Sustainable consumption: consumption,consumers and the commodity discourse

This paper examines the concept of sustainable consumption by focusing on the consumption habits of Irish consumers. The key research findings fit into three broad and interrelated categories. Firstly, whilst recent sustainable consumption literature suggests that new research should focus on the issue of consumption, in and of itself, our study shows that consumers themselves view environmental problems from a supply and not a demand perspective. They focus on issues such as recycling and waste and not consumption itself. Secondly, our study shows that consumers have green opinions about very diverse issues and these are directly related to the individuals' lifestyles. Finally, our research shows that “material green” consumers are buying into a particular image in their consumption practices. This is very much connected to the meanings of their consumption that are derived from the communication value they attach to commodities. As such our study provides support for earlier conceptual research which suggests that in order to encourage less consumption we must use existing commodity discourse to achieve such ends.     

Sustainable consumption in Vietnam: an explorative study among the urban middle class

The middle class of Vietnam is growing and so is their consumption, especially in urban areas. This is due to the effects of rapid economic growth, industrialization and increasing wealth in combination with a young, growing population. This paper aims to understand current consumption patterns and consumption categories that can provide a start for sustainable lifestyles among the Vietnamese middle class. Data was collected in the capital Hanoi, in the north of Vietnam. The current level of awareness, knowledge and attitude was explored on five specific consumption topics: energy, transport, water, waste, and food. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data was collected: 5 focus groups, 5 in‐depth interviews and a survey among 158 Vietnamese urban middle class consumers. The results are discussed according to the MOA model that explains behaviour as a function of three components: Motivation, Opportunity and Ability. The research concludes that awareness and knowledge of the urban middle class in Vietnam on sustainable consumption is generally low. However, the motivation to live healthy lifestyles and protect the planet for their future generations is rather high. In order to support more sustainable lifestyles, the awareness of environmental issues needs to be increased; knowledge needs to be made available and accessible (ability); and role models need to set an example for the urban middle class of Vietnam. Furthermore, health in combination with food is the most important reason for people to pursue a sustainable lifestyle (motivation) and the need to change was expressed. However, a general distrust towards business and governmental actors was also found. Therefore, opportunities for bottom‐up initiatives for sustainable food consumption must be explored in the future. This could support in engaging the middle class of Vietnam in sustainable lifestyles.     

Sustainable consumption and plastic packaging: Relationships among product involvement,perceived marketplace influence and choice behavior

This study examines the relationships among human value connotations (instrumental and terminal), product involvement, perceived marketplace influence, and choice behavior in the context of sustainable consumption. Data was collected from 612 urban Indian residents who regularly consume sustainable products, e.g., non-plastic packaging bags. The study operationalizes the partial least square structural equation modeling method in consort with the covariance-based structural equation modeling. The research demonstrates the direct impact of instrumental and terminal values on product involvement and the direct influence of product involvement on perceived marketplace influence towards plastic packaging-related choice behavior. It is pertinent to focus on both instrumental and terminal connotations of human values to augment product involvement for plastic packaging. Limited studies have examined the possible relationships between two distinct yet interconnected connotations of human values on product involvement and perceived marketplace influence in the context of sustainable consumption related to plastic packaging.     

Sustainable fashion consumption and the fast fashion conundrum: fashionable consumers and attitudes to sustainability in clothing choice

The fashion industry has recently heeded the call for sustainability and ethically sound production. There has been, however, a reluctant uptake of these products with many consumers and a seeming conflict with existing ‘fast fashion’ desires in this area. This study explores the attitudes of fashion consumers toward sustainable products, ethical fashion purchasing and their subsequent behaviour. The research applies the developmental theory model to a fashion context, finding fashion consumers can be categorized into one of three groups: ‘Self’ consumers, concerned with hedonistic needs, ‘Social’ consumers, concerned with social image and ‘Sacrifice’ consumers who strive to reduce their impact on the world. These different groups view fast fashion in conflicting ways and subsequent implications for marketing sustainably produced fashion products to each group are, thus, significantly different.     

