A two-stage analytical approach to assess sustainable energy efficiency

Administrators and policymakers at regional, national and global level are well aware of the necessity and undeniable benefits of renewable energy for long-term sustainability. In this study, we developed a two-stage analytical methodology to assess the efficiency of energy sources (a combination of various energy sources, mostly based on renewable sources), and Turkey, a country with a variety of renewable energy potential because of its favorable geographic and climatic conditions, was used as an illustrative case. Specifically, in the first stage, we utilized a nonparametric method and a powerful benchmarking tool—Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)—to analyze energy efficiencies for each province. In the second stage, we employed the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression and Tobit regression models to investigate the environmental factors affecting energy efficiency. And then, we used the Charnes-Cooper-Rhodes (CCR) DEA and Tobit regression combination to perform a validation of the findings. The tandem utilization of DEA, OLS, and Tobit regression models allowed us to overcome some of the shortcomings of these methods when they are utilized individually. The results revealed the factors that have direct and positive influence/effect on the efficiencies, which included gross domestic product per-capita, population size, and the amount of energy production from renewable energy sources. The findings also suggested that starting the investments at the less-efficient provinces result in a better overall nationwide technical efficiency. These results can potentially help decision makers to develop and manage energy investment strategies

“Wolf Totem” – metaphorical narrative of sustainability reporting practice from a balanced ecosystem perspective: a longitudinal study of sustainability reporting by Chinese banks

This research attempts to explain and evaluate corporate sustainability reporting practices from an ecosystems perspective, through the application of metaphors. It argues that commonly held ideas of sustainable development, which many firms embrace to produce sustainability reports, narrowly focus on the sustainability performances of individual firms and fail to comprehend a broader systems view, that incorporates a holistic understanding of sustainability embracing ecological perspectives. The study draws on the work of Chinese intellectual Jiang Rong, author of a best-selling semi-autobiographical novel Wolf Totem, which documents the life experiences of a Beijing student sent to the Inner Mongolian countryside during China’s Cultural Revolution. Reflecting on his experiences, the author describes the powerful interrelationships between human beings, animals, nature and culture that work in harmony to sustain nomadic life. The novel is used in this research as a contextual landscape to construct a series of multi-tiered metaphors to make sense of corporate sustainability reporting through metaphorical interpretations. By narrating the Chinese banking sector as the “ecosystem”, various actors within the sector are examined to establish their roles and functions in the ecosystem. This is made possible by conducting a summative content analysis on sustainability reports issued by Chinese banks for the period 2008 to 2012 and a metaphorical narrative representation of the findings. This research aims to become one of the first studies of its kind to use a cross-disciplinary framework and application of metaphors to comprehend sustainability reporting practice with a focus on the context of a financial service sector in a strong, emerging economy

Transformation Paradox: A Framework for the Analysis of Politics in Enterprise Transformations

The purpose of this research is to develop a theoretical framework for the analysis of politics in enterprise transformations using a dialectical analysis approach (Hegel, 1989; Heraclitus, 1979; Pinkard, 1988; Skinner, 1978a, 1978b) and conduct an evaluation of the framework validity. The framework is constructed using a dialectical analysis of concepts stemming from the work of Alford and Friedland (1992) and considers four theoretical perspectives: autocratic, bureaucratic, pluralistic, and cognitive. The framework is then validated by means of qualitative metrics and adherence to critical ideology. This research addresses the problem that there is no holistic theoretical framework for the analysis of politics across the systemic, situational, and structural contexts found in enterprise transformations. Politics occurs at multiple levels in the enterprise making it difficult to identify the salient issues that need to be addressed in support of transformation. Transformations can be paradoxical as enterprises revert to the dominant paradigm that affirms present realities rather than developing a critical posture to break the constraining paradigm. The dialectical approach used embraces the power of multiple theoretical perspectives in the transformation process, asserting that theories have power over actions, behaviors, and language. The theoretical framework allows for the simultaneous existence of shifting states of cooperation, frustration, and paradigmatic hegemony over systemic, situational, and structural contexts that embody politics in enterprise transformations. Rough set theory is used to demonstrate the ability of the framework to be adaptive and to evolve based on the inclusion of new data. I conclude that the deployment of an evolving framework of this magnitude may have a significant impact on the management of transformation efforts and suggest new areas of research to further the work

Bowdoin Orient v.118, no.1-27 (1988-1989)

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