Katja Lähtinen

Identifying and rating cultural sustainability indicators: a case study of wood-based bioenergy systems in eastern Finland

Cultural sustainability has become a much discussed topic in the forestry and bioenergy sectors. However, there are not many indicators available for measuring cultural sustainability. In order to identify indicators for the assessment of the cultural sustainability impacts of wood-based bioenergy in eastern Finland, two-phased expert interviews were conducted. The process was supported by a hybrid approach: A qualitative mapping technique was applied when the indicators were identified, and weights for the indicators were set using a quantitative rating technique. The experts identified 49 indicators of cultural sustainability. Most of the generated indicators were relevant for local uses and highlighted the perceptions of the general public. Furthermore, most of the indicators were relevant from the perspective of raw material acquisition. Applying methods of differing backgrounds enabled advanced problem structuring, which allowed the identification of indicators suitable for assessing cultural sustainability of wood-based bioenergy in Eastern Finland. The quantitative rating technique enabled the determination of the importance of the indicators generated. Nevertheless, it seems that the hybrid approaches have many challenges related to the quantitative measuring of the participants’ perceptions. Cultural sustainability indicators should be identified within a case study, since it seems that most of the cultural sustainability indicators are case specific. The process introduced here offers steps for identifying case-specific cultural sustainability indicators; however, the concept of cultural sustainability cannot be strictly defined.

ISO 26000 in the assessment of CSR communication quality: CEO letters and social media in the global pulp and paper industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the content and determinants of voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures within chief executive officer (CEO) letters and social media tools. Design/methodology/approach – Published CEO letters and the presence of global pulp and paper manufacturing companies in the social media in 2012 are analysed in this study using content analysis. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis is used to investigate the impact played by headquarter location, firm size and lagged profitability as a measure of slack resources on the quality of CSR disclosure. Findings – Company size and slack resources were found to increase the quality of traditional sustainability communication, whereas company size was the only significant factor explaining communication quality in social media usage. Environmental issues were the most common disclosure topic, accompanied by community issues. A curvilinear association was interestingly found between slack resources and...

Strategic transformation in the value-added wood products companies

Purpose – China is a leading country in the production, consumption and exports of value-added wood products. Despite this fact, the sources of competitiveness and the existing strategies in the Chinese wood products companies have not been profoundly studied in an international context. The purpose of this paper is to fill these gaps by exploring managerial perceptions of these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical ingredients originating from the value chain theory, functional upgrading, the dynamic capability perspective and the natural resource-based view were combined to explore the shift of business functions and sources of the firm-level competitiveness in the Chinese wood products companies. In the empirical part, data from qualitative semi-structured interviews made with 28 managers of seven companies in China based on the case study method were used. Findings – Our results indicate a transition from non-branded manufacturing to original equipment manufacturing to original brand m...

Cultural sustainability in reference to the global reporting initiative (GRI) guidelines: Case forest bioenergy production in North Karelia, Finland

Purpose – Forest industries affect cultural sustainability profoundly, but little information exists on integration of cultural sustainability aspects into their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) management. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines comprising assessments of economic, ecological and social aspects are one of the most comprehensive CSR frameworks applied widely also in forest industries. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate, how the GRI guidelines encompass cultural sustainability when assessing forestry and forest industry operations in a global context and to recognize the cultural sustainability themes that need additional information in forest industry companies’ CSR reporting. Design/methodology/approach – In the qualitative analysis, expert interview material on indicators identified for assessing the cultural sustainability of forest bioenergy production in North Karelia was compared with the contents of the GRI guidelines. The focus on classifying the cultural indicators...

Communicating Forest Sector Sustainability: Results from Four European Countries

Abstract Communication is an important tool in maintaining legitimacy and acceptability of forest sector operations and activities, and expectations by the general public on the forest sector conduct in Europe are in general very high. Despite this, there is scarce research in cross-national contexts on how forest sector sustainability is communicated to the general public and what development areas can be identified in terms of communication content. This study applies a qualitative content analysis in four forestry-rich European countries (Austria, Finland, Germany, and Slovenia). The state of online communication of 61 companies and 19 industry associations was qualitatively analyzed in 2014 with a focus on eight core sustainability topics of interest that were identified via an international forest sector stakeholder feedback process. Our results show some great similarities, but also some interesting differences in terms of communication frequency and weight of hot topics across countries. The most f...

