Business Commons^™

Methane Production By A Packed-Bed Anaerobic Digester Fed Dairy Barn Flush Water, Sean Richard Thomson

Master's Theses

Packed-bed digesters are an alternative to covered lagoon digesters for methane production and anaerobic treatment of dilute wastewaters such as dairy barn flush water. The physical media of packed-beds retain biofilms, often allowing increased treatment rates. Previous studies have evaluated several types of media for digestion of dilute wastewaters, but cost and media fouling have setback commercial development. A major operational cost has been effluent recirculation pumping.

In the present effort, a novel approach to anaerobic digestion of flush dairy water was developed at pilot-scale: broken walnut shells were used as a low-cost packed-bed medium and effluent recirculation was replaced …

Transforming Nobody To Somebody: Do Transformational Leadership And Relationship Marketing Make A Difference For Sustainable Marketing?, Nalin Abeysekera, Ananda Wickramasinghe

Ananda Wickramasinghe

With a complex, dynamic and fiercely competitive business environment and consumerism, sustainable relationship marketing is a hallenge that is critical for businesses. The concept of transformational leadership can be considered as the most influential over the last two decades in changing the ways that businesses are operating - in particular, in marketing their products, and attracting, delighting and retaining customers for the long run. This conceptual paper examines the relationship between transformational leadership and relationship marketing in the context of selling. In particular, the usage of trust and commitment used by both theories has been discussed extensively. Ultimately this study …

Repositioning The Business Of Sustainable Manufacturing, Lee Styger

Lee Styger

The current contextual reference of sustainable manufacturing has typically been influenced by contemporary and academic literature to a point where a myopic view could be said to exist, that places the concept of sustainability outside that of commercial operating principles. Furthermore, recent decisions concerning supply integration and commissioning are typically being based around issues such as short term risk mitigation, and early steps towards developing protocols focused on corporate social responsibility introduce further pressure into businesses, that could lead to a significant hiatus in operating efficiency. Recent research has indicated that in many cases, supply networks are fragmented and lack …

Role Of Supply Chain Mapping In Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Lee Styger, Nelson Perera, Pradeepa Jayaratne

Lee Styger

Sustainability as a concept has created enormous pressure on supply chain management. During the last few decades companies from all sectors of industry have not only needed to deliver quality products right on time, but they now also have to comply with environmental, economical, ethical and the social pressures placed on the business. To improve supply chain performance, managers should know exactly what is happening along their supply chain. It is therefore argued that supply chain mapping will deliver insights into the complexity of a supply network and should be the first step in any business if performance or overall …

Mirrors: 'Bleeding' The Creation Of Alternative Organization Through A Liberating Ideology Of Transformative Humanism, Alia Weston, J. Miguel Imas, Paul Donnelly

Conference papers

In this paper, we propose a new way of explaining the everyday practices of communities who socially organize to create sustainable grass-roots engagement. We discuss how this collective engagement is based on principles and values of socio-economic engagement that are fundamentally different to those associated with capitalism. We theorise that these community engagements are sustained by an organizational ideology of 'transformative humanism' that is founded on an ongoing struggle for emancipation. Our perspective is constructed through a combination of Frantz Fanon's ideas on humanism, Manfred Max-Neef's barefoot economics, and Paulo Freire's pedagogies of hope and transformation. We suggest that movements …

Role Of Supply Chain Mapping In Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Lee Styger, Nelson Perera, Pradeepa Jayaratne

Nelson Perera

Sustainability as a concept has created enormous pressure on supply chain management. During the last few decades companies from all sectors of industry have not only needed to deliver quality products right on time, but they now also have to comply with environmental, economical, ethical and the social pressures placed on the business. To improve supply chain performance, managers should know exactly what is happening along their supply chain. It is therefore argued that supply chain mapping will deliver insights into the complexity of a supply network and should be the first step in any business if performance or overall …

A Critical Reflection On The Role Of Stakeholders In Sustainable Tourism Development In Least-Developed Countries, Sotear Ellis, Lynnaire Sheridan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

While investigating the implementation of community-based tourism in least-developed countries (LDCs), the critical role of stakeholders in sustainable tourism development became apparent. External stakeholders, in particular, develop theory models and define policy for translation into the field yet there is little critical consideration of their role and influence. This article encapsulates insights achieved by the researchers at the interface of theory and practice in a challenging LDC setting.

A Sustainable Decision Framework For Maintaining Engagement Between Corporations And Community Stakeholders: Breaking Down The Barriers Of Supply, Fadi Kotob, Lee Styger

Lee Styger

Traditional lines of supply have, over time, developed natural barriers that reduced the supply network efficiency and the opportunity to develop a win-win environment between corporations and community stakeholders. This situation originates from the early stages of a new program integration regardless of stakeholders intent. As such, early program integration is crucial for having any meaningful improvement away from traditional arms length supply relationships.