Sustainable consumption and the financial sector: analysing the markets for responsible investment in Hong Kong and Japan

The origins of the modern socially responsible investment (SRI) movement can be traced to the turbulent period in the 1960s when powerful social undercurrents including environmentalism and anti‐war activism fuelled a rise, in a radical change, in the way society viewed faith, values and commerce. Today, nearly 1 out of every US$9 under professional management in the US is currently invested using social investment strategies while the European green and ethical investment market is estimated to be €1 trillion or as much as 10–15% of the total funds under management. While some preliminary figures and analyses exist for countries outside these two regions, SRI has been, to date, largely explored within the context of North America and Europe. This is unfortunate as the sustainability of SRI as a consumer market is going to depend, to a great extent, to what happens outside of North America and Europe, and most notably in the rapidly developing Asian economies. In this article, I will explore the development of SRI as a mainstream financial consumer instrument in industrialized (Japan) and emerging (Hong Kong/China) economies of the Asia Pacific region. To fully analyse the SRI market development in Hong Kong and Japan, I will examine the following three issues and questions: first, how does the sustainable consumption framework offer a useful lens from which to explore SRI, and why is the Asia Pacific market and policy context so important for the broader issue of sustainable consumption? Second, what precisely is SRI and how did it develop into an important global financial investment vehicle? Third, how did the SRI market develop in the case of Hong Kong and Japan? I will then conclude the article with some analysis on the important lessons SRI market development in Hong Kong and Japan hold for market sustainability of the financial sector and sustainable consumption.     

心情消费

现代都市生活紧张的节奏让很多人吃不消,心理疾患成了都市流行病,于是"善待自己"成了时尚。生活在繁华都市中的人们,为工作忙碌,为家庭操劳,紧张     

Sustainable Retailing

As consumers seek products that cause minimal environmental harm and bring about positive social impact, and as awareness of supply chain impact grows, retailers must embrace sustainability. Given their unique position in the supply chain between upstream suppliers and downstream consumers, retailers are key to a circular economy in which products at the initial end-of-life stage are returned to the supply chain for continued use. By serving as a connection between suppliers and consumers, retail initiatives can help to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Furthermore, retailers can leverage their unique position in the supply chain to enable and legitimize a focus on social issues across the supply chain. We discuss such actions, the challenges that need to be overcome to have scalable impact, and the mechanisms retailers can utilize to make such progress.     

绿色消费：未来消费的必然选择

随着人们生活水平的提高，人们环境意识的增强和国际环保浪潮的高涨，以购买使用“环境标志”产品为特征的“绿色消费”越来越成为世界总体消费的大趋势，无论是家用电器，还是食品及日用口 ，只要使用了绿色环保标志，不仅意味着产品的质量有保障，而且还能给人们带来健康和安全，上方是太阳，下方是叶片，中心为蓓蕾，组成一个正圆形，这就是绿色产品的标志，实施环境标志，意味着对一种产品进行“从摇篮到坟墓”的全过程环保控制，从而使产品从原料生产到回收利用全过程对环境影响最小，有专家预言，未来的消费必将是完全绿色的消费。     

绿色消费应当作全新的消费方式来把握

目前每每谈论绿色消费，人们想到的就是绿色产品的生产、技术、标准、认证、营销与消费、其实，这样理解绿色消费很不全面，生产、技术、标准、认证与营销属于生产、流通的范略，绿色消费固然不能缺少绿色生产与绿色流通的条件，却并不以它们为内容构成，否则，就会造成理论混乱，影响我们从绿色消费本身去研究绿色消费的发展问题，消费绿勾通产品当然属于绿色消费，但如果说它就是绿色消费，那我们的祖先早已有绿色消费，偏远落后地区的人们正在进行绿色消费，如此绿色消费，还有什么内涵与价值呢？笔者以为，所谓绿色消费，是我们对于自身长期以来无视生态环境而片面追求高额消费行为的深刻反思，并在此基础上提出的坚持在人与自然和谐统一中实现需要全面，持续与最大化满足的全新的消费方式，这样认识问题，我们对绿色消费的理论研究才能系统，深入，也才能引导消费在新世纪真正走向文明、健康与科学。     

Sustainable Corporate Finance

This paper presents and illustrates the concept of sustainable corporate finance. Sustainability is a well-established concept in the disciplines of environmental economics and business ethics. The paper uses a broader definition of what is called “the firm” to pinpoint sustainability to the finance literature. The concept of sustainable finance is compared to traditional and behavioral finance. Four criteria are used to systematically analyze the basic differences. First on the order is the theory of the firm: the definition of the firm is reconsidered by integrating behavioral aspects and by expanding financial analysis to a three-dimensional goal setting. Secondly, a closer look is taken at the assumed behavior of economic agents and its consequences for the applied methodology. The shareholders paradigm is discussed against the background of growing stakeholder importance. Finally, the fourth criterion deals with the different ethical framework and its implication for financial behavior.     

