In transitioning to a renewable material-based bioeconomy, growing public and industry interest is apparent for using wooden multistorey construction (WMC) as a sustainable urban housing solution in Europe, but its business implications are not well understood. In our study, we evaluate, which internal and external factors of competitiveness are shaping the future of WMC, especially in the context of Finland and Sweden. Based on a multi-level perspective of socio-technical transitions, we conducted a three-stage dissensus-based Delphi study. The identified internal and external factors affecting the future competitiveness of the WMC business emphasize the importance of skilled architects and builders and the role of standardized building systems. Based on our results, the key aspects influencing the future competitiveness of WMC in the region are related to the development of technical infrastructure and project-based business networks, while additional changes in regulatory framework are perceived as less important. We conclude that towards 2030, the strong cognitive rules founded in the concrete-based building culture in these countries is likely to inhibit the dynamics of the socio-technical regime level. A change is also needed in the WMC business culture towards more open cross-sectoral collaboration and new business networks between differentsized players.
The relationship between a firm's sustainability efforts and its financial performance has gained increasing interest among academia and in the press in recent years. In this study we focus on the energy industry in which sustainability issues are of special interest, but in which context the association between firm performance and sustainable development has not yet been studied. The data for this study consists of two groups of firms: firms that are included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI), and the biggest firms from the global energy sector. The financial performance of the companies is analyzed from different perspectives, and the data is gathered from years 2000, 2005, and 2009. The empirical analysis finds evidence of a positive association between sustainable development and firms' financial performance, especially when performance is measured as the market capitalization value.
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