ISO 26000 in Corporate Sustainability Practices: A Case Study of the Forest and Energy Companies in Bioeconomy

Peer reviewe

Digital Resilience for Directors

In New Zealand, a study conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Canterbury (UC) Business School appears to confirm the relationship between leadership and digital capability. The study, focussing on “digital resilience” in large organisations in Australia and New Zealand, aimed to identify factors that influence an organisation’s ability to adapt to, and thrive in, a changing digital environment and understand why some organisations are more digitally capable than others

The role of dairy company policies in support of farm green infrastructure in the absence of government stewardship payments

Intensive dairy farming has substantial impacts on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Determining how to mitigate them while increasing production is driving the quest for sustainable milk production internationally. Green infrastructure (G.I.) provides private and public ecosystem services, including mitigation of farming environmental impacts. However, there are implementation barriers among farmers. New Zealand government supports farmer self-regulation as long as farmers meet environmental targets. Farmers are neither compensated for reducing environmental impacts, nor for setting aside G.I. in support of nature conservation. Dairy companies are under increasing pressure to ensure socially acceptable milk production practices among farmer suppliers. They may play a role in encouraging farmers to implement G.I. as a way of helping farmers meet regulatory compliance, and best farming practice. Using a content analysis of company policies, the role of dairy companies in encouraging G.I. among farmers is explored. Results indicate companies are concerned about the effects, and perception, of poor environmental farming practices on their profitability, and have developed some riparian G.I. policies, with government and farmer support. However, policies are farm-focused and are limited to one year, and thus lack the capacity to encourage G.I. in support of key ecosystem services, such as water cleansing and support for indigenous biodiversity that require landscape scaled networks and longer periods. Even at the farm scale, a majority of companies lack policies that encourage significant G.I. networks. Policies suggest companies, and by extension farmers, lack sufficient motivation to protect or restore them voluntarily. Under these conditions, significant G.I. is unlikely to develop under self-regulation, unless supplemented through motivating government stewardship payments

An exploration of interventions in ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification context – a multiple case study approach

Firms are reliant on third party certification schemes to provide an independent account of their quality, environmental and social practices. Although firms are typically involved with certification schemes over long periods, even decades, available literature so far provides little understanding about what certification related interventions firms pursue. To fill this gap, this study determines a typology of interventions and develops a theoretical understanding on why, how and under what circumstances firms intervene. Based on a qualitative enquiry involving 15 case study firms certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, the interventions are classified as incremental interventions (external audit quality, contractual, learning and benchmarking interventions) and breakthrough interventions (adoptive, integrative and infrastructural interventions). The pursuit of individual interventions is explained by institutional pressures, firms' motivation for certification, competence of certification intermediaries, and by complexity of firms’ internal processes. A temporal perspective of the interventions and a set of four sequential pathways are discussed as well

ecostore – the Carbon CaptureTM Pak decision

ecostore – manufacturer of household and personal cleaning products is a New Zealand based company with a strong drive towards innovation and improvements into effectiveness of its products. This case captures ecostore’s journey to introduce a new technology – green packaging made from sugar cane (carbon captureTM pak) and examines the difficulties surrounding its adoption. The technology is its early stages of its development and market acceptance. In the case, students are guided to evaluate company values, culture, underlying philosophies, and business aspirations before evaluating the decision. The case portraits ecostore’s unique business philosophy and commitment to avoid using commonly accepted chemicals normally deemed as safe by the industry in their formulas and to stay true to their precautionary principle to avoid using any chemical where no impact on health can be determined. After this consideration, the case introduces a new idea for ecostore: to implement a sugar cane based plastic for their product portfolio. This new technology could set the firm apart from the other firms that operate in an environmentally responsible manner and can cause disrupt into packaging market. ecostore is about to choose from three potential partners and the decision presents a significant challenge to a firm and its operations. However, if successful, the technology can change the demand and nature of packaging of the entire industry and ecostore can become a potential partner for other businesses who will pursue the implementation of this technology. The case enables students to better understand challenges of pursuing innovation in a context of an established business and invites discussion on environmental practices, processes associated with innovation, scrutinizes the information asymmetry between chemicals used in household and personal cleaning industry, and makes students to evaluate possible partners to implement the new technology. Furthermore, the case presents major producers of sugar based plastic and outlines benefits and challenges associated whilst partnering with one of them. Students are guided to make a decision based on information provided in the case and additional research. The teaching notes reveal the final ecostore’s decision

