This book presents the latest technologies and operational methods available to support sustainable freight transport practices. It highlights market requirements, cutting edge applications, and case studies from innovators in the logistics services industry. The goal is to help bridge the gap between advanced computational techniques and complex applied problems such as those in sustainable transport and logistics operations. Freight transport has traditionally focused on costs and service levels. However, it is no longer possible or socially responsible to neglect the environmental, social, climate, and energy implications of the freight moving globally. This book places sustainability at the forefront of the freight transport agenda. Sustainable Freight Transport: Theory, Models and Case Studies is divided into three sections. Section I focuses on green freight transport policies for air and marine ports. Section II is devoted to using modelling techniques and optimization for achieving sustainable freight transport, while Section III examines policies to support sustainable freight transport practices in urban areas. The contributions come from authors from different areas, backgrounds, and countries to cover a global perspective.

This authored monograph provides in-depth analysis and methods for aligning electricity demand of manufacturing systems to VRE supply. The book broaches both long-term system changes and real-time manufacturing execution and control, and the author presents a concept with different options for improved energy flexibility including battery, compressed air and embodied energy storage. The reader will also find a detailed application procedure as well as an implementation into a simulation prototype software. The book concludes with two case studies. The target audience primarily comprises research experts in the field of green manufacturing systems.

Focusing on the role entrepreneurship centres can play within the UK and other countries; this edited volume explores the effective construction of viable and sustainable entrepreneurship centres. It questions how these Higher Education Centres contribute to enterprise and entrepreneurship curriculum enhancement, research, and support to entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship Centres responds to the renewed focus on Higher Education Institutions to play a meaningful role in socio-economic development and the need for such centres to act as an equal component to the traditional roles of teaching and research within universities. With case studies from the UK, Africa, Europe, and Canada, this collection contributes to the debate on whether entrepreneurship centres can and should play an important role in entrepreneurship activities within HEIs.

This book documents the state of the art and the emerging operational perspectives in the field of the appraisal discipline. It covers a wide range of topics, including energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, socio-economic evaluation of regional and urban transformations, real estate and facility management, risk management. It also discusses the potential role of appraisal in minimising unexpected consequences; the role of evaluators in urban development projects as well as the contribution of several methodologies with respect to the overall planning and design processes; the need to manage the complexity of the current decision contexts, while at the same time promoting efficient and effective evaluation processes; improving the quality of discussion and communication of the outcomes of evaluation processes; as well as the appropriateness of current regulation and policy regimes (EU, national, regional etc.). It comprises a selection of the best papers presented at the SIEV 2015 conference "Appraisal: Current Issues and Problems", which was held in Bari, Italy, in July 2015, and brought together architects, engineers, urban planners, decision-makers and government representatives.

This edited volume brings together contributions from experts on a range of food security issues, and examines them through a number of case studies. A Millennium Development goal and important policy concern, food security is experiencing renewed interest due to globalisation, which has led to population affluence, changing consumption, and production and trade patterns. The authors discuss how globalisation brings a new dimension to the discussion on public policy on food security, and consider the extent to which Global Value Chains (GVCs) dominate trade, investment and international agricultural markets. Food Security and Sustainability therefore sheds new light on the nexus of food security and globalization, as well as its implications for investment and financing in the agro-food sector. The volume draws on papers presented at the inaugural Workshop of the Mediterranean Center for Food Security and Sustainable Growth (MED-SEC), an international network of academics focusing on issues of development, sustainability and food security.

This volume provides the most current research on smart cities. Specifically, it focuses on the economic development and sustainability of smart cities and examines how to transform older industrial cities into sustainable smart cities. It aims to identify the role of the following elements in the creation and management of smart cities:* Citizen participation and empowerment * Value creation mechanisms * Public administration* Quality of life and sustainability* Democracy* ICT* Private initiatives and entrepreneurship Regardless of their size, all cities are ultimately agglomerations of people and institutions. Agglomeration economies make it possible to attain minimum efficiencies of scale in the organization and delivery of services. However, the economic benefits do not constitute the main advantage of a city. A city's status rests on three dimensions: (1) political impetus, which is the result of citizens' participation and the public administration's agenda; (2) applications derived from technological advances (especially in ICT); and (3) cooperation between public and private initiatives in business development and entrepreneurship. These three dimensions determine which resources are necessary to create smart cities. But a smart city, ideal in the way it channels and resolves technological, social and economic-growth issues, requires many additional elements to function at a high-performance level, such as culture (an environment that empowers and engages citizens) and physical infrastructure designed to foster competition and collaboration, encourage new ideas and actions, and set the stage for new business creation. Featuring contributions with models, tools and cases from around the world, this book will be a valuable resource for researchers, students, academics, professionals and policymakers interested in smart cities.

