Raine Isaksson

What does GRI‐reporting tell us about corporate sustainability?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss what the business contribution to sustainable development is (or should be) and to propose criteria for assessing corporate sustainability. These criteria are applied for the analysis of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)‐reports of five major cement manufacturers. This will result in a discussion if GRI‐based sustainability reports really contain the information needed for judging corporate sustainability.Design/methodology/approach – Starting from a literature review of common definitions and principles, the main criteria of corporate sustainability were developed and a set of evaluation criteria for analyzing sustainability reports was proposed. Definitions and principles from concepts such as eco‐efficiency, triple‐bottom‐line, the natural step and stakeholder value were considered. Using these criteria analysis was made of the GRI‐based sustainability reports of five major cement manufacturers in order to find out to what extent the reports really addr...

Sustainable development extending the scope of business excellence models

This paper presents an example of how to integrate the values of sustainable development in a business excellence model. It discusses definitions and measures of sustainable development, integrating values of total quality management with global human and environmental stakeholder interests. Requirements, core values, main criteria and different concepts of measures for sustainable development are examined, discussed and defined. Existing methods and strategies for quality and business excellence are compared with definitions of sustainable development. Indicators for sustainable development in an organisational and business context are discussed and a rough framework is presented.

Measuring sustainable development using process models

This conceptual paper presents a process model combining TQM values and indicators of sustainable development (SD). The intention is to find synergies in applying a process view on different systems for SD measurements. A global process is introduced and global sustainability is related to critical elements of production, resources and population growth. Indicators of organisational performance are classified into drivers, input, enablers, output and outcome. SD is described with the three dimensions of economy, environment and ethics, representing a modified version of the triple bottom line. Existing measurement systems for SD are categorised according to the proposed organisational process model and positioned within the 3E dimensions. The use of indicators for SD in different organisations, including small and medium‐sized enterprises, is discussed.

The crippled bottom line – measuring and managing sustainability

Purpose - – Sustainability can be assessed in the dimensions Profit, Planet and People. A problem with the approach is that these dimensions cannot be added. Another problem is that performance seldom is related to global system boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to study the “what” of sustainability by linking this to global boundaries and proposing “how” the authors could manage change toward sustainability. Design/methodology/approach - – Sustainability definitions are reviewed to identify main stakeholders. People value defined as utility is compared to Planet harm as carbon emissions and People harm as prices of products. This approach is examined in business studying the global processes of housing, transporting, providing food and cement manufacturing. Findings - – The relative indicators with focus on People utility compare to Planet and People harm seem to be relevant for measuring the level of sustainability. The Crippled Bottom Line of People value/Planet harm and People value/Planet harm is proposed as the “what” to measure and the change process of “understanding-defining-measuring-communicating-leading change” is proposed as the “how” to change. Research limitations/implications - – The research is based on identifying the main stakeholders based on sustainability definitions and from that point mostly on deductive reasoning. Practical implications - – The practical implications are that organizations could define sustainability indicators with objectives that are linked to global limits. Social implications - – Advocating the use of price as a social indicator could have social implications. Originality/value - – The paper contributes to the discussion of how to link global limits to organizational measurements and targets.

Making sense of opportunities in building material production

Purpose – Breakthrough improvement requires management decisions, which indicates that making sense of existing opportunities is important. This is a particular challenge when the improvement is a possibility and not a problem. The purpose of this paper is to propose the practice of doing an Opportunity Study as the way to create a sense of management urgency for realising dormant possibilities. Design/methodology/approach – A process-based Opportunity Study is presented consisting of a Diagnosing-Analysing-Solving (DAS) approach. Benchmarks are defined and compared with the actual performance resulting in a quantifiable improvement potential (D). Main causes are analysed (A), which leads to proposed solutions (S). The Opportunity Study practice is applied to a cement milling process, a cement plant and a supply network for cement-based building products. Findings – Results indicate that applying DAS methodology highlights realisable opportunities in all of the studied cases. This seems to be a necessary,...

Sustaining Sweden’s competitive position: lean lifelong learning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore what options the adult learner has for continued learning and what role universities are playing in providing net-based education. Current options for lifelong learning and improvement opportunities in the educational process are described based on an assessment inspired by principles of lean management. Design/methodology/approach – Sweden is chosen as an example. The current level of net-based university education and the demand for it is assessed using official Swedish data. Lean management principles are used as a starting point to define parameters for interest for the adult learner. These parameters are then converted into a five-level scale for assessing current performance with focus on university courses. The authors also study how Swedish County Councils manage their employee education and carry out a check of courses offered by massive open online course providers. Findings – Lean management principles in combination with customer focus seem to ...

National Process of Quality Management Education : the Swedish Example

The application of a process view, as complement to the traditional functional division, is often a way to highlight organisational improvement potential. This paper examines the process of providing university level education in quality management, using Sweden as an example. The purpose is to assess the performance of university education as part of the supply chain of providing quality management to a society. This has been done by studying the actual offering compared to a notional benchmark of best performance. Preliminary results indicate that there could be a significant improvement potential in both providing more education of the right type and in the right way. A lot of similar basic courses are given but with varying names, possibly reflecting difficulties in defining the area of quality management and its constituents. An important reason for the detected improvement potential seems to be the lack of ownership of the studied supply chain of providing university level quality education to the Swedish society.

On the use of process management in the Third World

This paper discusses the use of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the Third World with a focus on Process Management. Existing examples from developing countries are mostly from emerging economies and very little is found from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Looking into the strength of TQM-drivers as a function of national indicators highlights possible reasons for the lack of TQM. Generally, the drivers are found to be very weak, especially in SSA, and give a low probability for management commitment. In order to test whether process management in a TQM-framework would be feasible, provided there was management commitment, a process view has been overlaid on the functional organisation of a cement plant in SSA. The performance of a more processfocused management is described in a number of case studies. The conclusion is that, technically, First-World process management could function and give good results, but that in practice this will seldom take place due to a lack of management commitment.

Integrated management systems – interpretations, results, opportunities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study how the expression “integrated management systems” is interpreted in literature, what it means to have an integrated management system (IMS) and what the results of this are. Design/methodology/approach A literature review was conducted based on Scopus using the search term “Integrated Management Systems.” In the chosen articles, effects of integration, scope, level and extent of integration and if the approach is inside-out or outside-in, have been analyzed. Findings Most articles on IMS conclude that integration is beneficial regarding cost saving, operational benefits and improved customer satisfaction. The general approach in the articles, describes an inside-out approach with focus on integrating existing management standards. The scope of integration covers typically management systems for quality, environment and occupational health and safety. Practical implications An IMS is found to be a system that integrates existing management standards based on an inside-out approach. This indicates possibilities for both practical improvement and research in exploring how integrated stakeholder needs could be managed, possibly as process-based IMSs. Originality/value This paper sheds light on the ambiguous interpretation of the IMS concept.

Making sense of quality philosophies

The purpose of this paper is to improve sense-making of different quality philosophies using a quality system model. We have chosen Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, Lean Management and ISO 9000 as typical quality philosophies. The chosen model is based on describing a system as consisting of purpose, principles, methodologies and tools. This model is extended to include a roll-out process and a management process for each philosophy. The main results indicate that the proposed model presents a way of describing, comparing and interpreting quality philosophies. The major implication of the study is that it provides a way to describe and define quality philosophies. The study makes a contribution to Quality Management in proposing a model for describing a quality philosophy.