Navigating towards sustainable development: A system dynamics approach

Traditional fragmented and mechanistic science is unable to cope with issues about sustainability, as these are often related to complex, self-organizing systems. In the paper, sustainable development is seen as an unending process defined neither by fixed goals nor by specific means of achieving them. It is argued that, in order to understand the sources of and the solutions to modern problems, linear and mechanistic thinking must give way to non-linear and organic thinking, more commonly referred to as systems thinking. System Dynamics, which operates in a whole-system fashion, is put forward as a powerful methodology to deal with issues of sustainability. Examples of successful applications are given.Any system in which humans are involved is characterized by the following essential system properties: Bounded rationality, limited certainty, limited predictability, indeterminate causality, and evolutionary change. We need to resort to an adaptive approach, where we go through a learning process and modify our decision rules and our mental models of the real world as we go along. This will enable us to improve system performance by setting dynamic improvement goals (moving targets) for it.Finally, it is demonstrated how causal loop diagrams can be used to find the leverage points of a system.     

Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration

As the social and environmental impacts of human activity have become more evident, the role of sustainable development as an organising principle in a variety of policy contexts and over multiple scales has become central. There are, at least, two implications that emerge from this observation. First, morally infused problems that need to be addressed have become more intractable, requiring innovation in our modes of thinking. Second, new spaces have emerged where the academy might explore how knowledge is created, validated and translated (or not) alongside policy and practice settings. One outcome of these trends has been the emergence of a stream of work (sustainability science) which investigates how disciplines might develop knowledge that progresses sustainable development. The aim of this paper, in line with the focus of the special issue, is to explore what possibilities emerge for accounting in light of a sustainability science approach. To achieve this end the paper starts with an exploration of the frustrations expressed in the literature over the perceived lack of progress made by social and environmental accounting towards addressing sustainable development. The paper then introduces sustainability science with the aim of imagining how an accounting for sustainable development might emerge. The paper closes with two illustrations of how a sustainability science approach to accounting could develop.     

Enacting the vision for sustainable development

Utopia, as a concept, is now used with varying intentions, engendering semantic confusion. When substituted with the notion of visioning, it can be also problematic, if sometimes for different reasons. An implicit engagement in visioning is examined in a community-based futures process for creating a strategy for the sustainable management of natural resources in the Mary River catchment, in Queensland, Australia. It is found that visioning, if it can be binding and impelling for common-interest groups, can be just as unrealistically utopian, or as slippery as the scaly creatures it is trying to protect, when applied afresh to a community exploring change from a variety of initial ideals and needs. It may be seen as an emergent property of active learning.     

A holistic human ecology approach to sustainable agricultural development

This article discusses the possibility of sustainable agricultural development and how it could be put into effect. It is argued that sustainable development must be implemented in accordance with holistic and autonomous principles, and that it must comply with the laws of the natural and sociocultural environment in which it is embedded. Two examples of the holistic human ecology paradigm are given, in the contexts of sustainable agrarian and developmental policy.     

Utopian thought and the politics of sustainable development

This article argues that utopian thought is a necessary condition for the politics of sustainable development. Since utopian thought has so far been constrained by some typically Western features from the era of modernity, this requires a shift that transcends the following three fundamental aspects: the notions of fixed truth, fixed territoriality and fixed final goals for politics. The article argues that the concept of global sustainable development can entail three new elements of utopian thought: the disintegration of fixed territoriality, a never-ending story, and prismatic blueprints. Using these elements, utopian thought can provide transformative power, so that politics and policymaking can meet contemporary global challenges to development and the environment.     

"适足经济理论":泰国可持续经济发展的新路线

适足经济理论是可应用于个人、家庭、社区、国家等各个层次的处世哲学和治国理念.它包含三项基本原则,即适度、合理和有内在的免疫力.该理论指导人们重视正直、诚实、勤奋、知识、智慧、敏锐等方面素质的培养.     