华电集团：创造可持续价值

作为2002年底国家电力体制改革时组建的全国五大发电集团之一,华电集团因时而变、顺势而为,摒弃单纯追求“上规模”的思维模式,着力于“创造可持续价值”——既要把发展作为第一要务,保持必要的发展速度和资产规模;更要确保发展的质量,通过转变发展方式、调整优化结构、推进管理创新,提高经济效益,以永续经营为追求,不断创造更大的经济、社会、人文价值。     

品牌与消费

随着经济和社会的发展,市场提供给消费者的选择更加多种多样,新产品、新品牌的大量涌现令消费者无所适从。然而,消费者不可能也没必要去透彻了解产品所有特性、用法、品牌为人们提供了购买的理由,消费者通常通过品牌来了解产品及企业的信息,依据品牌选购商品已成为一种普遍现象。品牌与消费有着内在的非常积极的良性互动关系。     

Managing consumption communities

Companies are increasingly searching for ways to manage consumption communities. However, previous studies on consumption communities suggest that managing them is difficult, if not impossible, because communities are self-directed and consist of equal, autonomous actors. This article addresses this paradox and builds on recent conceptualisations of consumption communities as networks. By building on theory about network management functions, we discuss how companies can actually manage consumption communities without authoritarian and hierarchical control. Using three case studies of heterogeneous consumption communities, a footwear brand, a sports lifestyle community and a tableware and glassware design brand, the article identifies eight consumption community management activities. The article makes a theoretical contribution to the literature on consumption communities by introducing a network management perspective. In addition, it offers valuable practical guidance for managers who wish to manage consumption communities proactively at the strategic level and as an essential part of their customer-related management processes.     

Style consumption: its drivers and role in sustainable apparel consumption

This study proposes style consumption (SC) as a way to foster sustainable apparel consumption. In doing so, we identify explanatory and outcome variables of SC and also examine gender differences in these variables. Based on an online survey with 586 consumers, we find that frugal apparel consumption (FAC), fashion consciousness (FC) and ecologically conscious consumption (ECC) enhance the likelihood of SC. SC in turn increases environmental apparel purchase (EAP) and sustainable apparel divestment (SAD). The results also suggest significant gender differences both in motivational and behavioural variables included in the model. Specifically, females are significantly higher than males in FAC, FC and ECC. The tendency of SC, EAP and SAD were also higher for females than males. In addition, we find that gender is a significant factor mediating the effect of FC and that of ECC on SC.     

企业可持续发展问题探讨

可持续发展是企业的最高宗旨和核心价值所在。走可持续发展道路是世界各国明智的选择,也是中国未来发展的必然选择。它是一种新的思路、新的思想、新的观念。发展的持续性和发展的协调性是它的两个鲜明特征,即它将发展与时间维度相互联系在一起,通过人类与环境的协调来保证。     

中消协副会长刘俊海：责任消费永不过时

在中国消费者协会（以下简称＂中消协＂）副会长、中国人民大学商法研究所所长刘俊海看来,责任与消费的话题永不过时。政府和各级消费者行业协会要倡导消费与责任的理念,以消费者本位精神创新消费维权社会管理,优化责任消费的环境,共同营造一个消费者感到放心、安心、舒心的宽松消费环境。     

Status consumption and role-relaxed consumption: A tale of two retail consumers

Our study contrasts status-seeking consumers with role-relaxed consumers across personal, social influence, and market influence factors. The results of a survey of 598 consumers supported all but four of 15 hypotheses. The findings suggest that status-seeking consumers: (1) tend to conform to group norms, yet (2) maintain a need for uniqueness, (3) are susceptible to normative, but not necessarily informational interpersonal influence, (4) can be opinion leaders, but not necessarily opinion seekers, and (5) have tendencies that contrast sharply with role-relaxed consumer tendencies. In contrast, role-relaxed consumers: (1) do not generally conform to group norms, (2) are typically not susceptible to informational nor normative interpersonal influence, (3) do not pay attention to social comparison information, (4) are neither opinion leaders nor opinion seekers, and (5) have tendencies that contrast sharply with status consumer tendencies.