The transition towards a sustainable and healthy food system is one of the major sustainability challenges of today, next to the energy transition and the transition from a linear to circular economy. This paper provides a timely and evidence-based contribution to better understand the complex processes of institutional change and transformative social-ecological innovation that takes place in the food transition, through a case study of an open innovation and food transition network in The Netherlands, the South-Holland Food Family (Zuid-Hollandse Voedselfamilie). This network is supported by the provincial government and many partners, with the ambition to realize more sustainable agricultural and food chains, offering healthy, sustainable and affordable food for everyone in the Province of South-Holland in five to ten years from now. This ambition cannot be achieved through optimising the current food system. A transition is needed – a fundamental change of the food system’s structure, culture and practice. The Province has adopted a transition approach in its 2016 Innovation Agenda for Sustainable Agriculture. This paper provides an institutional analysis of how the transition approach has been established and developed in practice. Our main research question is what interventions and actions have shaped the transition approach and how does the dynamic interplay between actors and institutional structures influence institutional change, by analysing a series of closely related action situations and their context, looking at 'structure' and 'agency', and at the output-outcomes-impact of these action situations. For this purpose, we use the Transformative Social-Ecological Innovation (TSEI)-framework to study the dynamic interplay between actors and institutional structures influencing institutional change. The example of TSEI-framework application in this paper shows when and how local agents change the institutional context itself, which provides relevant insights on institutional work and the mutually constitutive nature of structure and agency. Above institutional analysis also shows the pivotal role of a number of actors, such as network facilitators and provincial minister, and their capability and skills to combine formal and informal institutional environments and logics and mobilize resources, thereby legitimizing and supporting the change effort. The results are indicative of the importance of institutional structures as both facilitating (i.e., the province’s policies) and limiting (e.g. land ownership) transition dynamics.
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This paper describes a research about the changing role and competences of teachers and the willingness of the teachers to change. The researchers developed and conducted a survey at Fontys University of Applied Sciences department engineering to find out how teachers teach and how they would want to teach. The conclusion drawn from this research results in five subjects of attention: 1 To investigate new teaching competences 2 To investigate new teaching strategies 3 To develop collaborating professional environments for teachers 4 To develop a formal declaration of how companies can participate effectively in the process of the transition of youngsters to professional practitioners 5 To investigate how the organization should change their culture and structure towards a professional learning environment for students and teachers. The above mentioned items will be subject of further research in the coming study year. The main goal is to develop a business case or strategic plan on how to implement change in teaching engineering education.
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We are currently in a transition moving from a linear economy grounded on economic value maximization based on material transformation to a circular economy. Core of this transition is organising value preservation from various yet interlinked perspectives. The underlying fundamental shift is to move away from mere financial value maximization towards multiple value creation (WCED, 1987; Jonker, 2014; Raworth, 2017). This implies moving from mere economic value creation, to simultaneously and in a balanced way creating ecological and social value. A parallel development supporting this transition can be observed in accounting & control. Elkington (1994) introduced the triple bottom line (TBL) concept, referring to the economic, ecological and social impact of companies. The TBL should be seen more as a conceptual way of thinking, rather than a practical innovative accounting tool to monitor and control sustainable value (Rambaud & Richard, 2015). However, it has inspired accounting & control practitioners to develop accounting tools that not only aim at economic value (‘single capital’ accounting) but also at multiple forms of capital (‘multi capital’ accounting or integrated reporting). This has led to a variety of integrated reporting platforms such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), International Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRC), Dow Jones Sustainable Indexes (DJSI), True Costing, Reporting 3.0, etc. These integrated reporting platforms and corresponding accounting concepts, can be seen as a fundament for management control systems focussing on multiple value creation. This leads to the following research question: How are management control systems designed in practice to drive multiple value creation?
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Background and aim ʹ Many countries signed the Paris Agreement to mitigate global average temperature rise. In this context, Dutch government decided to realize a reduction of 50% using resources and raw materials in 2030. This paper explores how practice-based research into facility operations can contribute to this aim. Methods / Methodology ʹ Practice-based research which includes direct observations, desk research, and participatory action research. Results ʹ This explorative research presents principles and suggestions for facility managers and procurement managers on how they can embed sustainable materials management in the organisation and how to take control of waste. The proposed suggestions are derived from practice-based research and presented as topics of attention for facility professionals. Originality ʹ Within education of Dutch universities of applied sciences and daily professional facility practices, the phenomenon of materials management is underexposed. To contribute to the national and international climate objectives, (future) facility professionals need better support to reduce waste. Bachelor students were involved throughout this research. This approach gave refreshing insights into waste at the end of the supply chain (control separation units) that can improve informed decisionmaking at the beginning of the supply chain. Practical or social implications ʹ Facility management professionals have an important role to play in the mitigation of global average temperature rise, because of their leading role in procurement, service operations, and materials management. However, they struggle to find sustainable solutions. This paper seeks to inspire professionals with interventions that have proven effectiveness on the reduction of waste. Type of paper ʹ Short research paper.
