Understanding environmental performance variation in manufacturing companies

Sustainability is an area of increasing interest for industry and its stakeholders, and some companies now aspire to address sustainability issues (e.g. carbon emissions) at strategic and operational levels. As companies are exploring the issues, they attempt to embed sustainability in their planning and management systems. It is at this point that the domains of environmental concern and performance management meet. The research questions explored in this paper are: What is the size of environmental performance variation? What are the challenges for sustainability performance management in practice?This work was funded by the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Industrial Sustainability in Cambridge.This is the accepted version of the original article published by Emerald in the International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. The original article is available online at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17095236. This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245026). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

A value mapping tool for sustainable business modelling

Purpose – Although business models that deliver sustainability are increasingly popular in the literature, few tools that assist in sustainable business modelling have been identified. This paper investigates how businesses might create balanced social, environmental and economic value through integrating sustainability more fully into the core of their business. A value mapping tool is developed to help firms create value propositions better suited for sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – In addition to a literature review, six sustainable companies were interviewed to understand their approaches to business modelling, using a case study approach. Building on the literature and practice, a tool was developed which was pilot tested through use in a workshop. The resulting improved tool and process was subsequently refined through use in 13 workshops. Findings – A novel value mapping tool was developed to support sustainable business modelling, which introduces three forms of value (value captured, missed/destroyed or wasted, and opportunity) and four major stakeholder groups (environment, society, customer, and network actors). Practical implications – This tool intends to support business modelling for sustainability by assisting firms in better understanding their overall value proposition, both positive and negative, for all relevant stakeholders in the value network. Originality/value – The tool adopts a multiple stakeholder view of value, a network rather than firm centric perspective, and introduces a novel way of conceptualising value that specifically introduces value destroyed or wasted/ missed, in addition to the current value proposition and new opportunities for value creation.This paper builds on work undertaken on SustainValue, a European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013). The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the European Commission, and the contribution of the academic and industrial partners on this project in developing and testing the ideas presented herein.This is the accepted version of the original article published in Corporate Governance and available online at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17094853. This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245028). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Integrating intellectual property and sustainable business models: The SBM-IP canvas

Companies attempt to address global sustainability challenges through innovating products, services, and business models. This paper focuses on sustainable business model (SBM) innovations as a way to systemically transform businesses towards sustainability. It has been widely recognized that strategic approaches to using intellectual property (IP) need to be aligned with business model innovation for commercial success. Here we suggest that IP, aligned with SBMs, can also be used to create not only commercial, but also societal and environmental impact. Knowledge about how to best align IP with SBMs to drive sustainability transitions remains limited. We address this gap by developing an SBM-IP canvas that integrates IP considerations into each of the SBM canvas building blocks. We do this by employing relevant theoretical concepts from three literature streams, namely the business model (including SBM), IP, and innovation literature. We use case examples to illustrate different IP considerations that are relevant for the SBM-IP building blocks. These examples show that different IP types (e.g., patents, trademarks) and ways of using them (e.g., more or less restrictive licensing) are applied by companies in relation to the different building blocks. While covering new theoretical ground, the proposed SBM-IP canvas can help decision makers understand how they can use different IP types strategically to propose, create, deliver, and capture sustainable value for society, environment, and the business.</jats:p

A tool for manufacturers to find opportunity in the circular economy -www.circulareconomytoolkit.org

Abstract Living on a finite planet and operating in a linear take-make-dispose system is placing pressure on our resources and is burdening businesses through increased material costs and scarcity of materials. In a more &apos;circular&apos; economy, materials are continuously reused to minimise resource depletion. Although academic research has focused on key areas such as remanufacturing and ecodesign, no practical tools have been identified for manufacturers interested in the circular economy. How can manufacturers identify opportunities to create products and services that align with circular economy principles. Building on literature, surveys from the automotive industry and case examples, a tool was developed to assist companies in their move to a circular economy. The tool shows benefits, guidelines and examples for each opportunity, as well as key challenges. Workshops were held with manufacturers across industries to test the tool. These workshops resulted in forty opportunities identified. To make the work widely accessible, the CircularEconomyToolkit.org website was created. In the first month it was launched, the site received 3,338 visits across 76 countries, giving insight into the wider demographics of people interested in the circular economy. Universities and government agencies have been using the tool and workshops. This research took insights from the automotive sector. Future research will investigate the use and development of the toolkit in different sectors

MAESTRI Toolkit for Industrial Symbiosis: overview, lessons learnt and implications

This paper presents a structured approach to support the development of self-organized industrial symbiosis, the Toolkit for Industrial Symbiosis. Developed within MAESTRI project, it provides a set of tools and methods to help companies gain value from wasted resources and contributes to MAESTRI goal of advancing the sustainability of European manufacturing and process industry. A participatory approach was taken for its development. The ultimate objective of this work is to encourage companies to change their attitude and consider waste as a resource and potential source for value creation

Product Design Education for Circular Economy

Design has continually developed new approaches to find the most appropriate solutions to the growing environmental and social problems. At the same time higher education courses have tried to adapt their curricula accordingly. The most recently proposed model is circular economy. It reinforces the idea of a paradigm shift to a system of closed loops where there is no waste. This article develops a state of the art on the integration of sustainability in product design in higher education and its evolution to embrace circular economy. This analysis includes identifying past experiences, which contents are addressed, what methodologies are used, what type of approach (focused or dispersed) and what are the needs for teaching staff. This paper tries to identify gaps in order to purpose better solution for circular economy integration.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Business model innovation and transition to a sustainable food system: A case study in the Lisbon metropolitan area

The food systems’ transition towards a sustainable involves structural changes, namely the emphasis on local production, short supply chains, and the preference for organic products. The shift in the agri-food system is taking place through the creation of entirely new businesses and individual farms moving towards organic production. In both cases, the enterprises use a combination of well-established agricultural knowledge and techniques, new scientific knowledge on productive methods and new technological platforms for commercialization. These mixed sources permit the creation of innovative business models (BMs). They exemplify how traditional industries can absorb/generate innovation at technological and organizational levels, and become part of the new knowledge-based era. The study has three objectives: to analyse the emerging agri-food businesses in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA); to characterize innovative sustainable BMs within the transition dynamics; to reflect on the challenges that the characteristics of the food system pose for the emergence of these BMs. The study is part of an interdisciplinary project on Spatial Planning for Change (SPLACH). The analysis addresses the food system transition in a specific territory, namely the LMA. The paper presents results of the research conducted, focusing on the case of an organic food initiative, Quinta do Oeste.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Paths to Innovation in Supply Chains: The Landscape of Future Research

This chapter presents a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for supply chain and it is the result of an intensive work jointly performed involving a wide network of stakeholders from discrete manufacturing, process industry and logistics sector to put forward a vision to strengthen European Supply Chains for the next decade. The work is based on matching visions from literature and from experts with several iterations between desk research and workshops, focus groups and interviews. The result is a detailed analysis of the supply chain strategies identified as most relevant for the next years and definition of the related research and innovation topics as future developments and steps for the full implementation of the strategies, thus proposing innovative and cutting-edge actions to be implemented based on technological development and organisational change

Ecosystem Services in the Service-Dominant Logic Framework.

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