Sustainable Development in the Transport Sector: Influencing Environmental Behaviour and Performance

Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy are becoming increasingly important in the development of business strategies. Consequently, corporate road freight transport comes under particular scrutiny due to its substantial impact on the environment. This paper explores the implementation of environmental management in the Austrian road freight transport sector. A model based on an extensive literature review is developed and adapted to show the impact of attitude, company size and sector affiliation. It is tested using data from a quantitative survey. Based on an extensive literature review a model of influencing factors is developed and tested using data from a quantitative survey. According to our findings, we adopted the model with respect to the impact of attitude, company size and sector affiliation. Although decision‐makers' attitudes have a significant influence on the companies' actual environmental performance, firm size and sector affiliation are shown to have a far greater influence. It is therefore necessary to offer external incentives and support in order to improve environmental behaviour, especially among smaller and transport companies. Such instruments, however, need to be aligned on an international basis and across industries to prevent friction and competitive disadvantage. In addition to policy intervention (legal restrictions and incentives) and improvements on a corporate level, consumer awareness should be raised in order to create public pressure for companies to implement environmental management. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Corporate Environmental Strategies Towards Sustainable Development

Many companies have adopted some form of environmental programme to manage their relationship with nature. However, a company's environmental achievements tend to be disconnected from its general operations; consequently, these achievements are ineffective. The purpose of this article is to employ a conceptual approach to explore ways to compose effective corporate environmental strategies. From a resource perspective, the flow of material, knowledge and experiences, relationships, communication, and cooperation and control are discussed as strategy aspects central to an effective environmental strategy. Using these five strategy aspects we show how three different strategies with different contents and directions can be assembled. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

论环境法基本原则之可持续发展原则

文章在阐述可持续发展原则的法律含义、提出背景和理论依据的基础上,结合其在我国环境法中的具体体现,对其是否应当成为我国环境法的基本原则进行了细致探究。     

浅析环境保护与可持续发展战略问题

2l世纪的中国将不可避免地遭遇到环境与发展的巨大挑战,严重制约了可持续发展。文本通过环境保护与可持续发展的关系谈论了当前可持续发展的问题与以后的发展战略。     

Integrating Environmental,Social and Governance (ESG) Disclosure for a Sustainable Development: An Australian Study

Addressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues has become a critical part of business strategy. This article explores the extent of ESG reporting of metal and mining sector companies listed in the Australian Securities Exchange to determine the nature of ESG indicators in use in the sector. The current study argues that stakeholder engagement is the key to enhance company environmental policy and sustainable development. According to the results of this study, ESG reporting motives are highly influenced by reporting regulations. Given the diversity in reporting of ESG, comparability of ESG strategic performance is problematic. This study contributes towards developing an ESG disclosure index, which companies could use as a legitimacy tool that external stakeholders could use to reliably measure and compare the ESG performance of companies. It also reveals there is an increased demand for more empirical research on integration of sustainability into strategic planning process. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Sustainability in the Transport and Logistics Sector: Lacking Environmental Measures

Sustainability as part of the development of companies' business strategies is gaining in importance. Due to its impact on the environment, this is particularly essential for companies of the transport and logistics sector. This paper explores several factors that influence the environmental behaviour of transport and logistics companies in Austria. It discusses the importance of the economic impact on environmental management decision in detail and analyses the sector's specific characteristics in terms of environmental behavior. A case‐based approach involving multiple field studies with face‐to‐face expert interviews and secondary data analysis was used to evaluate environmental performance and specific practices. Using selected cases, we will demonstrate how environmental measures contribute to overall business performance and draw general conclusions regarding the transport and logistics sector. Furthermore, suggestions are given as to how the government can further support transport and logistics companies in this regard. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Sustainable development disclosure: Environmental,social, and governance reporting and gender diversity in the audit committee

This paper analyzes the link between female representation on audit committees (ACs) and specific information attributes of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures. We also examine whether the role of women is moderated by the busyness and intensity of the committee. Our results reveal a positive association between gender diversity in the AC and the quality of voluntary ESG reporting, which results in greater comprehensiveness and relevance. These findings extend the academic debate concerning the role of female directors on sustainability policies. Moreover, given the importance of ESG information in capital markets and its potential benefits for firms, this evidence may help regulators and owners to implement adequate corporate governance mechanisms. In addition, the busyness of the AC negatively moderates the influence of female AC members. Therefore, we highlight the need to consider the context in which women work in order to understand their influence on sustainability reporting.     

