Green practices in restaurants: Impact on firm performance

Although some researchers have recently studied green practices in restaurants, scant previous research has analyzed the impact of these practices on overall performance in this field. Moreover, these studies have generally focused on mega-sized restaurants in the United States. The primary objective of this study is therefore to examine the motivations for the adoption of green practices in restaurants in Spain and the impact of this adoption on firm performance. The results are based on a survey completed by 374 small restaurant managers. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze links between the studied dimensions. The findings indicate that green practices have a strong positive direct influence on operational performance and competitiveness in Spanish restaurants and that they indirectly influence overall firm performance. Therefore, the results of this paper suggest that being proactive about environmental issues can provide restaurants with a great number of benefits that improve firm competitiveness and performance.     

Sustainability in small tourist businesses: the link between initiatives and performance

This study explores the combined effects of adopting sustainable practices on small tourism companies’ performance. The existing literature provides insufficient data on sustainable behaviour because most studies on environmental practices focus on larger companies in the tourism sector, and a gap exists in social practices. This study is based on a survey of 374 restaurant managers. It uses structural equation modelling to study direct links between three dimensions – quality, environmental practices and social practices – and financial performance and market success factors. Significant differences with earlier studies are found. This study suggests that proactive sustainable practices can benefit small service companies by improving competitiveness even in difficult times. Practical implications are discussed in relation to sustainable practices.     

A Fresh Approach to Context Influence,Development and Performance in Environmental Management

Respect for the environment has rapidly gained importance in the context of firms, regardless of their pollution levels. Most of the existing research has related to the most polluting sectors and has been limited to the effect that the adoption of cleaner practices has on performance, primarily in terms of operations, financial performance and competitiveness. This paper expands the research towards a more complete picture of environmental management by examining context, development and performance to understand how other factors can influence the development of cleaner practices. In addition, we focus our research on the service sector. In our analysis, we differentiated between the affiliation and size of the studied companies to better understand their specificities. Based on a sample of 374 restaurants, the results show the importance of the influence of institutions and the limited influence of competitors in encouraging firms to adopt a strategic, clean approach, especially for the smallest firms. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Can life cycle assessment be used to evaluate plant breeding objectives to improve supply chain sustainability? A worked example using porridge oats from the UK

The challenge for agricultural production in the 21st century is to produce sufficient high-quality food whilst minimizing impact. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can help by identifying the parts of a supply chain with the greatest environmental impact, and to determine which technologies – for example plant breeding – may be most appropriately employed to minimize negative impacts. A ‘plough-to-plate’ LCA of a porridge oat production chain was undertaken using data that corresponds to the inputs and outputs of an indicative supply chain. The greatest environmental impact of the porridge oats life cycle occurs in crop production and cooking. There are traits for oats that are available for manipulation by plant breeders, which can influence these areas; these include yield, nitrogen use efficiency and beta-glucan content. Therefore plant breeding may be a useful strategy for improving the sustainability of the crop. However LCA cannot be a definitive tool to guide plant breeding and therefore this approach needs to compliment others. Nevertheless this study highlights that porridge oat supply chain sustainability would benefit from an integrated effort stretching from the geneticist to consumer; a finding that is likely to be relevant to other food supply chains.     

High unemployment and tourism participation*

This paper analyses individual tourism participation decisions during a worldwide economic downturn. Given the nature of tourism services, a reduction in habitual consumption is highly probable during an economic crisis. Since the unemployment rate is strongly correlated with the economic cycle, the hypothesis that is discussed concerns whether residents’ decision to participate in tourism is affected by their region's level of unemployment. More specifically, it is suggested that unemployment not only affects the tourism participation decision of those who are out-of-work, but that aggregate unemployment (measured as the region's unemployment rate) also has a bearing on such decisions made by individuals in general. The results that were obtained for a set of EU countries show that the unemployment level has a positive effect on the probability of not going on holidays. This effect emerges when there is an unemployment rate of over 10%.     

Impact of sustainable management policies on tourism companies' performance: the case of the metropolitan region of Madrid

The adoption of sustainable management practices is booming among service companies, whether due to pressure exerted by external agents or the internal perception that not being aligned with sustainability distances companies from clients and puts companies' long-term prospects at risk. However, few studies have examined the combined effect of implementing environmental management practices and corporate social responsibility practices in the tourism sector. By analysing two surveys conducted with the managers of 370 hotels and 176 restaurants and using structural equations, this study concludes that sustainability practices have a direct and significant impact on the company's competitiveness and on the companies' financial results. However, a separate study of the two surveys shows significant differences between the two analysed groups. This article suggests that despite operating in the same sector, hotels and restaurants behave differently regarding sustainability practices, and they achieve significantly different results in their implementation. In addition, by focusing on the tourism industry, a highly competitive sector, this analysis sheds light on whether investing in sustainability is a good strategy for companies to differentiate themselves and survive in complex sectors.