An overview of multi-criteria decision-making methods in dealing with sustainable energy development issues

© 2018 by the authors. The measurement of sustainability is actively used today as one of the main preventative instruments in order to reduce the decline of the environment. Sustainable decision-making in solving energy issues can be supported and contradictory effects can be evaluated by scientific achievements of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. The main goal of this paper is to overview the application of decision-making methods in dealing with sustainable energy development issues. In this study, 105 published papers from the Web of Science Core Collection (WSCC) database are selected and reviewed, from 2004 to 2017, related to energy sustainability issues and MCDM methods. All the selected papers were categorized into 9 fields by the application area and into 10 fields by the used method. After the categorization of the scientific articles and detailed analysis, SWOT analysis of MCDM approaches in dealing with sustainable energy development issues is provided. The widespread application and use of MCDM methods confirm that MCDM methods can help decision-makers in solving energy sustainability problems and are highly popular and used in practice

Regional efforts to mitigate climate change in China: A multi-criteria assessment approach

The task of mitigating climate change is usually allocated through administrative regions in China. In order to put pressure on regions that perform poorly in mitigating climate changes and highlight regions with best-practice climate policies, this study explored a method to assess regional efforts on climate change mitigation at the sub-national level. A climate change mitigation index (CCMI) was developed with 15 objective indicators, which were divided into four categories, namely, emissions, efficiency, non-fossil energy, and climate policy. The indicators’ current level and recent development were measured for the first three categories. The index was applied to assess China’s provincial performance in climate protection based on the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. Empirical results show that the middle Yangtze River area and southern coastal area perform better than other areas in mitigating climate change. The average performance of the northwest area in China is the worst. In addition, climate change mitigation performance has a negative linear correlation with energy self-sufficiency ratio but does not have a significant linear correlation with social development level. Therefore, regional resource endowments had better be paid much more attention in terms of mitigating climate change because regions with good resource endowments in China tend to perform poorly

The Impact of Proactive Environmental Strategy on Competitive and Sustainable Development of Organizations

The purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of proactive environmental strategy, competitive differentiation advantage &amp; cost-leadership competitive advantage for the competitive, sustainable development of an organization in terms of its performances, for instance, product strategy, production, process &amp; financial performances. We incorporated technological eco-innovation as a mediating factor &amp; corporate image as a moderator between exogenous &amp; endogenous variables. We have collected 798 responses from China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. For the data analyses, we employed a structural equation modeling-based multivariate approach and conditional process modeling. The novelty and significance of the undertaken study rested in multifaceted outcomes; for instance, the proactive environmental strategy, the competitive advantage of differentiation &amp; competitive advantage of cost leadership have a significant &amp; positive impact on the sustainable development of an organization in terms of its performances, for example, product strategic, production &amp; financial performances. The findings further demonstrate that technological eco-innovation as a mediating factor &amp; corporate image as a moderating factor played vital and significant influencers between exogenous and endogenous variables. Finally, the Toda- Yamamoto causality showed the two-ways directionality between exogenous &amp; endogenous variables. The outcomes have provided critical practical and societal implications for the industry and society. The companies may incorporate the environment as a cornerstone in short &amp; longterm strategies for sustainable development. On the other hand, organizations may provide an eco-friendly environment to society.</jats:p

Network topology of renewable energy sector in stock exchange

In today's global economy, the most prominent position clean energy is basically viewed as the highest-speed growing branch. Sustainable energy, perpetual climate change, and technological advancements are the reasons from which this foreground position results from. Regarding the debate of effects of pollution and the importance of the alternative fuels, the more awareness people improve, the more interested they are to invest in clean energy. This paper brings to a focus the inspection of clean energy and the way any market would analysis the influential stocks which have an effect on the other. In this regard, correlation network approach has extensively applied to explore the financial markets properties. In econophysics, technical topology network is defined for analyzing the interaction between stocks to find significant implications to optimize the portfolio. Network topology shows the physical layout of a network. It refers to the way in which per stock is located and interconnected to other stocks. This study analyse the topological properties of network on a set of 62 stocks in renewable energy companies from 30th February 2015 to 3th March 2016 to aid to the interpretation of relationships in the network structure and find influencing stocks

A novel TOPSIS–CBR goal programming approach to sustainable healthcare treatment

Cancer is one of the most common diseases worldwide and its treatment is a complex and time-consuming process. Specifically, prostate cancer as the most common cancer among male population has received the attentions of many researchers. Oncologists and medical physicists usually rely on their past experience and expertise to prescribe the dose plan for cancer treatment. The main objective of dose planning process is to deliver high dose to the cancerous cells and simultaneously minimize the side effects of the treatment. In this article, a novel TOPSIS case based reasoning goal-programming approach has been proposed to optimize the dose plan for prostate cancer treatment. Firstly, a hybrid retrieval process TOPSIS–CBR [technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and case based reasoning (CBR)] is used to capture the expertise and experience of oncologists. Thereafter, the dose plans of retrieved cases are adjusted using goal-programming mathematical model. This approach will not only help oncologists to make a better trade-off between different conflicting decision making criteria but will also deliver a high dose to the cancerous cells with minimal and necessary effect on surrounding organs at risk. The efficacy of proposed method is tested on a real data set collected from Nottingham City Hospital using leave-one-out strategy. In most of the cases treatment plans generated by the proposed method is coherent with the dose plan prescribed by an experienced oncologist or even better. Developed decision support system can assist both new and experienced oncologists in the treatment planning process

How real oil prices and domestic financial instabilities are good for GCC countries tourism demand in Malaysia?

