What Contributes to a High Satisfaction of Report Publishers? An Approach with a Bayesian Belief Network

The evidence of social and ecological responsibility has gained importance in the forest product industry. Sustainability Reporting could be seen an approach, which is able to capture effort and success of enterprises not only within financial dimension. New types of multidimensional reports have been developed in the last decade. However, little is known about reasons for the restrictive use of the new report types and it remains open if the new types are applicable in the forest products industries. Therefore, in order to gain deeper knowledge in this respect a survey was conducted involving 400 forest products enterprises located in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Special attention was given to attitudinal and behavioural questions. Furthermore, results were analyzed with a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) which helped to detect the key components that can explain the various level of satisfaction with reporting. As the results indicated, generally low satisfaction with the present reporting was concluded. Moreover, the BBN based sensitivity analysis provided evidence that (e.g.) a positive attitude towards new reporting standards and the publication of such new multidimensional reports increases the utility perceived significantly. On the other hand, strong negative influence was found for the publication of traditional report-types. Hence, BBN proved to be a feasible approach to explain the inner relationships and its explanatory power. General recommendations for the future reporting in the forest product sector can be deduced

Does one report design suit all sorts of readers in the forest sector?

Description of the subject. In the past two decades, new types of reports, such as sustainability reports, have become more important. Normally, issuing reports is a cost-intensive activity; however, the effectivity in terms of communicational success is often unknown. Research about forest reporting has often focused on general acceptance of different reporting concepts. Analysis about the perception of published reports is either uncommon or results may not be published for several internal reasons. Objectives. This double case study aims to identify if conceptual elements of sustainability reporting (SR) meet the expectations of different target groups of public forest enterprises in two German provinces. Method. A three sphere model derived from communication theory is introduced and used to analyze the success of reports in different stakeholder groups. A set of hypotheses is derived from the state of knowledge on sustainability as well as corporate social responsibility reporting and is structured according to the model. The hypotheses are tested on the basis of a double case study. Results. It can be shown that satisfaction with traditional reports is already high; however, structural components of SR are also accepted. Readers want shorter reports and printed versions. Results indicate that the SR concept can be transferred to the readers of forest reports. Differences between stakeholder groups are mainly related to contents and different means of verification. Conclusions. The concept of SR can be basically applied in forest enterprises and meets the expectations of most readers. However, it must be kept in mind that traditional reporting concepts already meet most of the expectations of the relevant target groups. Any effort to implement a new reporting instrument should be supported by an ex ante evaluation of the expectations of the target readership

Performance measurement systems - a promising approach for the management of larger forest organizations?

Performance Measurement Systems (PMS) have become popular over the past two decades. Especially since the mid 1990s there has been a notable increase of organizations using these kinds of management tools. The benefits of PMS are widely accepted in the industrial sector, but there have been ambiguous experiences in the public sector. One of the first implementations in the European forest sector took place in 2000, with the introduction of a PMS system by the Forest Administration of Baden-Württemberg (Germany; BW). This paper reports experiences from the implementation of the system. A questionnaire was developed, based on previous research in the United States, and used to collect information about implementation experiences. Evaluation theory is used as methodological framework; PMS theory provides relevant criteria for the appraisal of the success of these methods. The paper presents the key results of the survey related to nine criteria. The level of acceptance and use of the systems meet international standards. There is a relevant capability to increase the commitment to the strategy and improve the performance of the whole organization. The operationalisation of targets is one key success factor. On the other hand, it is obvious that the implementation of PMS requires a tremendous input of financial and staff resources. There is a significant risk of failure with the multidimensional use. In addition, the derivation of relevant valid indicators for ‘soft factors’ outside the financial and physical sphere of a forest organization is crucial. It is concluded that PMS is a feasible approach for forest enterprises and administrations. However, its implementation requires a detailed analysis of the organizational and administrational framework. These factors are discussed and highlighted in the form of seven core findings

Multidimensional performance measurement systems – A promising approach for the management of enterprises and administrations in the forest sector? – Results of a case study in comparison with findings in US-American administrations