Business Strategies of Incumbents in the Market for Electric Vehicles: Opportunities and Incentives for Sustainable Innovation

This paper focuses on the relation between large car manufacturers’ incentive and opportunity to innovate and their electric vehicle (EV) business strategies. We analyze how environmental regulation and the firm's incentive (measured by net income) and opportunity to innovate (measured by EV asset position, determined from a combination of patent, partnership and prototype data) affected EV sales over the period 1990–2011. During the EV's R&D period in the 1990s, large car manufacturers that were regulated by the full zero emission vehicle mandate developed a significantly stronger EV asset position, but did not sell significantly more EVs than their rivals. During the EV's commercialization period (2007–2011), large car manufacturers with both a strong incentive and a strong opportunity to innovate sold significantly more EVs. Based on these results, the paper offers a typology of business strategies, several managerial implications, and recommendations for policy makers to stimulate sustainable development. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

可持续发展理念下的西部经济发展与环境保护关系探究

随着西部经济发展,西部地区环境问题日益突出,已经成为制约地区经济发展的瓶颈。探讨了经济发展与环境保护的关系,经济发展与环境保护并不矛盾,而应该是相互协调共同发展的。现阶段应该以科学发展观为指导,坚持贯彻实施以人为本、协调、可持续发展的原则,以期实现我国西部大开发中环境保护和经济建设协调发展。     

The Role of Sustainability‐Related Strategies on the Biofuel Industry: Trends,Prospects and Challenges

The aim of this study is to elucidate the sustainability‐related strategies on the biofuel industry. Our empirical analysis is based on a time series data set covering diesel demand in Greece over the period 1978–2014 and on the basis of these estimates we make forecasts for biodiesel consumption in the coming years (2015–2030) under three alternative scenarios. Our approach utilizes unit root testing to investigate possible co‐integrated relationships among the sample variables. The empirical findings indicate that diesel demand is income and price inelastic in both the long and the short run, while biodiesel demand seems to have an upward trend over the simulated period. We argue that the importance of biofuel in the Greek energy balance will change the form of the existing business strategies towards issues such as sustainability, green entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility to achieve the environmental goals set by the EU Energy Roadmap 2050. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The Influence of Board Composition on Sustainable Development Disclosure

Despite knowing the potential effect of social reporting on firms' continuity, there is limited research into the influence of the composition of boards of directors on CSR disclosure. This paper adds to the emerging CSR literature empirical evidence by examining how board composition relates to a firm's social and environmental disclosure as well as the implementation of social policies. Using a sample of FTSE 350 firms for the period 2007–2012, the results show that higher board independence facilitates the conveying of firms' good citizenship image through enhancing societal conscience. The results also show that female participation on boards is favorably affecting CSR engagement and reporting as well as the establishment of ethical policies. Hence, the research suggests that boards with higher female participation and independence boost the legitimacy of CSR reporting. Board gender diversity and independence facilitates directing part of the firm's scarce resources toward value maximizing social projects and subsequent reporting on these. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

环境保护与企业可持续发展的互动研究

环境保护与企业可持续发展之间存在对立统一的辩证关系,环境保护是可持续发展的前提和必要条件,可持续发展又为环境保护提供了资金和技术支持.当前,社会上存在两者相冲突的现象,这源于企业自身责任感缺失、生产技术落后、管理缺位、某些政府部门监管不力及环保政策设计存在漏洞等多重原因.从环保角度来看,企业要实现可持续发展,除了企业自身的努力外,政府、司法机关应加大对企业的监管和服务,积极推广排污交易权制度,开征环境税.     