Malaysia, located in the heart of Southeast Asia, is a multicultural country whose ‘green’ and ‘blue’ tourism attractions have become the main tourism spot for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) tourists. We employed the Threshold Error Correction (TECM) cointegration and the nonlinear causality estimates to capture the nexus between real energy prices and financial stability for the GCC countries’ tourism demand in Malaysia using the monthly-based dataset covering the period since 1995 till 2017. The main TECM estimate shows that real energy price fluctuations and financial instability condition in Malaysia positively boost tourists’ arrivals from the GCC countries to Malaysia. Indeed, there is evidence of an asymmetric speed of adjustment of the GCC countries’ tourism demand with 25.9% and 36.7% of positive and negative deviations, respectively. In addition, this study found a strong evidence of unidirectional nonlinear causal relations running from real energy prices to tourism demands; and also bidirectional causalities running from tourism demand to financial stability. These findings will be helpful for tourism policy makers in Malaysia while drawing a future roadmap to increase the numbers of the GCC tourists’ arrivals in future years

The role of process innovation between firm-specific capabilities and sustainable innovation in SMEs: empirical evidence from Indonesia

The importance of sustainable innovation achievement propels firms to consider the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. However, it is important to clarify that not all innovations impact sustainable development. Regardless of the limited circumstances in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), intrapreneurship, stakeholder integration, and absorptive capacity are firm-specific capabilities that could be explored as strategic intentions of management practices in the organization. This paper investigated the mediating role of process innovation in the relationship among the firm-specific capabilities of absorptive capacity, intrapreneurship, and stakeholder integration for sustainable innovation in SMEs. This empirical study examines the manufacturing sector of Indonesian SMEs with a sample size of 190 firms. The study found that practices of process innovation, as a mediator triggered by the firm-specific capabilities of absorptive capacity, intrapreneurship, and stakeholder integration affect sustainable innovation, although at low stages. Finally, implications for the theory and practice of attaining sustainable innovation in SMEs are drawn

Financial and economic determinants of sustainable economic growth in Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa

This study analyzes financial and economic determinants of sustainable economic performance using the quantile regression for the period from 1970 to 2016 for Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa. The main drivers of sustainable economic performance vary among the economies. It is driven by trade openness, government expenditure and political stability in Egypt. In South Africa, the desired threshold for financial development to impact growth is reached. Also, there is complementarity between financial development and trade openness. This proves their advancement at the domestic financial markets in the direction to sustainable economic performance. Interestingly, Nigerian economy’s sustainable growth is enhanced by capital account openness. Policies that will boast intra trade in Africa are encouraged as the AfCFTA has come to spur manufacturing activities on the continent. At the same time, emphasis should be set to improve financial and economic determinants of sustainable economic performance

Corporate sustainability disclosure and market valuation in a Middle Eastern Nation: evidence from listed firms on the Tehran Stock Exchange: sensitive industries versus non-sensitive industries

This article has received the considerable critical attention that seeking to enhance sustainability disclosure may essentially make progress firms’ market valuation. It aims to provide the corporate sustainability disclosure level organized according to the ‘7 + 1’, seven core subjects of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26000 and the energy disclosure items, then set out to assess the effectiveness of sustainability reporting on the listed firms’ market valuation during the period 2010–2015. To achieve this objective, data were collected from a sample of 98 Iranian manufacturing and service organizations from various industry sectors at the Tehran Stock Exchange and generalized method of moments (GMM) approach was conducted for a dynamic panel data to evaluate the effect of the sustainability reporting level on the listed firms’ market valuation. As can be seen from the results, the overall extent of sustainability disclosure arranged in accordance with the low rate of sustainability reporting for listed firms in TSE. It was also found that the sensitive firms have a greater level of corporate sustainability disclosure than the other firms. Moreover, sustainability reporting has been shown to be related to market valuations in which firms activating in sensitive industries environmentally with sustainability reporting had higher market valuations than firms activating in non-sensitive industries with sustainability reporting. Our ‘7 + 1’ sustainability disclosure practice aspects all together with their basic measurement items can be applied as a checklist for assessing how well sustainability disclosure practices are performed at TSE

Factors influencing beliefs formation towards the adoption of social commerce in SME travel agencies

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influence beliefs formation towards the adoption of social commerce in SME travel agencies. Accordingly, a distal-proximal model is developed to study CEOs’ beliefs towards the usefulness of social commerce. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of travel agencies’ CEOs in Isfahan, Iran. With 180 collected data from respondents, the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling approach was taken to assess both measurement and structural models of the study. The results revealed that CEOs’ innovativeness and attitude towards IT as individual factors, and organizational resources as institutional factor were significantly explained beliefs formation of respondents towards the usefulness of social commerce. However, it was found that the influences of CEOs’ IT knowledge, subjective norms (professional peers, employees) and firm size on perceived usefulness were found insignificant. Implications of the study are further discussed