The performance of organisations within the supply network is intertwined. For successful integration, information will need to flow efficiently throughout the supply network and be accessible to community stakeholders who represent a node within the supply …

The Live Monitoring Of Carbon Emissions For Sustainable International Trade And Exchange, Lee Styger

Lee Styger

There is growing hypothesis that, following the current economic crisis, carbon trading will kick start the stock markets once again and that carbon is a new “commodity” albeit now being traded in a traditional way. This carries several disadvantages; the most pressing being that “if you can’t measure it then you cannot improve it”, rendering any audit meaningless as a real improvement measure and resulting in the view that carbon trading is merely another form of taxation. This paper will discuss the options of live monitoring and recording of trade waste resources and offer a framework for viable trading of …

Repositioning The Business Of Sustainable Manufacturing, Lee Styger

Sydney Business School - Papers

The current contextual reference of sustainable manufacturing has typically been influenced by contemporary and academic literature to a point where a myopic view could be said to exist, that places the concept of sustainability outside that of commercial operating principles. Furthermore, recent decisions concerning supply integration and commissioning are typically being based around issues such as short term risk mitigation, and early steps towards developing protocols focused on corporate social responsibility introduce further pressure into businesses, that could lead to a significant hiatus in operating efficiency. Recent research has indicated that in many cases, supply networks are fragmented and lack …

Organization-Based Social Marketing: An Alternative Approach For Organizations Adopting Sustainable Business Practices, Mary Franks Papakosmas, Gary Noble, John Glynn

John J Glynn

This article conceptualizes a new area for social marketing practitioners by focusing on individual behavior change that might occur within organizations. Organization-Based Social Marketing (OBSM) draws from organization change theory and internal marketing theory, while maintaining social marketing’s focus on beneficial behavior modification. The article argues that as such, OBSM represents a viable approach for organizations seeking to address the increasing demand for change strategies that promote proenvironmental behavior among their employees

Sustainable Water Management On Brownfields Sites, Ryan Fenwick, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

This practice guide was developed by the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN) through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Through a cooperative agreement with HUD, EFCN is providing capacity building and technical assistance to recipients of grants from the federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an interagency collaboration that aims to help towns, cities, and regions develop in more economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable ways.

The Leadership Of Sustainable Cities: A Multiple-Case Study Of Two Oregon Cities, Kenneth L. Weaver

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

In order for cities to become more sustainable it is necessary for the leaders of the efforts to change the organizations and governments so that they understand and embrace what it means to be more sustainable. This study examined the change processes of two Oregon Cities, Corvallis and Eugene, that had made the choice to become more sustainable as a community. The approaches that the participant leaders used demonstrated the use of different ways of thinking about the leadership of change. The ways of thinking of the community leaders were formed by their unique personal backgrounds, knowledge, skills, and abilities. …

Green Offices In Australia: A User Perception Survey, Lynne Armitage, Ann Murugan, Hikari Kato

Lynne Armitage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to deepen understanding of what is working and what is not working within green workplace environments. The paper examines management and employee perceptions of their experiences of working in green workplace environments and assesses the effectiveness of such places.Design/methodology/approach – Being the second stage of a longitudinal study, this paper relies on a data set derived from its survey of 31 management and 351 employee respondents occupying Green Building Council Australia Green Star-rated offices for more than 12 months.Findings – The green workplace is a great place to be, at least most …

Process Vs. Performance Standards For Sustainable Meeting And Event Management, Andrew Stephen Walker

Transnational Business Governance Interactions Working Papers

This paper examines two emerging voluntary industry standards — the process-based ISO 20121 Event sustainability management systems and the performance-based APEX/ASTM Environmentally Sustainable Event Standard — and examines whether they can complement, rather than compete with, each other to provide a comprehensive approach to the complex task of managing and measuring sustainability within meetings and events. A framework for analysis was developed through examining the academic literature on competition between process and performance-based sustainability standards within the forestry sector where several internationally-recognized standards have interacted in the marketplace for over a decade. Three criteria — legitimacy, accountability and effectiveness — …

Organization-Based Social Marketing: An Alternative Approach For Organizations Adopting Sustainable Business Practices, Mary Franks Papakosmas, Gary Noble, John Glynn

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This article conceptualizes a new area for social marketing practitioners by focusing on individual behavior change that might occur within organizations. Organization-Based Social Marketing (OBSM) draws from organization change theory and internal marketing theory, while maintaining social marketing’s focus on beneficial behavior modification. The article argues that as such, OBSM represents a viable approach for organizations seeking to address the increasing demand for change strategies that promote proenvironmental behavior among their employees

Development For The Past, Present, And Future: Defining And Measuring Sustainable Development, Max Cantor

Senior Honors Projects

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition provides a relatively stable theoretical base from which development economists and political scientists can begin to tackle issues surrounding sustainable development, the inherently amorphous nature of this definition has also created a fair amount of ambiguity in both the economic literature surrounding sustainable development and the subsequent attempts by economists to measure it.