Performance Measurement Systems gained importance during the last two decades. Beginning from the mid 90’s there is a notable increase of administrations using such kind of management tools. The benefits of the PMS are widely accepted in the industrial sector, but there are ambiguous experiences in the public sector. First implementations in the European forest sector took place since 2000. The Forest Administration of Baden-Württemberg (Germany) is used as a case study for the European forest sector. The study uses the results of an extensive survey amongst US-American administrations as a standard of comparison. Evaluation theory is used as methodological framework, PMS theory provides relevant criteria for the appraisal of the success of these methods. The paper presents the key-results of the survey related to nine criteria. After four years it can be shown that PMS are a feasible approach for forest enterprises and administrations. The level of acceptance and use of the systems meets international standards. There is a relevant capability to increase the commitment to the strategy and to improve the performance of the whole organization. Especially the operationalisation is one key success factor. On the other hand it becomes obvious that the implementation of PMS requires a tremendous input of financial and staff resources. There is a significant risk to fail with the multidimensional use. In addition the derivation of relevant valid indicators for “soft factors” outside the financial and physical sphere of a forest organization is crucial. A conclusion is that PMS are basically a feasible approach for forest enterprises and administrations. But the implementation needs a detailed analysis of the organizational and administrational framework. Most important are factors such as the ability to develop a mid-term strategy, the resources in terms of time and money and the question, whether it is possible to guarantee a sufficient participation of the members of staff and the managers

A critical comparison of typologies of small-scale forestry in Baden-Württemberg derived using single and multiple criteria

The paper presents a typology of small-scale forest owners in Baden-Württemberg based on multiple criteria and derived using multivariate cluster analysis of long-term accountancy network data. Four distinct types of landholders are identified based on a combination of structural, financial and biophysical data. These groups fit well with the present knowledge on small-scale forest owners in Baden-Württemberg. In addition, the members of each group display clear differences in attitudes towards forestry, giving further support for the validity of the grouping. A comparison is made of this typology and typologies derived using the single criteria of forestry region, forest size class, cutting volume, proportion of coniferous trees, forest income and main source of income. This comparison demonstrates the advantages of using cluster analysis to identify types of small-scale forest owners in south-west Germany. No matter whether structural, natural or financial data are assessed, the multiple criteria typology produced by cluster analysis provides the highest percentage of statistically significant distinctions between the medians of the groups identified. A typology based on the single criterion of ‘regions’ provides the second best fit and has the advantage of being simple to develop. A more detailed comparison between these two typologies, whereby the differences between groups were analysed based on the links between individual groups in respect to individual variables, also indicated that the multiple criteria typology was superior

Integrated, Participatory Sustainability Management in the Context of Functional Subsystems of Forest Enterprises

The sustainability issue has gained importance during the last two and a half decades, starting with the UN Report “Our Common Future”. As the transformation to a sustainable economy is far from being an automatism, instruments to foster sustainable development are required. This demand has lead to a frighteningly high number of instruments. This paper introduces firstly, the concept of a comprehensive management system of sustainability in larger forest enterprises. After an introduction of the normative framework, the need for a participatory approach is described. The need for the use of different instruments is derived from the existence of various subsystems (Manufacturing / provision of services, Management, Communication and Information) in almost all kind of institutions and enterprises. A short overview about the general role of evaluation and former findings leads to the depiction of the two case study regions, from where the empirical results have been gathered. The specific concept of the integrated particpatory sustainability managementsystem (IPSUSMAN) is then introduced. Secondly an advanced perspective on process of evaluation is introduced. It can be shown that the success of a management system is dependent on different influencing factors. From this it follows that a multi-perspective has to be used. A first outline of such an approach is given, the sub-methods are sketched and the complementary role of direct and indirect evidence in process evaluation is described. A small and therefore exemplary insight into some key findings from different surveys is illustrated. It can be shown that the acceptance of the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard (SBSC) is high amongst employees and when participation is encouraged it leads to a satisfying appraisal of the implementation process. With regard to sustainability reporting, it becomes evident that basic assuring technologies (e.g. certification) used in sustainability reports meet, at least partially, the expectations of readers that belong to different stakeholder groups. Strategic goals, based on participatory processes, reach a positive and mostly stable rating in the three pillars of sustainability (economic, ecological and social). Regional differences are of a lesser importance. In both case studies we find similar messages from indirect evidence (qualitative findings). The paper ends with a positive statement on the feasibility of the IPSUSMAN but also with a cautionary comment on the relative effort of time and money it takes to run such sophisticated systems