutions through the example of biopharmaceutical industry. It will be of value to researchers, academics, professionals, and students in the fields of economics, management, international business.