Historically, those interested in the science of development have typically …

Crop Updates 2011 - Farming Systems, Janette Drew, Rob Grima, Bob French, Raj Malik, Mark Seymour, Christine Zaicou-Kunesch, Glenn Mcdonald, Brendon Nicholas, Dennis Van Gool, James Fisher, Peter Tozer, Doug Abrecht, Michael Robertson, Cameron Weeks, Michael O'Conner, Peter Newman, Mike Clarke, Andrew Blake, Gordon Macaulay, Vijay Jayasena, Syed M. Nasar-Abbas, Larisa Cato, Robert Loughman, Ken Quail

Crop Updates

This session covers twelve papers from different authors:

1. Fallowing 50% of the farm each year – does it pay? Janette Drew and Rob Grima

Department of Agriculture and Food

2. How crop sequences affect the productivity and resilience of cropping systems in two Western Australian environments, Bob French, Raj Malik, Mark Seymour, Department of Agriculture and Food

3. When is continuous wheat or barley sustainable? Christine Zaicou-Kunesch and Rob Grima Department of Agriculture and Food

4. Identifying constraints to bridging the yield gap, Glenn McDonald, Department of Agriculture and Food

5. Land constraints limiting wheat yields in …

On The Relationship Between Population Change And Sustainable Development, Simone Marsiglio

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper investigates the relationship between population growth and economic growth, through the study of fertility choices and their effects on natural resources. It aims at analyzing the interactions between endogenous fertility choices and the environment and their link to the sustainable matter. We analyze a growth model driven by natural resources and without production, where agents have jointly to determine consumption and fertility, taking into account the effects of their decisions on the dynamics of natural resources. We adopt the most optimistic view on natural capital (it generates endogenous growth) and the weakest notion of sustainable paths (all variables …

Short Haul City Travel Is Truly Environmentally Sustainable, Sara Dolnicar, Christian Laesser, Katrina Matus

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

With rising interest in and concern about climate change and environmental sustainability, and the significance of the tourism industry worldwide, the impact of tourism-related activities and behaviors on the environment has become a key area of research. In particular, transport related to tourism has come under scrutiny for its contribution to the ecological footprint of tourism of a destination, mostly accounted for by the dominance of air travel. This study contributes to research in this area by identifying the types of travel situations in which tourists make environmentally friendly choices about travel modes and, consequently, which types of tourism destinations …

Garden Tourism In Ireland: An Exploration Of Product Group Co-Operation, Links And Relationships, Catherine Gorman

Doctoral

A garden is a space developed for the purpose of consumption and pleasure. Gardens open to the the public form part of the tourism resource of a destination. Those involved in provision within the gardentourism sector are continuously seeking ways of ensuring that both their businesses are successful and give value to the visitor i.e. sustainable. Developing and using co-operative approaches, linkages and relationships within the tourism supply sector is one way towards a more sustainable path of provision. This book explores the garden tourism sector in Ireland identifying such approaches, and concludes that a multiplicity of identities exist. Constructs …

Sporting Change: Greening The Ballpark, Steve Greenberg, Anthony Taormina, Robert Sroufe

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2010

Sustainable construction achieves the dual aim of reducing building carbon emissions while reducing lifecycle maintenance and long-term operating costs of the facility. This exploratory research aims to address the gap between the growing development of commercial LEED real estate buildings and sports and entertainment venues, while developing a framework for LEED Certification in New Ballparks. Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, located in State College, Pennsylvania, opened in 2006 as the first LEED certified stadium in the world. Sustainable design features include automatic plumbing fixtures, a gray water system, automatic lighting, public transportation hubs, and use of recycled and local construction …

Exploring The Issues In Sustainable Development Journal Reporting, Rosemary Van Der Meer, Luba Torlina, Jamie Mustard

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

There is concern about the environmental claims organisations make in corporate social reports and advertising. Similar concerns may also occur with reporting of environmental initiatives in journals. This paper explores what information is being conveyed in academic and industry journals. In particular, we examine the types of projects that are discussed and the level of detail provided in the reporting of sustainable development initiatives to identify what is being communicated and whether there is substance to the reporting. The results show that there are issues with the lack of detail reported and its anecdotal nature.