国有商业银行可持续发展问题研究

本文研究我国国有商业银行可持续发展问题。     

构建富有韧性的可持续城市发展路线图

世界银行最新报告《城市规划、连接与融资——现在：城市的优先重点》称,如果现在所做的基础设施、住房与公共服务投资实现高效率和可持续性,快速城市化就能给发展中国家带来长期的经济、社会和环境效益。     

Policies and strategies for sustainable development in Bangladesh

The concept of sustainable development, its relevance for Bangladesh, and policies and strategies for promoting it in Bangladesh are discussed. Economic growth, population growth, mobilization of resources, the role of women, devolution and decentralization, equity and protection of the environmental base are treated as key issues, with emphasis given to the effective implementation of strategies for promoting sustainable development.     

Planning for sustainable development: Strategic alignment in Peruvian regions and cities

This paper explores the application of the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM) to the formulation of strategies for sustainable development in regions and cities. SAM was created during the 90s in order to bridge the gap in terms of objectives, competences and culture between business and IT professionals. The present study applies SAM to align economic development and environmental sustainability and identifies concepts such as industrial ecosystems, sustainable lifestyles, eco-business, and environmental services as integrative strategies. Previous to this research, alignment has been studied in terms of public participation process, policy innovation and adoption of best practices. This paper proposes a new framework to represent alignment in a way that multiple strategies and pathways can be recognized, favoring dialogue and coordination. Likewise, a strategic analysis of Peruvian Environmental Action Plan 2010-2021 is presented.     

人力资源激励与会计师事务所可持续发展——兼论人力资源价值计量与披露

随着我国会计师事务所脱钩改制工作的全面完成,会计师事务所之间的竞争日益激烈,联合、合并之风盛起.我国加入WTO后,伴随而来的必将是我国服务市场的开放,而会计等中介服务是服务市场的重要组成部分.在机遇和挑战并存的同时,可持续发展问题是摆在每一个会计师事务所面前的一个紧迫的课题.人力资源是会计师事务所的主要资源,由智力资本和文化资本组成.智力资本和文化资本是会计师事务所可持续发展的前提和利润的源泉,因此,如何激励人力资源是解决会计师事务所可持续发展的关键问题.本文依据企业理论,分析了会计师事务所人力资源激励的几种方式及其作用,并探讨了事务所人力资源价值的计量问题.     

规则与规范:信用卡业务可持续发展的基础

我国信用卡业务近几年的高速发展,一方面,在促进社会发展、满足客户需求、降低社会交易费用、刺激社会消费等方面发挥了积极作用;另一方面,在制度和规则均需完善的情况下,伴随高速发展产生的行业问题、合规问题以及由此产生的社会问题等也正在快速显现.要继续保持信用卡业务高速健康发展,完善规则、注重规范、强化协作和加强持卡人的教育与培育工作,必将成为2010年信用卡业务管理和监管的重点.     

关于后危机时代我国商业银行可持续发展策略的思考

银行业的可持续发展,就是在保持银行业与实体经济协调发展的前提下,自身资源配置不断趋于均衡合理、金融风险得到有效控制、金融生态环境持续优化、经济效益和竞争力不断增强的过程。文章从内外部环境分析了我国商业银行可持续发展的推动因素,并从顺应结构调整要求完善信贷业务经营模式,健全资本管理体制,强化全面风险管理机制以及坚持可持续金融创新战略等角度,提出＂十二五＂时期商业银行可持续发展策略建议。     

World civilisations at crossroads: Towards an expansionist or a sustainable future—Lessons from history

Like may periods of the past, the future will be characterised by resource scarcities, with limited pollution sink capacities constituting a new constraint. The strategic choices discussed in the West today resemble quite closely the strategies developed in Europe during past centuries to deal with resource scarcities: to overcome them by means of market mechanisms leading to efficiency improvements and substitution, by global trade enhancing resource availability, or by forcefully seizing foreign resources. In order to learn lessons for the future, these strategies are discussed regarding their past performance and their present applicability. They face severe limits regarding their problem solving capabilities, either because they are structurally unsuitable as a response to global economic and environmental scarcity problems, or their success is too questionable to rely on it. Consequently, another strategy is needed to adapt human economies and societies to the limits of Planet Earth. Sustainable development is such a strategy, developed in Europe in the 18th century to deal with absolute scarcities; its roots help to understand its current relevance. In a globally interconnected world it cannot be operationalised top-down, but is dependent on cooperation to become effective. Sustainability strategies cannot be designed as one-size-fits-all solutions, but are civilisation specific. This in turn requires an international institutional framework based on the subsidiarity principle (the imperative to take decisions at the lowest effective level), requiring the acceptance of political and cultural diversity of the current and future world society. It encourages different civilisation specific development objectives and trajectories, however with all actors contributing in their own ways to the achievement of agreed common goals like combating climate change, preserving biodiversity or eradicating poverty, following the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.     

