a b s t r a c tQuality Management is considered to be suitable as support for the integration of sustainability considerations in areas such as product development. The purpose of this paper is to review research in which Quality Management methods, tools or practices have been used in conjunction with sustainable development initiatives. We have identified four themes that synthesize the research on Quality Management and its support to approaches for sustainable development: (I) supporting sustainability through integration of management systems, (II) Quality Management as support to the implementation of Environmental Management Systems and to the management of sustainability, (III) supporting integration of sustainability considerations in daily work, and (IV) supporting stakeholder management and customer focus. By far the most research has been conducted within the first two themes. This paper also contributes with proposals for future research, such as the need to move beyond existing standards and management systems to enable more radical improvements, and the need for empirical evidence of the effect of integrated management systems on environmental performance. We also highlight the point that Quality Management practices and tools must be developed and adapted in order to support sustainability considerations.
Originality/valueWe critically analyze the most common framework for sustainability reporting on an empirical basis. Our qualitative study delivers insights into sustainability reporting in an industry with large impacts on global climate change and living conditions. PurposeWe discuss what the business contribution to sustainable development is (or should be) and propose criteria for assessing corporate sustainability. These criteria are applied for the analysis of 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. Methodology/approachStarting from a literature review of common definitions and principals we develop main criteria of corporate sustainability and propose a set of evaluation criteria for analyzing sustainability reports. We consider definitions and principals from concepts such as Ecoefficiency, Triple-Bottom-Line, The Natural Step and stakeholder value. Using these criteria we analyze the GRI-based sustainability reports of five major cement manufacturers in order to find out to what extent the reports really address the sustainability performance of the companies. We chose the companies because of their dominant position in the building material supply chain. The building industry has multiple impacts on the environment as well as on the social system. The decisions and actions of the cement manufacturers have influence on the entire supply chain, from raw material suppliers to the end customer. FindingsOur findings lead to the conclusion that the current GRI guidelines are not sufficient to make sustainability reporting for the cement industry relevant and clear. In other words, the guidelines are not sufficient for assuring that a report answers the questions of how sustainable a company is and how quickly it is approaching sustainability. Within the GRI guidelines the needs of the customers are not considered sufficiently. This points at an important area where business excellence ideas can support sustainability reporting. This could be done, for instance, by including the concept of cost of poor quality into sustainability reporting guidelines.
PurposeTo highlight possible synergies between total quality management (TQM) and sustainable development (SD).Design/methodology/approachThese synergies are viewed based on a management system framework consisting of values, methodologies and tools. Based on common values the methodology of process management is identified as a good base for describing organisational synergies of TQM and SD. Also, process management for improved sustainability is reviewed. Here, organisational sustainability is viewed as performance based on the triple bottom line (TBL) of economy, environment and social responsibility.FindingsFindings were that process models can be used to structure the large number of indicators used to describe the TBL. This should improve the system understanding. To integrate TQM and SD, quality indicators should be added to the economic dimension. The system‐based process models can be used to describe synergies between TQM and SD. The proposed framework forms a basis for further research of the possible synergies of TQM and SD.Research limitations/implicationsThe research on synergies is limited on organisational sustainability.Practical implicationsImportant practical implications are to introduce the process view into sustainability reporting and to include quality indicators in the economic dimension.Originality/valueThe paper highlights good possibilities for synergy in combining theory from TQM and SD which should have both a research and a practical interest.
ABSTRACT. In a world of limited resources, it could be argued that companies that aspire to be good corporate citizens need to focus on making best use of resources. User value and environmental harm are created in supply chains and it could therefore be argued that company business ethics should be extended from the company to the entire value chain from the first supplier to the last customer. Starting with a delineation of the linkages between business ethics, corporate sustainability, and the stakeholder concept, this article argues that supply chains generally have a great innovation potential for sustainable development. This potential could be highlighted with system thinking and the use of change management knowledge, promoting not only innovations within technology but also within organizational improvement. We propose process models and performance indicators as means of highlighting improvement potential and thus breaking down normative business ethics' requirements to an opertionalizable corporate level: Good business ethics should focus on maximizing stakeholder value in relation to harm done. Our results indicate that focusing on supply chains reveals previously unknown innovation potential that seems to be related to limited system understanding. The assumption is that increased visibility of opportunities will act as a driver for change. Results also highlight the importance of focusing on sustainability effects of the core business and clearly relating value created to harm done.
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -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.
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