提高《环境保护与可持续发展》教学效果的研究

公共选修课《环境保护与可持续发展》已经成为推进高校环境教育的重要内容和手段,其教学效果直接影响到学生环境意识的提高与否。本文对教学效果影响较大的教学方式、教学内容、授课形式等教学手段进行了改进和实践,问卷调查结果显示教学效果提高较大。     

黑龙江省粮食安全可持续发展的对策

粮食问题是关系国计民生的大问题。当前,粮食危机席卷全球,中国粮食形势不容乐观。黑龙江省是粮食主产区和国家重要商品粮基地,本文分析和研究了我省粮食安全生产的现状及存在的问题,提出应充分发挥其优势、为保障国家粮食安全做贡献的对策。     

基于可持续发展观下的环境会计信息披露

科学技术的日新月异使全球经济正以前所未有的速度向前发展,为人类创造了大量的财富。但经济快速增长的同时,随之而来的是自然资源的迅速耗竭和环境的严重污染。环境问题已由局部问题上升为人类生存性问题。要真正的让全社会认识到企业对环境的影响程度,必须加强企业对环境造成损害程度科学的披露,这就涉及到环境会计信息披露相关问题。文章从可持续发展观的视角入手,阐述了目前我国环境信息披露的现状和方式以及环境信息披露的局限性,并就目前的局限性提出了改进建议。     

Assessing the Comprehensiveness of Supply Chain Environmental Strategies

As environmental awareness grows, firms are expected to expand the scope of their environmental strategies beyond organisational boundaries and to address more comprehensively environmental issues in their supply chains and product life cycles. Drawing on different literature streams, international standards and corporate disclosure, this paper presents a conceptual framework for the quantitative assessment of the comprehensiveness of firms' environmental strategies. This framework allows us to capture: (i) the environmental inputs and outputs addressed, (ii) the firm versus supply chain orientation of environmental strategies, and (iii) the environmental management practices adopted by companies. We illustrate the application of this framework with a content analysis of corporate sustainability reports for a cross‐sectoral sample of sustainability leaders. Our results indicate that there is a need for greater specificity in environmental reporting and that, overall, companies remain firm‐oriented. It is also observed that supply chain orientation can generally be associated with stakeholder pressure. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

我国家族企业可持续发展环境的构建

实现我国家族企业可持续发展,是企业自身也是国家经济发展的需要。要使我国家族企业走上可持续发展之路,就要为家族企业构建可持续发展的环境,不仅需要政府转变观念,在权益保护、市场准入、依法监管、资金融通等环节上采取有效措施,为家族企业构建良好的外部发展环境;还需要家族企业自身的改革与创新,不断加强自我建设,构建有利于企业可持续发展的内部环境。     

Measuring Corporate Environmental Performance: A Methodology for Sustainable Development

Assessing corporate environmental performance (CEP) that is both comprehensive and consistent with sustainable development both for society and companies, while at the same time taking heed of the facts and interests of each stakeholder, is not a simple feat. Due to the multidimensional character of the sustainability concept, several questions must be considered in the evaluation process: (i) the qualitative nature of indicators and the complexity of developing a synthetic index; (ii) the difficulty of choosing properly statistical techniques for aggregation and (iii) the difficulty of introducing stakeholders’ preferences in the assessment models. This paper is an attempt to address this challenge by developing a framework for the assessment of CEP, based on the application of a fuzzy multi‐criterion decision‐making (MCDM) method. To achieve positive scores in a CEP assessment, an organization should be strategically committed and engage in environmental management and governance structures that are translated into good results in terms of both engagement and operational performance. Unless such premises are explicitly incorporated into the assessment criteria, the results would reveal that the CEP measurement could not be brought into a line with an earnest ambition of achieving true sustainable development. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

科技服务业新分类及发展形势分析

文章从当前我国社会发展需求角度,提出科技服务业新的分类思路,即将科技服务业分为服务于创新的研发服务业、服务于生产的工业设计创意服务业、服务于创业的创业服务业、服务于社会的信息咨询服务业四类,并分析了在新的分类体系下,当前科技服务业的发展形势。     

Influences on Sustainable Innovation Adoption: Evidence from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

The adoption of innovations associated with environmental sustainability has been a topic of growing interest among scholars. The research presented in this paper draws on Abrahamson's theoretical framework of fads and fashions to argue that dimensions of uncertainty and degree of external versus internal influence provide significant insights into firms' decisions to adopt sustainable building innovations. We develop three hypotheses, reflecting three views of adoption influence: fad, fashion, and efficient‐choice. We find that adoption of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification in the United States was more likely among firms similarly oriented toward end‐consumers and among firms strategically positioned as environmental leaders. These results provide support for the fad and efficient‐choice views of adoption, respectively. Contrary to expectations suggested by the fashion perspective, adoption was not more likely among firms located in states whose political leaders are more committed to environmental protection. Our findings offer important implications for practitioners and policy makers seeking to encourage sustainable building design. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.