Private Sector Investment and Sustainable Development: The Current and Potential Role of Institutional Investors, Companies, Banks and Foundations in Sustainable Development

This paper seeks to provide the Financing for Development process with a perspective on the role institutional investors, companies, and foundations can play in the design and implementation of a financing strategy for global sustainability. This will help bridge the terminology and investment approaches of institutional investors, companies, foundations, and governments. The paper highlights ongoing efforts among private investors to increase the impact of their investments. It concludes with a set of key actions facing investors, companies and foundations in their transition towards investment practices that contribute to sustainable development

Collaboration for Small-Scale Fisheries Reform. Lessons in Collective Impact for Systemic Change

As a worldwide collaboration of NGOs, businesses, funders, and governments, 50in10 aimed to help its partners take promising tools and approaches in small-scale fisheries restoration to the next level by testing, strengthening, and replicating them. In January 2016, 50in10 brought together three dozen 50in10 network members and stakeholders in Belize City to learn from one another, explore financing models, innovate new approaches, and discuss how network members could continue to replicate successes. The framework of the 50in10 Theory of Change—a collective impact approach in which community empowerment, policy reform, credible science, and market demand work together—as well as collaborative learning guided the convening. Participants prioritized sustainable financing, community engagement, scientific data, and enforcement and compliance as key areas in which innovation is needed to overcome obstacles to reform, and developed ideas for how to address these challenges

LEVERAGING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY TO REVAMP THE VEHICLE ELECTRIFICATION JOURNEY: PERSPECTIVES OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND ECONOMIC CIRCULARITY

The automotive industry is undergoing a significant transition accelerated by global emission regulations for a phase out of internal combustion engines (ICEs) and a transition toward the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). While regulatory measures and incentivized adoption for EVs presents opportunities for reducing emissions and promoting sustainability, it also poses complex challenges. The EV industry faces potential production challenges, particularly in the sourcing, manufacturing, and lifecycle management of critical minerals and raw materials for electric vehicle batteries (EVBs). With a heavy reliance on a steady and diversified supply of critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements, the finite nature of mineral resources poses long-term challenges for EV stakeholders. The recent measures instituted by government regulations do recognize the need for EV stakeholder accountability, requiring substantiated evidentiary proof by way of data collection and analysis mandating resource recapture and reintroduction into circularity, environmental benefits, and real-time data availability. By implementing clear end-of-life requirements such as collection targets, material recovery goals, and extended producer responsibility, EV producers are held responsible for managing the entire lifecycle of electric vehicle batteries (EVBs). Government regulations are aimed at bolstering sustainability standards, and a high degree of accountability for all battery products, showing a clear shift towards circular economic standards. This culminating experience project explores the role of collaborative initiatives and innovative technological frameworks, particularly, blockchain, smart contracts, and Nash equilibrium game theory, in addressing sustainability challenges within the EV ecosystem. The research questions are: (RQ1) How does the strategic application of blockchain technology within a circular economic framework facilitate cooperation among stakeholders in the EV industry, leading to improved oversight, enhanced accountability, and guided decision-making? (RQ2) How can the implementation of private-permissioned blockchain technology, particularly through smart contracts, be strategically employed to enhance transparency, traceability, and sustainability throughout the lifecycle of electric vehicles, within the broader context of the EV ecosystem? (RQ3) Why should EV industry stakeholders engage in a consortium, that is driven by blockchain technology, smart contracts, Nash Equilibrium game theory, and what are the potential effects? The findings for each question are: (Q1) The partnership among RCS, IBM, Ford, exemplified how integrating blockchain into a circular economic framework can establish oversight, ensure accountability, and enable informed decision-making with traceable and transparent data circularity. Ford notably improved its cobalt due diligent management system, marked by a notable forty-six percentage point within one year, demonstrating its commitment to responsible sourcing and regulatory compliance. (Q2) Private-permissioned blockchain networks, especially with smart contracts, automate performance obligations, without an intermediary interaction, strengthening self-governance within a decentralized network. The consensus mechanism, integral to blockchain architecture, enhances accountability among EV stakeholders by validating and authenticating transactions. Opting for a consensus algorithm, emphasizing participant reputation over computational power, reduces reliance on resources while maintaining network integrity. (Q3) EV stakeholders and their tier-1 suppliers, in a consortium, are incentivized to uphold their reputation and branding through adherence to ethical and sustainable practices facilitated in a blockchain network. By doing so, they contribute to the overall stability of the industry and the circular economic framework, as mutual benefits are maximized, unilateral deviations are discouraged, and collaborative dynamics are fostered. The conclusions are: (Q1) EV producers involved in circular economic initiatives can be perceived as collaborative partners that prioritize collective success over individual gain, fostering positive brand associations with teamwork and partnership. (Q2) By aligning incentives, fostering collaboration, and leveraging data-driven insights, EV producers and their suppliers can optimize resource use, minimize waste, and contribute to the transition towards a more sustainable economic model. (Q3) By adhering to ethical and sustainable practices the equilibrium ensures that EV stakeholders maintain trust and credibility, promoting a sustainable ecosystem for the EV industry within the circular economy

