Procurement of logistics services and sustainable development in Europe: Fields of activity and empirical results

This paper strives to answer the general question; how far purchasers of logistics services take into account aspects of sustainable development. Modeled on the German Sustainable Development Strategy, which is based on the EU Sustainable Development plan, five fields of activity are defined: the reduction of transport intensity and emission, the reduction of land use, the choice of carrier under consideration of sustainable aspects, the permanent improvement of working conditions, and the enhancement of qualified employment. Then, propositions for purchasing companies of logistics services are developed, which contribute to safeguard ecological as well as social sustainability. In order to conduct an explorative study, a questionnaire was sent to 750 purchase and logistics managers. It was found that purchasing companies place high value on ecological and social aspects. But the perceived importance is not associated with purchasing companies' own contributions to logistics service providers' sustainable activities. Additionally, it was seen that purchasing companies exert only a minor influence on logistics service providers regarding ecologically and socially sustainable actions. A fundamental precondition for a sustainably oriented procurement of logistics services can be seen in the purchasing companies' awareness of the need for integrating sustainable aspects in economic decisions.     

小额信贷扶贫与财务可持续性:作用机制与协调发展研究

扶贫与财务可持续发展是小额信贷公司应该同时兼顾的两个重要问题,本文从静态和动态角度分析小额信贷公司扶贫和财务可持续发展的作用机制,研究发现在短期内小额信贷对盈利的追求会损害扶贫功能的发挥,但从长期、动态的角度看,扶贫与财务可持续发展是可以协调的,提出了我国小额信贷扶贫与财务可持续性协调发展的具体对策。     

Sustainability of the fiscal imbalance and public debt under fiscal policy asymmetries in Sri Lanka

This paper investigates the sustainability of Sri Lanka’s fiscal imbalance and public debt. To test for sustainability of the fiscal imbalance, the study applies a symmetric ARDL (autoregressive distributive lag) technique to estimate a government intertemporal budget constraint. And to test for sustainability of public debt, it applies an asymmetric ARDL technique to estimate a fiscal reaction function, which allows for differential responses in the primary budget balance depending on whether shocks to regressors are positive or negative. Annual data for the period 1961–2018 are used in the estimations. The results indicate that Sri Lanka’s fiscal management is inconsistent with strong form sustainability, which requires that expenditures not grow faster than revenues. However, estimation of the fiscal reaction function finds robust evidence for fiscal policy asymmetries. Evidence emerges that Sri Lanka’s fiscal policy stance is procyclical with strong stabilization tendencies in economic expansions that are not sustained in contractions. Against upsurges in the debt-to-GDP ratio, authorities are found to pursue fiscal consolidation, thus suggesting weak form sustainability.     

A ‘Legislation-Check’ based on ‘3-D Sustainability’ - Addressing global precautionary land governance

This paper aims to provide a new and practical approach called ‘Legislation-Check’ to identifying shortcomings in national legislation in terms of how well it implements sustainable development, and ways of improving the legislation. National legislation was chosen as it represents a sort of ‘skeleton of society’ and defines the status quo, as well as setting the main environmental, societal and economic directions of the population covered.The approach presented is based on a new concept called ‘3-D Sustainability’, which focuses on the precautionary principle. 3-D Sustainability provides criteria in a flexible hierarchy for solving conflicts of interest between economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In this paper, these criteria and dimensions are applied to various sectors of Austrian national environmental legislation to identify the shortcomings of the legislation and ways of addressing these shortcomings.This paper shows, by way of quantitative data, a significant increase in the use of sustainability related terms in generally applicable legal instruments (both federal and provincial) in Austria since 2003. In qualitative terms the results of the paper further indicate, using national environmental legislation, several hierarchical disorders between different legal acts and opportunities for improving them. Furthermore, inadequacies in the way that the legislation handles sustainable development and a total lack of overall objectives and targets in terms of sustainability are highlighted, which can jeopardise sustainable development.The concept of ‘3-D Sustainability’ has not previously focused on national legislation, despite the practical importance of the legal implementation and enforcement on this geographic level. Hence, this paper contributes, through scientifically-based decision support, to practical pathways for the innovation of institutional, procedural and substantive arrangements in existing legislation.The approach presented in this paper is not restricted to environmental issues, but is applicable to all thematic areas. It is also not geographically limited, but could be implemented in any country and also beyond national borders. Furthermore, the approach can be easily replicated and provides systematically gained results for global governance change towards sustainable development.     

物流与中国城市化

中国未来的发展非常需要物流和供应链管理。物流将成为中国城市化进程的支撑手段。物流支撑产业转移,推动经济一体化,提升城市与区域核心竞争力。以城市为单元,构建城市基础设施,建立城市物流体系,减少交通拥堵,降低排放,是建设和谐城市、幸福城市和可持续城市的重要举措。     

Multiple Levels of Corporate Sustainability

According to Dr. Clare Graves, mankind has developed eight core value systems,1 as responses to prevailing circumstances. Given different contexts and value systems, a one-solution-fits-all concept of corporate sustainability is not reasonable. Therefore, this paper presents various definitions and forms of sustainability, each linked to specific (societal) circumstances and related value systems. A sustainability matrix– an essential element of the overall European Corporate Sustainability Framework – is described showing six types of organizations at different developmental stages, with different forms of corporate sustainability, each supported by specific institutional arrangements.     

Sustainability assurance provider participation in standard setting

This paper examines the participation of accounting firms in the development of sustainability standards by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). This study shows that the Big Four accounting firms have an active role in both the submission of comment letters on sustainability to the SEC and participation in the industry working groups (IWG) for the SASB. The SASB participation reveals that individuals located within the US and at international affiliates are participating at earlier career stages. In addition, this paper leverages LinkedIn data, identifying the career path of the individuals subsequent to their participation with the IWG, to determine how large accounting firms are retaining the skills and knowledge necessary for this field. Since the Big Four firms are market leaders in sustainability assurance, the finding that Big Four firms can retain individuals with financial assurance backgrounds differently than individuals with other backgrounds speaks to the unique skill set that financial assurance develops. This suggests that the career opportunities for interested financial assurance individuals within the sustainability sphere remain robust within the Big Four environment.     

Impacts of sustainability certification on farm income: Evidence from small-scale specialty green tea farmers in Vietnam

Sustainability certification for small-scale farms has gained considerable momentum in developing countries. However, evidence on the economic benefits of certification schemes in the context of domestically consumed foods and beverages is scarce. This paper addresses this gap by evaluating the impacts of sustainability standards on the selling prices, sales, costs and net income of small-scale specialty green tea farming in Vietnam. We analyze original survey data on 401 smallholder green tea farmers and employ propensity score matching to mitigate self-selection bias. Our estimates reveal that certified green tea producers are able to obtain a higher average selling price and sales value. In addition, although certification leads to a dramatic increase in the costs of hired labor, net farm income is still significantly improved.     

Sustainability and the reconstruction of academic finance

It is now widely acknowledged that tackling the ongoing global economic, social and ecological crisis will require to redefine simultaneously the existing criteria for the allocation of capital, the modalities of corporate governance, and the mission of organizations. The present special issue hence attempts to discuss new practices, remove existing epistemological obstacles to a paradigmatic diversification in finance, and carve out innovative paths for financial research.