This book provides a unique guide to value management and sustainability in construction to researchers and professional. The book provides a better understanding of the concept of value management, the basis of sustainable construction and thereafter, demonstrates how using the principles of value management can help to achieve successful construction projects that are financially viable, socially beneficial and do not damage the environment. The book serves as an introduction to value management for scholars and researchers at all levels; and also as a practical guide for construction professionals, employers and other stakeholders in the construction industry.

This volume presents selected papers from the 19th Eurasia Business and Economics Society (EBES) Conference held in Istanbul. Its primary emphasis is on showcasing the latest empirical research on social change, sustainable development and the management of public and private organizations in emerging economies. The respective articles also address more specialized and related topics such as financial risk tolerance, international strategic partnerships, female labor force participation, human capital dynamics, and economic integration, among others.

This book discusses the unique relationship between societies and businesses in the Mediterranean region, with contributions from public figures and academics from Middle Eastern and Arab societies, as well as from North America and Europe. This blend of expertise and knowledge focuses on common business practices and their effect on society in Mediterranean countries, and aims to create a bridge between the two. Considering the cultural, social, political, legal and economic impacts and variety, Business and Society in the Middle East is a contemporary and authentic view of how local and traditional aspects of society dictate diversity and homogeneity within businesses.

This volume explores intergenerational practices and their impact on social sustainability, with an emphasis on developing programmatic efforts to address profound social challenges such as underperforming educational and work-related systems, failing support systems for dependent or vulnerable populations, and community renewal and regeneration efforts. To this end, the core argument is to present issues related to age, aging, and generations, not only as problems, but as catalysts to facilitate improved quality of life for all generations. For societies to be sustainable, all generations must coexist at any given time and across time (non-contemporary generations). Hence, the ultimate vision presented here is one of intergenerational sustainability as both a conceptual tool and as a call for action. Intergenerational pathways are introduced as strategies for improving health and well-being across the lifespan, strengthening families, improving under-performing educational and work-related systems, and helping to build more cohesive, caring communities. Reviewing some of the historical factors and developments influencing intergenerational studies, as well as presenting regional case studies and comparative research, this book presents successful models that may be applied to everyday multigenerational practices in institutions such as education, family life, housing, healthcare, employment, and community development. The result is an accessible resource for students, academics, policymakers, community leaders, and citizens concerned with creating opportunities amidst challenging demographic and social changes.

This collection of expert articles highlights the standards and practices concerning sustainability reporting among companies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Due to the growing interest in corporate social responsibility issues, sustainability reporting has become increasingly common among businesses that claim to adhere to certain social, environmental and economic standards. While it can be observed that sustainability reporting is widely practiced in Western and Northern European countries, only few studies have been conducted on this topic in the CEE region. Drawing on a major empirical study involving researchers from 10 different CEE countries, this book addresses the status quo of sustainability reporting, outlines future prospects and provides essential recommendations for practitioners.

This book examines the politics of harm in the context of palm oil production in Colombia, with a primary focus on the Pacific coast region. Globally, the palm oil industry is associated with practices that fit the most conventional definitions and perceptions of crime, but also crucially, forms of social and environmental harm that do not fit strictly legalistic definitions and understandings of crime. Drawing on rich field-based data from the region, Mol contributes empirically to an awareness of the constructions, practices, and the lived and perceived realities of harm related to palm oil production. She advances criminological debate around 'harm' by putting forward a theoretical and analytical approach that redirects the debate from a central concern with the academic contestedness of harm within criminology, towards a focus on the 'on-the-ground' contestedness of palm oil-related harm in Colombia. Detailed analysis and arresting conclusions ensure this book will be of great interest to students and scholars in the fields of Green and Critical Criminology, Environmental Sociology, and International and Critical Development Studies.