Knowledge Sharing By Organisations In Sustainable Development Projects, Rosemary Van Der Meer, Luba Torlina, Jamie Mustard

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

There are an increasing number of organisations seeing the benefits of implementing sustainable development practices within their processes and product design. However, there are a number of barriers that are preventing organisations from taking up this challenge. Some of these barriers could be reduced through the application of better external knowledge sharing. This paper explores the potential for sharing knowledge about sustainable development practices in academic and industry journals. Using content analysis, the types of projects that are discussed and the level of detail provided in the reporting of sustainable development initiatives by organisations are examined to identify what is …

Understanding The Australian Environmental Volunteering Market: A Basis For Behavioural Change And A Sustainable Future, Melanie J. Randle, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The world is facing an environmental crisis. Long-term environmental sustainability requires social change: individuals need to take personal responsibility for the environment and change their behaviour. Environmental volunteering organisations play a key role in this process: they create opportunities for individuals to improve their natural environment, they facilitate behavioural change. Successful facilitation of behavioural change requires in-depth understanding of the environmental volunteering market to identify those individuals most likely to volunteer, compete successfully and create targeted, motivating marketing campaigns. The present study (1) assesses the usefulness of a novel method (PBMS) to explore volunteering markets, and (2) provides insight into …

Environmentally Friendly Behavior - Can Heterogeneity Among Individuals And Contexts/Environments Be Harvested For Improved Sustainable Management?, Sara Dolnicar, Bettina Grun

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The study of behavior with environmental consequences (recycling, water conservation, etc.) has received significant attention from social scientists over the past few decades. However, few studies have closely examined the systematic heterogeneity of behavior with environmental consequences. This study tests two specific hypotheses about such heterogeneity: that individuals differ systematically in their patterns of behavior with environmental consequences and that behavioral patterns systematically differ between context/environments. Both hypotheses are investigated empirically in the home and vacation environment. Results support the assumption that systematic differences in behavioral patterns exist across individuals. With respect to context/environment dependence, some groups of individuals do …

Simulation Modelling And Strategic Change: Creating The Sustainable Enterprise, Patrick M. Dawson, Trevor A. Spedding

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper highlights the benefits of using discrete event simulation models for developing change management frameworks which facilitate productivity and environmental improvements in order to create a sustainable enterprise. There is an increasing need for organisations to be more socially and environmentally responsible, however these objectives cannot be realised in isolation of the strategic, operations and business objectives of the enterprise. Discrete Event Simulation models facilitate a multidimensional approach to enterprise modelling which can integrate operations and strategic considerations with environmental and social issues. Moreover these models can provide a dynamic roadmap for implementing a change strategy for realising the …

The Live Monitoring Of Carbon Emissions For Sustainable International Trade And Exchange, Lee Styger

Sydney Business School - Papers

There is growing hypothesis that, following the current economic crisis, carbon trading will kick start the stock markets once again and that carbon is a new “commodity” albeit now being traded in a traditional way. This carries several disadvantages; the most pressing being that “if you can’t measure it then you cannot improve it”, rendering any audit meaningless as a real improvement measure and resulting in the view that carbon trading is merely another form of taxation. This paper will discuss the options of live monitoring and recording of trade waste resources and offer a framework for viable trading of …

Sustainable Portland: Implementation Series 1, New England Environmental Finance Center

Climate Change

When the Sustainable Portland Task Force Report was released in November 2007, under the leadership of Mayor Jim Cohen, Portland Councilor Kevin Donoghue had the idea that students at the Muskie School of Public Service might be able to help implement recommendations from the report. It may have helped that Kevin was himself a graduate of the Community Planning and Development Master’s program at the Muskie School, but it was a good idea nevertheless. He approached Professor Sam Merrill in the CPD program, who spoke with the new Mayor Ed Suslovic about a possible partnership between the City and the …

The Role Of Knowledge Management In An Organisation's Sustainable Development, Rosemary Van Der Meer, Sukunesan Sinnappan

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This paper intends to study the role that Knowledge Management has in development of sustainable organisations. Particularly, the researchers propose to examine key factors in the use of Knowledge Management and sustainable development that could be used to provide a measure in achieving sustainability. The research project is an exploratory study using a case study approach due to the limited amount of literature available on the use of Knowledge Management in sustainable development. The significance of this study is the opportunity to see how much impact Knowledge Management can make in the process of re-engineering an organisation along sustainable goals. …