Risako Morimoto

The maturity of supply chain sustainability disclosure from a continuous improvement perspective

Purpose - – From a continuous improvement perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the levels of maturity attained by organisations in reporting their supply chain (as well as non-supply chain) sustainability initiatives. It also investigates the extent to which supply chain sustainability (SCS) disclosure varies between different business sectors, as well as the degree of interconnection between various sustainability criteria. Subsequently, it proposes an improvement framework for reporting and implementing sustainability initiatives across the supply chain. Design/methodology/approach - – To carry out this investigation, corporate sustainability reports of selected companies in ten different industries are downloaded and assessed. The paper uses content analysis and principal component analysis to study the disclosure maturity levels of the different industrial sectors. Findings - – The papers results show that the disclosure maturity level is higher in business-to-consumer industries than in business-to-business industries on both the social and environmental dimensions. The paper also shows that the highly polluting energy sector is the least advanced in disclosing SCS initiatives. Generally speaking, there is no clear pattern in the way organisations disclose sustainability information. The conclusion is that sustainability disclosure is not yet homogeneously structured across different business sectors and organisations are yet to attain the “adult” maturity age. Originality/value - – Very few researchers can claim to have investigated the maturity levels of SCS disclosure from a continuous improvement perspective. This is probably due to the absence of a universally accepted framework that clearly defines the scope of sustainability. The paper tries to fill this gap by proposing a framework that would not only help researchers to study SCS and stakeholders to read sustainability reports, but would also enable practitioners to improve the quality and reliability of the data disclosed, especially as they apply to the supply chain.

Applying a cost-benefit analysis model to the Three Gorges project in China

The worlds largest hydro project is now under construction in China. It is controversial as large environmental and social impacts are anticipated, although it is supposed to control the regions severe floods, to generate 18.2 GW of hydropower, and to improve river navigation. This study employs a quantitative approach to bring the major economic, environmental and social impacts of this massive project together. This comprehensive probabilistic cost-benefit analysis (CBA) model takes into account the project uncertainty, and its empirical application tries to deliver more robust and justifiable results than those produced by the more usual deterministic CBAs or multi-criteria analyses. This allows the distribution of the net present value to be calculated, and the most significant impacts to be identified. The mean and the 95th percentile of the cumulative net present value at a 5% discount rate estimated by the model will be positive, while the 5th percentile will be negative.

A CBA model of a hydro project in Sri Lanka

This study demonstrates an empirical application of a cost benefit analysis for hydro projects, which includes social and environmental as well as economic aspects. The model treats uncertain inputs by specifying them as probability distributions. A proposed hydro project in Sri Lanka is used as a case study. The study uses time variable discount rates related to economic growth and investigates the sensitivity of the net present value to the choice of a discount rate.

Supporting Aircraft Manufacturers to Formulate and Implement Sustainable Development Strategies Systematically

Environmental issues, together with growing debates about aviation impacts on climate change, have been playing a central role in the aviation industry in the past several years. More recently, a much wider focus on sustainable development, including the social impacts of aviation, has started becoming a key aspect in aviation industry. Aircraft manufacturers have responded to this situation and realized the importance of focusing their efforts to incorporate sustainable development policies into their core business strategies. However, the effectiveness and the efficiency of such efforts have been in question because systematic approaches to support such activities are scarce. Aircraft manufacturers need to be able to formulate and implement sustainable development strategies in a systematic and traceable manner. Today, stakeholder analysis, dialogue, and engagement are widely recognized in the aviation sector. Such stakeholder analysis should be conducted in a more structured and integrated way to offer improved support to the ever-globalizing aircraft manufacturers to define and implement sustainable development strategies effectively. Under the rapidly changing business environment in which aircraft manufacturers are operating, the need for a holistic approach to develop sustainable development strategies, such as a systems approach, appears to be well justified. Opportunities created by such an integrated and holistic conceptual framework can enable aircraft manufacturers to manage their business strategically and deal with increasingly demanding business challenges.

An Empirical Application of Probabilistic CBA: 3 Case Studies of Dams in Malaysia, Nepal and Turkey

This paper empirically applies cost benefit analysis to hydroelectric projects in Malaysia, Nepal and Turkey. The main characteristics of each dam and the development stage of each country largely differ. The study attempts to bring all the major issues attached to each hydro project together and analyses quantitatively what would be happening if these dams were to be constructed. The cost benefit analysis model in this study takes account of premature decommissioning of dams and the correlation between the parameters of generation capacity, total construction cost and construction period. The mean cumulative net present value at the 100th year of the analysis with the 5% discount rate for Sharada-Babai dam in Nepal shows a positive figure, whereas the net present value for both Bakun dam in Malaysia and Ilisu dam in Turkey are negative. The mean value of the cumulative net present value for Sharada-Babai becomes negative when the pure rate of time preference is larger than 6%; for Bakun and Ilisu, it converges to zero as the pure rate of time preference becomes larger. The sensitivity analysis shows the dominant positive impact of the generation capacity parameter on net present value for Bakun; and the parameter expressing initial expected increase in economic output for Sharada-Babai and Ilisu.