Underlying mechanisms in the maintenance of ISO 14001 environmental management system

Abstract In this paper we aim to investigate the underlying mechanisms of the maintenance of ISO 14001. Initially, we looked into the Hillary's [Hillary R. Evaluation of study reports on the barriers, opportunities and drivers for small and medium sized enterprises e the adoption of environmental management systems. Report for DTI Envirodoctorate 5th October, 1999. London: NEMA; 1999] evaluation study on barriers, opportunities and drivers for small and medium enterprises that adopted environmental management systems and we developed a comprehensive list of barriers identified in the literature. We have used this set of barriers to investigate the underlying mechanisms in the maintenance of ISO 14001 environmental management system through an in-depth longitudinal case study in manufacturing organisations. We have determined five underlying processes (transforming and value adding; administrating and improving; understanding and accepting; communicating and learning; availability of resources) and five key actors (external environment; environmental management team; ISO 14001 EMS; organisation; resources and skills), which interactions are captured in M-ISO model. Finally, based on our study we offer directions for future research

Perceptions on blockchain readiness for Fairtrade programmes

Fairtrade (FT) relies on consumers' willingness to pay a premium for FT products. Such goodwill is based on expectations for superior quality and ethically functioning agricultural supply chains. Trust in FT ecolabels must be earned however: traceability, accountability, transparency, fair flow of returns, and ecological sustainability are some of the important attributes likely to enhance trust. Blockchain technology (BCT) promises to improve all of these aspects over common marketing strategies. The literature suggests that the potential benefits from BCT adoption in food supply chains outweigh the numerous barriers identified. We thus interview New Zealand and Australian FT representatives (n = 6) about this disruptive technology and measure their readiness to adopt BCT using the Technology Readiness Index (TRI). We also contrast their views with those of BCT experts (n = 6). Our thematic content analysis identifies 33 nodes which we have grouped into five main themes: conditional benefits of BCT adoption, positive and negative consequences from transparency, factors pertaining to consumer behaviour, and implementation barriers. Although the TRI analytic results suggested that the positive views on the opportunities BCT may provide for FT goals prevail, the overall sentiment of both interviewee groups suggests that actual BCT adoption is currently not feasible

Evolutionary change stimuli and moderators – evidence from New Zealand

Purpose – The review of contemporary organisational change theories identified one theory which seemed relevant to explaining the organisational change phenomenon in public enterprises – Van de Ven and Poole’s (1995) Evolutionary Change Theory (ECT). However, further review of the management literature revealed its limitations in explaining change, particularly in public enterprises. The theory fails to identify the triggers of change and the roles of various stakeholders, and the purpose of this paper is to enhance model of the ECT and appraise it. Design/methodology/approach – Researchers continue to highlight the need to examine context when examining a change process; therefore, the authors utilised a process research approach to examine changes in the New Zealand electricity industry over the past four decades. As the approach is a flexible one, it allowed exploration of the critical features of change. Findings – Analysis revealed compelling evidence of two new proposed stages to the ECT which operated in conjunction with external environmental influences that acted as stimuli for change. Research limitations/implications – The research provided insight into the various influences on organisational change, particularly public enterprises. It confirms the previously ignored power of the external environment and the role of stakeholders in influencing organisational change. Originality/value – The research advances current understanding of organisational change as it offers an enhanced model of the ECT by identifying the trigger for organisational change in public enterprises. Furthermore, it finds different stakeholder groups with the ability to influence the organisational change process