Environmental reporting within the forest and paper industry

Research on environmental reporting within individual sectors and industries is limited. Generic studies have typically focused on the reporting practices of the world's largest corporates. Some industries and sectors are under‐represented within these studies, limiting the potential for industry‐ or sector‐specific analysis. Forest and paper is one industry frequently under‐represented. This study examines environmental reporting amongst the top 100 forest and paper companies. The scale of environmental report publication is investigated, and the breadth and depth of reporting on the key industry issues of forest management and fibre procurement examined. The results show reporting is more prevalent amongst larger corporates but marked regional variations are evident. Most noticeably, Scandinavian companies are reporting more extensively, both in terms of the number of levels at which they report and the depth of information included on forest management and fibre procurement. Reasons for the marked regional variations in reporting are considered and markets for forest products and preferences within those markets for specific certification schemes identified as potential influencing factors. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Eco-innovation and business performance: the moderating effects of environmental orientation and resource commitment in green-oriented SMEs

Drawing on the eco-innovation and resource-based view, this research attempts to contribute to the eco-innovation-performance debate by examining the effects of eco-innovation on business performance. In particular, we propose that the eco-innovation–performance relationship is contingent on environmental orientation and resources commitment. The analysis of 83 green-oriented SMEs in New Zealand suggests that eco-innovation has a positive effect on business performance. More interestingly, the findings show although environmental orientation does not directly influence business performance, it enhances the positive effect of eco-innovation on business performance. The results further suggest that green-oriented firms will reap more performance benefit of eco-innovation when they commit more organizational resources.     

Examining Public Hospital Service Failure: The Influence of Service Failure Type,Service Expectations,and Attribution on Consumer Response

This study investigates three independent variables; types of service failure, service expectations, and attribution on postfailure responses in healthcare. A between-subjects 3?×?2?×?2 experimental design using written scenarios was used. The findings demonstrate that customer responses to service failures in hospitals are extensively influenced by the type of service failure, the level of service expectation of the provider, and, to a lesser extent, the controllability of the cause of the failure. Core service failures lead to greater increases in negative responses for satisfaction, emotional, and behavioral responses than supplementary service failure with high service expectations protecting the provider against overall dissatisfaction, negative word-of-mouth, and switching behaviors. Interestingly, perceived high controllability leads to greater dissatisfaction but not to increased negative emotional or behavioral responses. The study applies attribution theory to explain the results. The article concludes with managerial implications.     

Creating positive habits in water conservation: the case of the Queensland Water Commission and the Target 140 campaign

This case study reports the activities of the Queensland Water Commission (QWC) in securing the water supply for Brisbane and surrounding South East Queensland (SEQ) in response to the worst drought on record. The case focuses on residential water use and examines a three year period from 2006 to 2009. The focus of the study is the interventions of 2007, which centres on the Target 140 campaign. In 2007, the QWC faced with critically low dam levels identified household consumption as responsible for 70% of water use. The eight month Target 140 campaign targeted household users, aiming to change the water use habits of SEQ residents. The campaign achieved not only immediate reductions in water use but also contributed to long term behavioural and attitudinal change. The aim of the campaign was to reduce water consumption from 180 litres (l) /person/day to a target of 140 l /person/day by the end of 2007. This was achieved with water consumption dropping to an average of 129 l/person/day during the campaign and saving over 20 billon litres of water. In 2009, despite the drought broken for over a year and the water consumption target lifted to 200 l /person/day residents were continuing to consume water, on average, less than 140 l /person/day. The outcome was a capstone result for the QWC, and the Target 140 campaign went on to achieve international industry recognition. This case study demonstrates how attitudinal change, goal setting and feedback were key components of the change strategy and outlines the tactics used during the campaign. Furthermore, the case study discusses these mechanisms for change in terms of a theoretical understanding. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Graduate Engineers and British Trans-National Business: Elite Human Resource Or Technical Labourers?

Bryn Jones, Peter Scott, Brian Bolton and Alan Bramley discuss the results of their cross-sectoral study of manufacturing firms in the UK. They find that policy of treating graduate engineers as an elite human resource is mostly confined to consortia having international cooperative links and to companies with ‘central interventionist’ HRD policies. the high degree of decentralisation characteristic of UK-owned companies, however, combined with the disproportionate recruitment of non-engineer managers, restricted the career development of engineers. All four authors are from the University of Bath. Bryn Jones and Peter Scott are from the School of Social Sciences. Brian Bolton and Alan Bramley are from the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and the School of Mechanical Engineering.