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This article will discuss philosophical debates on economic growth and environmental sustainability, the role of management responsibility, and the risk of subversion to business as usual. This discussion will be framed using the concepts of Cradle to Cradle (C2C) and Circular Economy about sustainable production. The case study illustrating the danger of subversion of these progressive models discussed here is based on the assignments submitted by Masters students as part of a course related to sustainable production and consumption at Leiden University. The evaluation of the supposedly best practice cases placed on the website of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation or those awarded Cradle to Cradle certificate has led some students to conclude that these cases illustrated green-washing. Larger implications of identified cases of green-washing for the field of sustainable business and ecological management are discussed. “This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in 'Philosophy of Management'. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-019-00108-x LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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The Utrecht SBE16 Conference. From the introduction: "The conference is part of the Sustainable Built conference series and is as such considered to be part of the pre-eminent international conference series on sustainable building and construction endorsed by iiSBE, UNEP-SBO and FIDIC. The Utrecht SBE16 conference is hosted by the Centre of Expertise Smart Sustainable Cities of HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, in partnership with six Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences (Avans, Saxion, Rotterdam, The Hague, Zuyd, InHolland) and the Utrecht Sustainability Institute (USI). The Transition Zero conference provides us with a unique opportunity to meet transition professionals in urban sustainability from all over Europe and beyond and to learn about the latest developments and best (inter)national practices in urban sustainability. The rich interest in the conference, made it possible to offer research as well as practitioner-driven tracks on topics related to the conference title. The conference brought together excellent future-minded practitioners, researchers and thought leaders from the R&I community, specialists and professionals on zero energy homes and transition of the built environment."
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This paper describes prototypes for transition pathways towards inclusive, sustainable development for seven regions in five European Countries. The approach for developing transition pathways was based on three theoretical building blocks. First, the ABCD-Roadmap that outlines the various steps to be developed in the design process of the transition pathway, secondly, the Socio-Ecological-System framework was used to describe the current situation and analyze the interactions within the system and lastly, the X-curve model provided guidance in categorizing activities and policies that should be adapted, developed new or stopped. The international team showed how transition pathways for sustainable development can be developed in different contexts and scale levels, all over Europe. The resulting advice can be helpful to professionals active in regional development, on municipal, provincial, national, or European level.
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The transition from home to a nursing home can be stressful and traumatic for both older persons and informal caregivers and is often associated with negative outcomes. Additionally, transitional care interventions often lack a comprehensive approach, possibly leading to fragmented care. To avoid this fragmentation and to optimize transitional care, a comprehensive and theory-based model is fundamental. It should include the needs of both older persons and informal caregivers. Therefore, this study, conducted within the European TRANS-SENIOR research consortium, proposes a model to optimize the transition from home to a nursing home, based on the experiences of older persons and informal caregivers. These experiences were captured by conducting a literature review with relevant literature retrieved from the databases CINAHL and PubMed. Studies were included if older persons and/or informal caregivers identified the experiences, needs, barriers, or facilitators during the transition from home to a nursing home. Subsequently, the data extracted from the included studies were mapped to the different stages of transition (pre-transition, mid-transition, and post-transition), creating the TRANSCITmodel. Finally, results were discussed with an expert panel, leading to a final proposed TRANSCIT model. The TRANSCIT model identified that older people and informal caregivers expressed an overall need for partnership during the transition from home to a nursing home. Moreover, it identified 4 key components throughout the transition trajectory (ie, pre-, mid-, and post-transition): (1) support, (2) communication, (3) information, and (4) time. The TRANSCIT model could advise policy makers, practitioners, and researchers on the development and evaluation of (future) transitional care interventions. It can be a guideline reckoning the needs of older people and their informal caregivers, emphasizing the need for a partnership, consequently reducing fragmentation in transitional care and optimizing the transition from home to a nursing home.
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The transition towards more sustainable business practices requires the changing of products, services, processes, policies and resources of organizations. Acknowledging the role projects play in these changes, the concept of sustainability should be integrated in the way projects are selected, prioritized, performed, managed, governed and evaluated. This requires the integration of sustainability in the organizational strategy, project portfolio management and project management. However, studies on sustainability in business describes the application of the concepts of sustainability mostly on the above-mentioned level in isolation, with little or no attention to the linkages between the strategy, portfolio and project levels. A conceptual framework is presented indicating the interlinking practices of integrating sustainability into the organizational strategy, project portfolio management and project management. From this framework, empirical studies can be developed, and guidance is provided for organizations that aim to improve this integration and thereby embedding the deeper implementation of sustainability into their policies and practices.
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In deze rede willen we helder krijgen welke ontwikkelingen in het bedrijfsleven van invloed zijn op ondernemingen en het financieel management van deze ondernemingen. Met name het streven naar een circulaire economie wordt als een ontwikkeling van betekenis gezien.
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