This book analyzes how and under what conditions collaborating corporations can effectively manage relationships with their suppliers in order to decrease the risk of suppliers' noncompliance with codes of conduct and standards. In so doing, it represents an important addition to the management literature on corporate social responsibility in global supply chains - which is highly topical at a time when companies are increasingly aware of the social and environmental aspects of global sourcing. After an opening systematic review of the literature on agency theory and supply chain management, it explores the rationale underlying collaboration among competitors, and the most critical aspects of such collaboration, in depth. Thanks to the book's use of real-life examples, readers will learn how agency theory can help improve relationship management and address the major issues in sustainable global sourcing.

This book discusses the implementation of sustainability in corporate governance mechanisms since 2013 and assesses how much the role of the Board of Directors has changed as a result. The study explores the impact of legislation upon corporate governance in two European contexts, the UK and Italy, which have been affected differently by changes in national regulations since 2013. This investigation relies first on the analysis of interviews administered to the boards of directors of Italian firms, to highlight how far sustainability objectives were considered a real priority for their firms and how their role evolved in terms of specific duties and practices. Second, thanks to a rich dataset from 2013 to 2017, the investigation considers the corporate governance reports of top Italian and British listed firms, to identify how the integration of sustainability within corporate governance has been evolving since 2013, and how it has been disclosed. This insider perspective provides the reader with a set of tools useful for analysing firms' engagement towards sustainability, and for assessing whether listed firms practice what they preach.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of sustainability and management in India and through its insightful essays highlights the complex and multifaceted nature of sustainability as a concept. It also demonstrates the debates surrounding the concept of sustainability and its ramifications for ground-level practice in managing organisations and for public policy. The contributions from sustainability enthusiasts, practitioners from disparate fields and academics working at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, have been divided into five themes: (1) sustainability as a normative concept; (2) sustainability concept at the global level, (3) sustainability practices in Indian organisations and consumer behaviour; (4) sustainability, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility and (5) sustainability: a critique of organisational practice and government regulation. The themes reflect both new and continuing issues confronting management in the country today. Examples and in-depth studies make it relevant to the grounded reality in India. The expertise and experience of the contributors ensure that readers are left with a grasp of our current understanding of how sustainability is related to society and business, the direction this understanding will take in the future.

This book provides a detailed study of the Thai rubber industry and its utilisation of renewable resources, focussing on the use of open source software in building supply chain models. By describing elements that the supply chain is composed of and relating this to Thailand's rubber industry, the authors then outline the construction of a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) model and use open source software to model renewable resources in this particular supply chain. Emphasis is placed on the way that modelling can aid the important decision-making required in the exploitation of natural resources. By taking a hands-on approach and offering a valuable guide for readers, this book not only appeals to academics in the fields of industrial engineering, operations, logistics and supply chain management, but also to practitioners, policy-makers and associations involved in the rubber industry.

This edited book responds to the need for a better understanding of how climate change affects North America and for the identification of processes, methods and tools that may help countries and communities to develop a more robust adaptive capacity. It showcases successful examples of how to manage the social, economic and environmental complexities posed by climate change. The book attempts to synthesize various branches of resilience and adaptation scholarship into a cohesive text that highlights field research and best practices that are shaping policy and practice in a wide geography from the coastal conditions of the Caribbean to the thawing landscape of the Arctic Circle.

This edited collection explores the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to a low carbon economy, and outlines the different approaches taken to ensure the sustainability of such a transition. Chapters explore the nature of the transformation from a 'brown' to 'green' economy, the importance of effective carbon measurement and management methodologies, the use of behaviour economics, and the application of a growth-enabling approach. Offering valuable insights into how various stakeholders respond to the challenges of green growth and focusing in particular on the support of universities, The Low Carbon Economy covers themes of leadership, systems approach, stakeholder management, and collaborative action. This comprehensive study provides readers with constructive ideas for maximising the opportunities of transitioning to a low carbon economy, and will serve as a useful tool for practitioners and academics interested in sustainability.

An up-to-date, revised edition of the complete, practical guide to designing and implementing effective compensation plans

A compensation package should be more than just the means to attract and retain talented executives. The right kind of plan can give your company a powerful strategic advantage. In Paying for Performance, Second Edition, consultants at Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Inc., one of the world’s leading human resources consulting firms, give you the tools and techniques you need to design and implement a highly effective compensation program that will sharpen your company’s competitive edge for years to come.

