Managerial Views of Corporate Impacts and Dependencies on Ecosystem Services : A Case of International and Domestic Forestry Companies in China

A line of research is emerging investigating the private sector impacts and dependencies on critical biodiversity and ecosystem services, and related business risks and opportunities. While the ecosystem services narrative is being forwarded globally as a key paradigm for promoting business sustainability, there is scarce knowledge of how these issues are considered at managerial level. This study thus investigates managerial views of corporate sustainability after the ecosystem services concept. We analyse interviews conducted with 20 managers from domestic and international forestry companies operating with a plantation-based business model in China. Content analysis was employed to analyse the data, with a focus on four key areas: (1) interviewee familiarity with the ecosystem services concept; (2) their views of corporate dependencies and impacts on ecosystem services; (3) related business risks and opportunities; and (4) viability of existing instruments and practices that can be employed in detecting and addressing business impacts and dependencies on ecosystem services. Through an inductive approach to the empirical findings, we refined a framework that holds operational value for developing company response strategies to ecosystem services impact/dependence assessment, ensuring that all issues are addressed comprehensively, and that related risks and opportunities are properly acknowledged.Peer reviewe

Sistemas de mensuração e avaliação de desempenho organizacional: estudo de casos no setor químico no Brasil Organizational performance measurement and evaluation systems: multiple case study in the Brazilian chemical sector

O artigo pretende apresentar os resultados de uma pesquisa realizada junto a quatro grandes empresas brasileiras do setor químico, descrevendo os seus respectivos sistemas de mensuração e avaliação de desempenho organizacional. O presente trabalho é um estudo exploratório e descritivo e baseia-se no uso de estudos de casos múltiplos, tendo sido realizada a respectiva revisão da literatura que aborda o assunto. São propostas, ao final, as conclusões e recomendações que se fazem pertinentes ao tema do trabalho, guardadas as restrições próprias da metodologia empregada.<br>The objectives of this paper are to present some results of a research carried out in four large chemical companies operating in Brazil and to describe these companies' organizational performance measurement and evaluation systems. This is an exploratory and descriptive research based on multiple case studies, in accordance with a literature review on this subject. At the end, some conclusions and recommendations are presented, despite the limitations characteristic of the applied methodology