Enhancing Brand Equity Through Sustainability: Waste Recycling

Unlike many existing research studies that explain reverse marketing from a purchasing perspective, this study recognizes it as an honest effort made by managers aiming to promote sustainability by purposefully managing waste and discusses the spillover effect of their initiatives on brand equity. It argues that efficient recycling of products through reverse marketing by a brand demonstrates its sincere intent to adopt sustainable business practices and enhances its equity in the marketplace. A business-to-business viewpoint has been used to combine knowledge about waste recycling and management through reverse marketing based on the unpretentious operations and management practices. The propositions reflect on the criticality of engaging business customer firms in a procedural mechanism of recycling for increase in brand equity as the success of reverse marketing. A comprehensive adoption of an initiative like waste management through reverse marketing by a brand highlights how sustainability initiatives can create value for the customers of the brand and ultimately drive brand equity

Shared Value in Emerging Markets: How Multinational Corporations Are Redefining Business Strategies to Reach Poor or Vulnerable Populations

This report illuminates the enormous opportunities in emerging markets for companies to drive competitive advantage and sustainable impact at scale. It identifies how over 30 companies across multiple sectors and geographies design and measure business strategies that also improve the lives of underserved individuals

Feeding Ourselves Thirsty: How the Food Sector is Managing Global Water Risks

The global food sector faces extraordinary risks from the twin challenges of water scarcity and water pollution. Growing competition for water, combined with weak regulations, failing infrastructure, pollution and climate change impacts threaten the sector's water security and contribute to a water availability emergency that was recently ranked the world's "top global risk" by the World Economic Forum.This report examines how water risks affect the profitability and competitive positioning of 37 major food sector companies in four industries: packaged food, beverage, meat and agricultural products. It evaluates and ranks these companies -- the majority of which are U.S. domiciled and publicly-traded -- on how well they are positioned to anticipate and mitigate these risks, as well as contribute to improved water resource management.The report provides recommendations for how analysts and investors can effectively evaluate food sector companies on their water risk exposure and management practices. It also provides recommendations for how food companies can improve water efficiency and water quality across their operations and supply chains to reduce risks and protect water resources

Leveraging Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service to Build Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chains

Building sustainable and resilient supply chains has emerged as a strategic priority for organizations to improve their environmental, social, and governance performance while deal with unexpected disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, clear guidance for practitioners and analysis of the practices serving both purposes are missing. Leveraging cloud computing benefits, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products feature commercial and technical characteristics that help organizations resolve certain sustainable and resilient supply chain challenges by strengthening key capabilities, such as transparency, collaboration, and agility. We apply an affordance lens and a theory-generation case research design to define these challenges and identify how SaaS solutions can respond to them, using empirical qualitative data. We formulate SaaS affordances promoting the concepts of community, standard, update, data, applications, communication, and governance. We determine and illustrate the potential of SaaS solutions for sustainability and resilience for supply chain practitioners and software providers to help them unleash it

The Collective Action as Potential Driver of Bottom-up Reconfiguration from Captive to Relational Value Chain : the Case Study of the Northern District in Sierra Leone

In recent decades, the increasing growth rate of the African cashew business has involved a large number of corporate actors such as global retailers, processors and exporters in cashew supply networks. The increasing role of agro-food supply chains enables African countries to enhance their position in global markets and to sustain local development and growth, by encouraging a higher market-orientation in the governance of global value chains. In this paper, an exploratory analysis based on a questionnaire involving 319 smallholder farmers in the North of Sierra Leone is conducted in order to explore the role of collective action in driving the potential bottom-up reconfiguration of cashew value chain. A change from captive to relational governance is expected to positively support the local industry upgrading, to reduce transaction costs and information asymmetries, and to increase the local development and growth by enhancing employment creation and poverty alleviation