中国城市可持续发展面临的挑战与建议

中国社会科学院财经战略研究院、中国城市百人论坛、社会科学文献出版社与中国社会科学院城市与竞争力研究中心前不久在北京发布了《城市竞争力蓝皮书：中国城市竞争力报告N o.13》（以下简称：蓝皮书）。蓝皮书指出,传统城镇化模式已不可持续,城市的可持续发展正面临严峻的问题与挑战,同时为中国城市体系发展提出了五大建议。     

集中采购：金融业IT可持续发展的重大举措

从2008年9月15日美国雷曼兄弟公司破产引发全球性金融海啸至今,随着各大经济体的经济刺激计划渐生成效,全球经济已初现止跌企稳的迹象。这次金融海啸对我国经济社会也产生了深远影响,使我国金融业清醒地认识到加快信息化建设、提升风险管理的重要性。与此同时,金融信息化建设的突飞猛进必然导致金融机构对IT设备与服务的大量需求,     

Risk management and sustainable development: mutual lessons from approaches to the use of indicators

Risk management and sustainable development are frameworks for studying and managing the environmental impacts of human actions; as such each requires indicators for monitoring, decision-making and communication. This paper compares the two frameworks as used in practice, and their experience of using indicators. Sustainable development is a systems-based concept with a long time horizon, a tendency to apply precaution in decisions, and a positive normative 'mission' (development). Risk management focuses on specific, linear chains of cause and effect over short time periods, is typically associated with cost-benefit decision-making, and concentrates on avoiding negative outcomes. However risk management is also potentially a tool for informing and implementing sustainability. Both risk and sustainability are multidimensional constructs which can be indicated in varied ways. The selection of indicators in both fields depends on technical (e.g. robustness, problem-orientation) and communicative criteria (e.g. truthfulness, informativeness, relevance, clarity and resonance). Lessons from risk indicators include a better understanding of communicative criteria such as resonance, and greater awareness of communication pitfalls. Sustainability indicators demonstrate the advantages of a participatory approach to selection for incorporating different values, echoing the experience of the US states' comparative risk assessment approach, as well as the need for a systematic perspective on problems leading to the use of multiple indicators. Risk management and sustainable development have much mutual relevance and could each benefit from more intensive exchange both generally, and regarding the use of indicators.     

Investor sentiment and calendar anomaly effects: A case study of the impact of Ramadan on Islamic Middle Eastern markets

The holy month of Ramadan is usually a time of celebration and renewal in Muslim countries. This paper examines whether or not this is reflected in positive calendar anomalies effects in Islamic Middle Eastern stock markets during the period 1992-2007. Strong evidence is found of significant and positive calendar effects in respect to the whole period of Ramadan in most countries and it is argued that this can be attributed to the generally positive investor mood, or sentiment. Although Ramadan is a time of celebration for Muslims it also can be a time of uncertainty and this appears to result in the impact of the festival not being uniformly positive throughout Ramadan. It is found that market returns in the first and last days of Ramadan show high levels of statistically significant year-on-year variation. It is argued that this can possibly be attributed to synchronization-related herding effects amplifying the impact of the mood swings associated with this period. The paper also finds that although the overall Ramadan effect is both positive and statistically significant for most countries, the associated gains were only large enough to outweigh transactions costs and provide the basis of a profitable trading strategy in one market.     

Privatization,coordination and agency costs: The case for participation in Eastern Europe

In the paper, the interdependency between privatization and the growth of a new private sector is examined. While the dismantling of the omnipotent economic role of the state is a sine qua non for massive private investment, a vigorous private sector is needed to reduce unemployment and thus make further privatization possible. Since privatization is a lengthy process associated with a medium-term goal, while getting private investment started is important at the very beginning of the transition, this linkage constitutes a serious dilemma for the transformation. Multiple expectational equilibria arise and appropriate beliefs are crucial for the success of the reforms. Voucher schemes are shown to reduce agency costs of private investment and in this way may help to ensure coordination on the optimistic equilibrium.