Corporate social responsibility: A unifying discourse for the Mining Industry?

The public perception of mining as an economic activity that generates harmful environmental impacts has generated both a corporate discourse of social responsibility (CSR) to legitimise mining activities and also anti-mining discourses. Both discourses use science to support their claims, yet they rarely agree on a scientific solution. The concept of discourse community may help us to understand the disconnect between mining companies and stakeholders. It is unclear whether the discourse of corporate social responsibility will improve understanding among stakeholders and lead to mutually acceptable resolutions to conflict

An exploration of measures of social sustainability and their application to supply chain decisions

Sustainability recognizes the interdependence of ecological, social, and economic systems - the three pillars of sustainability. The definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR) often advocates ethical behavior with respect to these systems. As more corporations commit to sustainability and CSR policies, there is increasing pressure to consider social impacts throughout the supply chain. This paper reviews metrics, indicators, and frameworks of social impacts and initiatives relative to their ability to evaluate the social sustainability of supply chains. Then, the relationship between business decision-making and social sustainability is explored with attention initially focused on directly impacting national level measures. A general strategy for considering measures of social sustainability is proposed, and a variety of indicators of CSR are described. Several of these indicators are then employed in an example to demonstrate how they may be applied to supply chain decision-making

The role of the social dimension in life cycle engineering

Sustainability recognises the interdependence of ecological, social and economic systems and nowhere is the concept of sustainability more critical than in developing nations, whose economies rely heavily on natural resources. Software for life cycle assessment (LCA) is becoming increasingly effective in evaluating the potential environmental and resource impacts of design and supply chain decisions. As more decision-makers commit to sustainability, there is increasing pressure to incorporate economic and social considerations into LCA. In addition, it may be necessary to incorporate social impacts to ensure LCA is relevant with respect to developing countries. The degree to which social impacts have been included in LCA is briefly reviewed and metrics associated with social impacts are discussed. Input-output analysis is introduced as a method for considering social impacts. Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Decision making for social sustainability: A life-cycle assessment approach

The need for sustainable development requires organizations to consider the economic, environmental, and social repercussions of their actions. While the economic effects, and increasingly the environmental consequences, of engineering design and business decisions are evaluated, little attention has been devoted to understanding the social impacts. It has been recognized that corporate decisions are linked to social sustainability indicators, and the need exists to better understand these links. This research represents a first step toward modeling the relationships between corporate decision alternatives and lower-order human needs (e.g., physiological requirements) and higher-order needs (e.g., belonging). ©2009 IEEE