A strategic decision model for evaluating college and university sustainability investments

Abstract

Purpose – The paper aims to examine a strategic decision model and its potential value for assisting academic institutional leaders in addressing climate change by making better informed sustainability investment decisions. Design/methodology/approach – Although the vast majority of engagements have focused on IT project selection and prioritization, it will be demonstrated that there is direct applicability to capital investment decisions related to sustainability. Examples of the results are provided with instructions on how to implement a similar approach for organizations challenged with selection and prioritization of sustainability projects. Finally, the model is assessed critically in terms of challenges and lessons learned from client projects. Findings – The strategic decision model has been found to provide a broader framework for decisions, i.e. both qualitative and quantitative. At the same time, the methodology used with the model engages more stakeholders in the process to help build consensus regarding investment and project decisions. As a portfolio-based model, relative value and risk can be viewed easily to enable focus on what the stakeholders believe to be key projects. This perspective and the functionality of the application enable action to be taken by the decision maker to possibly reduce project risk and/or increase potential value of specific projects. Research limitations/implications – It was determined that additional research, data collection and application development would be necessary if the model were to be used for benchmarking for sustainability planning investment decisions. Practical implications – The paper proposes that colleges and universities consider the use of the portfolio decision model and, where appropriate, implement the model as part of their sustainability program. The anticipated benefits of this action would include: greater involvement of key stakeholders in support of required organizational change, improvement in the quality of investment decisions, increased success of sustainability projects and data which will enable future benchmarking. Originality/value – Given this emergent leading role of universities in championing sustainability efforts, the purpose of this paper is to provide college and university leaders a tool to address the challenges related to investment decisions targeted at sustainability projects, such as environmental footprint reduction in support of achieving sustainability for their respective institutions.

University Contributions to the Circular Economy: Professing the Hidden Curriculum

“…It is argued that a circular economy approach requires universities to recognise and start monitoring all assets-natural, financial, social, and intellectual-their use, appreciation or depreciation, and their impacts [15,27,31,[41][42][43]. One method of enabling this is the 'input-output' method proposed by Li [44] and Fry et al [45] which can capture processes and impacts across entire supply-chain networks underlying, in this case, the operations of a university.…”

O Consenso do Consenso Estratégico: Um Estudo sobre o Estado da Arte do Tema

“… O consenso pode ser uma forma particular de governar (Byrne & Shrestha, 2014).  As partes envolvidas no processo constroi o consenso sobre a decisão de investimentos de projetos (Murphy & O'Brien, 2014).  A construção do consenso, participação efetiva, institucionalização, liderança e capacitação são determinantes no sucesso da estratégia (Rasoolimanesh, Jaafar & Badarulzaman, 2014).…”

“…O conceito de consenso vem ganhando considerável popularidade nos trabalhos relacionados ao contexto estratégico (Ho, Wu & Wuc, 2014;Murphy & O'Brien, 2014), pois observa-se que nas últimas quatro décadas um crescente número de publicações tem tratado sobre o tema do consenso estratégico.…”

“…Porém, também foram destacados resultados que, assim como estudos de anos anteriores, apontam o surgimento de variáveis importantes mediadoras entre o consenso estratégico e a performance, tais como fatores sociais (Young, et al, 2010) e o dinamismo ambiental e desempenho dos funcionários de linha de frente (Stoltzfus, Stohl & Seibold, 2011;Ho, Wu & Wu, 2014). Além disso, outros resultados apontam no sentido da importância do modelo de consenso flexível para ser utilizado em ambientes difusos (Khorshid, 2010) e da coordenação, integração e interesse entre os especialistas envolvidos no processo interindustrial, pois facilita a tomada de decisão e resolvem os problemas relacionados aos possíveis conflitos (Jaspers, Prencipe & Den Edge, 2012;Murphy & O'brien, 2014).…”