The book also shows you how to understand shareholder expectations, government regulation, and a host of business and human resources issues. Paying for Performance, Second Edition:

• Describes best practices used at America’s top-performing companies
• Offers proven pay-for-performance tools for addressing current and future pay issues
• Uses case studies drawn from extensive Mercer Human Resource Consulting, Inc. research
• Addresses the special issues affecting pay-for-performance in not-for-profits
• Presents expert advice on managing talent and competencies to maximize performance
• Addresses the regulatory issues that affect executive compensation
• Covers everything from base pay to annual and long-term compensation

This book will help you develop your emotional intelligence so you can become a highly skilled negotiator in all areas of your life - whether you're negotiating with customers, colleagues, family or friends. It will equip you with the tools and techniques to put negotiation theory into practice. Learn how to develop a winning mind-set, prepare successfully for any negotiation, recognise and respond to different negotiation situations, deal effectively with gameplay, manage the negotiation conversation and understand how to draw the negotiations to a successful close. The Negotiation Book is an inspiring and engaging handbook packed with Nicole Soames' expert advice, practical tools and exercises to help you master the art of negotiation.

This book provides transdisciplinary analyses of the automotive plastics production and recycling system, including prognoses, scenarios and solutions for corporate sustainability management. A book on plastics, not written by a plastics guy. But a sustainability guy. Plastics schizophrenia and the automotive abyss: The industry is facing a severe challenge. It is the inevitable and promising change towards a sustainable economy. However, the automotive industry is primarily concerned with the CO2 emissions from cars when driving, while the rise of lightweight plastics, electric drive and heavy batteries make the production and end-of-life phase ever more important. Therefore, the currently increasing use of non-sustainable virgin plastics in cars has to be tackled. The plastics and the automotive industry now have a chance, and this chance is the Recycling Renaissance. This book offers: * Holistic and transdisciplinary overview on sustainability and automotive plastics from all angles including economy, ecology, technology, and politics with a focus on Europe * Concise analyses, prognoses, tools and a roadmap with solutions for companies, developed together with international experts from industry and academia * Strong scientific basis and independent research including a Europe-wide survey, expert interviews, and workshops * More than 80 illustrations and 15 tables including a SCOT analysis * Executive summaries after each chapter for fast reading "The uniqueness of this book lies within the different point of view on this topic from a critical, outstanding scientist." - Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Pomberger, Montanuni Leoben

This book is a state of the art treatise on what has been done so far on measuring sustainability for decision making. Contributions will appeal to engineers and scientists engaged in technology development, assessment, and verification. Researchers working on engineering sustainability are likely to get ideas for further research in quantifying sustainability for industrial systems. Concepts described can be applied across all scales, from process technology to global sustainability; and challenges and limitations are also addressed. Readers will discover important insights about simulation-based approaches to process design and quantitative measurement techniques of sustainability for business and technology systems. Most of the examples and case studies are from chemical enterprises but the methodologies presented could be applicable to any system for which quantitative data for indicators are available, and the choice of the set of indicators of sustainability are comprehensive.

Drawing together understandings from science and business around the increasingly important concept of resilience, this book provides managers, academics and practitioners with important ideas that will help business prepare for the future. It provides much needed detail on the challenges that climate change poses for organisations and makes essential reading for anyone interested in sustainable business.' - Suzanne Benn, University of Technology, Sydney, AustraliaClimate change has had a significant impact globally, predominantly for those vulnerable to its influence. The first book of its kind, The Climate Resilient Organization assesses the issues that have mounted for decision-makers in the field, while providing strategies to tackle them. With a particular focus on building climate-resilient pathways for private sector organizations, the expert authors offer practical tools and decision-making criteria for evaluating adaptation needs, costs and benefits. Split into two parts, this book begins with an analysis of the subject on a global scale; it continues by translating the science surrounding it while presenting it in a manner suited to local decision-makers. Sustainability and climate adaptation scholars as well as managers will equally find this book to be an insightful read. Government officers and risk management professionals will also find the topics discussed beneficial to their work.

This insightful book offers a new and innovative tool in the study of development. The authors propose 'The Overall Development Model' which provides a strategy for long-term, sustainable and adaptable development for countries around the globe. Starting with a comprehensive study into what development is and how it is achieved, Development Management of Transforming Economies critically analyzes current development schemes within transforming economies and examines their various actors both international and local, public and private. It examines the implementation of health, education and economic strategies of countries in Africa and Asia that have either undergone a development process, experienced slow but steady progress, or are just beginning to pursue a development strategy. In considering human development as a whole, the authors assert a new method of development that includes the developing population, and highlights the need for countries to define their own unique development process.