Opportunities and Challenges in the Emerging Bioenergy Business: The Case of the Finnish Sawmill Industry

Abstract The resources of currently dominant fossil fuels are limited, and their use causes greenhouse gas emissions. Consequently, the public interest within the European Union has changed toward using renewable energy. Finland’s forest industry is one of the world leaders in producing and utilizing wood-based bioenergy. Hence, it is of interest to evaluate new value-creation opportunities and the consequent challenges that face the Finnish sawmill industry. In order to identify the strategic resources that enable developing competitive advantages in the emerging bioenergy field, we applied the natural resource-based view of strategy to the sawmill industry. In the empirical part, qualitative semi-structured interviews with managers of 23 sawmills based on the Delphi methodology were conducted in two phases. We identified partnerships with local community heat plants as a strategic resource for providing new business opportunities, apart from raw material availability and existing technologies. Although the Finnish sawmills have a long tradition in energy production, most energy-related investments have been made only during the past decade, and the sawmills would be keenly interested in increasing the efficiency of using their by-products through new investments. In conclusion, the Finnish sawmill industry being the local producer of wood-based bioenergy can support meeting the ambitious national target for renewable energy production for 2020. However, the volatile bioenergy policy changes act as a major factor of uncertainty in predicting the future development of the business environment and further increase the risk level for future investments.

Designers’ wooden furniture ecodesign implementation in Scandinavian country-of-origin (COO) branding

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify links between the components involved in ecodesign orientations (EDOs) and the integration of ecological criteria into Scandinavian wooden furniture industries. The purpose of identifying these links is to recognize possibilities and gaps in wooden furniture product development and branding opportunities to deepen customer engagement with the Scandinavian country-of-origin (COO) brand. Design/methodology/approach – The application of ecodesign in Scandinavian wooden furniture industries was studied using survey data gathered from Nordic wood furniture designers. Factor analysis was used to identify the general types of Scandinavian design styles (SDSs) and EDOs implemented in the Scandinavian wooden furniture industry. The SDS and EDO impacts on the integration of ecological design criteria were modelled using logistic regression analysis. Findings – The integration of ecological criteria by Nordic designers influences both the perspectives on material an...

Forest Sector Sustainability Communication in Europe: a Systematic Literature Review on the Contents and Gaps

Purpose of ReviewStakeholder communication plays an important role in enhancing the societal sustainability and business acceptability of the forest sector. The purpose of this study is to present the current state of forest sector communication research with its stakeholders at different hierarchical levels of sustainability (i.e., societal, sectorial, corporate, and product sustainability) in Europe.Recent FindingsA systematic literature review was implemented to acquire information on the research outcomes related to sustainability communication between the forest sector and different stakeholders presented in international peer-reviewed journals between 2005 and 2015. The examined literature emphasizes the role of stakeholder communication for forest sector sustainability and acceptability, but no specific information seems to exist on how to communicate and build the forest sector image in the eyes of different stakeholders.SummaryThe gap in the research information indicates that there is a need for more theoretical and empirical work on communication and image-building processes by, e.g., recognizing the specific communication needs of different stakeholders via two-way and proactive information exchange. In the development process of forest sector communication and image building, more efforts on sending well-specified messages for well-targeted audiences should be made.

Foreign subsidiary Development in the Context of a Global Recession: A Case of the Furniture Industry in Vietnam

SUMMARY There is a lack of studies analysing the variation in competitive advantage and operational strategies among foreign subsidiaries in the wood product sector, especially in the emerging country context. This research attempts to enhance an understanding of phenomenon with a special focus on foreign subsidiaries in the furniture industry in Vietnam. The qualitative research based on in-depth interviews in eight companies aims to elicit managerial experience in helping foreign subsidiaries overcome external threats during and after a recession period. Our results showed that under the influence of the recent global downturn, companies were affected in many different ways but one common feature has been the higher visibility of raw material legality and certification requirements throughout global trade flows in wooden furniture. In conclusion, from the managerial perspective there is no particular strategy guaranteeing an organizations success; instead, subsidiaries should flexibly enhance their strategic planning based on their own resources, organizational conditions and goals.

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

In the emergence of bioeconomy in the European Union, sectorial boundaries are becoming blurred: renewable energy production is becoming increasingly integrated with the forest sector via the use of biomass for energy. The implementation of corporate responsibility as a firm- and industry-level strategic issue has become increasingly relevant in bioeconomy. As a result of this, new ways of assessing, monitoring and standardizing sustainability practices are evolving. The aim of this chapter is to make an overview of current state and implementations of seven ISO 26000 core topics as a part of sustainable business practices in case of four globally operating companies headquartered in Finland. Thus, we aim at scoping the challenges that organizations face in promoting a standardized view of their social responsibility, especially from upstream sourcing of raw material. Based on our findings, forest-based companies are strongly focused on environmental issues and organizational governance as key priorities for implementing their sustainability agendas, while for example consumer issues and human rights receive less attention. The energy companies have met less public pressure towards its operations compared to the forest industry. This is reflected in their implementation of social responsibility, which is understood in the sector much as responsibility towards customers and employees. We conclude that ISO 26000 standard may bring some added value to especially medium-scale companies with less sophisticated social responsibility processes, though it is not sufficiently detailed to incorporate any sector-specific issues.