Dennis Stindt

Conception of a Novel Open Source Environmental Management Information System Design to Assess the Availability of Resources: Status Quo and Directions for Future Research

Resources for new technologies are vitally important and limited in their availability. The reasons for the limited availability are political tension, supply concentrations or restricted potential for substitution and recycling. The consideration of information on the availability requires the mapping of this information in business information systems. Science and practice lack holistic and integrated solutions whose use supports the availability and evaluation of sustainable developments. Taking account of open source software, a concept of environmental management information systems is under development, in order to measure sustainable availability. The integration of existing IT systems and data sources provides an improved assessment of risks. The article shows a concept of IT architecture which can be used as open source software in the regulatory framework of environmental management information systems in order to evaluate the availability of resources and course of action.

Assessment of agroforestry residue potentials for the bioeconomy in the European Union

The biobased chemical industry is characterised by strong growth. Innovative products and materials such as biopolymers have been developed, and current European demand for biopolymers exceeds the domestic supply. Agroforestry residues can serve as main sources of the basic building blocks for chemicals and materials. This work assesses sustainably available agroforestry residues to feed a high added-value materials and product bioeconomy. To evaluate bioeconomic potential, a structured three-step approach is applied. Cultivation practices, sustainability issues, legislative restrictions, technical limitations and competitive applications are considered. All data regarding bioeconomic potential are processed on a regional level and mapped by ArcGIS. Our results identify wheat straw as the most promising source in the agricultural sector, followed by maize stover, barley straw and rape straw, which all contain a total concentration of lignocellulose of more than 80% of dry matter. In the forestry sector, residue bark from two coniferous species, spruce and pine, is the most promising source, with approximately 70% lignocellulose. Additionally, coniferous bark contains considerable amounts of tannin, which has attracted increasing interest for industrial utilisation. A sensitivity analysis concerning removal rates, residue-to-crop ratios, changes in farming technologies and competing applications is applied at the end of the study to consolidate our results.

On the Attractiveness of Product Recovery: The Forces that Shape Reverse Markets

Summary Product recovery is a major contributor for implementing sustainable business practices. Within such operations, which are either driven by legislation or economic rationales, practitioners face strategic issues concerning reverse market entry and positioning. Although the complexity of acting on reverse markets is widely acknowledged, a comprehensive framework to facilitate decision making in this area is lacking. In an attempt to fill that gap, we develop a model that supports original equipment manufacturers’ (OEMs’) assessment of the attractiveness of reverse markets. We identify, from a comprehensive literature analysis, in-depth interviews, and engagement with a dozen companies from different countries, factors that influence key characteristics of reverse markets, and consolidate this lengthy list into a comprehensive model intuitively applicable to business practice. The model combines five forces that drive reverse markets: access to recoverable products; threat of independent recovery companies’ (IRCs’) market entry; rivalry for recoverable products; adverse effects on core business; and remarketing opportunities. We propose for each a set of attributes that influences its power and direction. To demonstrate the efficacy of the model, we apply it in two industry settings: recovery of white goods in the United Kingdom and paper recycling in Germany. The present research enables OEMs to understand the structure and forces that drive reverse markets, identify levers to influence those markets, anticipate market developments, and formulate resilient strategies for product recovery.

An Environmental Management Information System for Improving Reverse Logistics Decision-Making

Due to increased pressure from legislation, customers and the competitive environment, corporations are forced to consider product take-back and reprocessing. Such issues of reverse logistics cause significant intricacies which requires an adaption of prevalent decision-support models. Those models face severe criticism concerning the quality of fundamental data and transferability of its results. Hence, the practical usefulness and applicability of generated insights is doubtable. We propose an environmental management information system (EMIS) that ultimately helps to improve decision-making processes in reverse logistics. Hereby, we apply a design-science approach based on technical feasibility and business requirements. Therefore, we identify domain-specific information requirements and according information sources. In addition, we provide a description of those source systems and depict their interrelations. In sum, both academia and business practice may benefit from the developed artifact that is tailored for issues of reverse logistics.