It is argued that both continuous improvement and growth in one direction, are (sometimes partly) based on the illusion of control. It is precisely through our actions, by exerting as much control as possible over both natural and artificial processes, that we make things worse, often despite our good intentions. While the illusion of control makes us feel content with our lives, it does not contribute to a sustainable world in the long term. To believe in ones continuous improvement is to drastically overestimate ones own control, without considering the possibility of being wrong. Taking the hypothesis for granted in advance, hoping to arrive at a sustainable synthesis by chance, is like throwing stones at random to create Big Ben by chance. The casino might be more rational.
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This paper discusses risk and uncertainty aspects and proposes an assessment tool leading to identification of critical control points (CCPs) within purchasing-oriented activities of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Identifying such CCPs is the basis for developing SME purchasing instruments to support purchasing-oriented activities. The identification of such CCPs will be theoretically approached from a systems perspective using four management functions which are needed to operate as a viable system: implementation, control, intelligence and coordination. When applied to the development of purchasing instruments, these instruments can be used for supporting one of these four management control functions.
The hospitality industry contributes significantly to global climate change through its high resource consumption and emissions due to travel. As public pressure for hotels to develop sustainability initiatives to mitigate their footprint grows, a lack of understanding of green behavior and consumption of hotel guests hinders the adoption of effective programs. Most tourism research thus far has focused on the ecotourism segment, rather than the general population of travelers, and while research in consumer behavior shows that locus of control (LOC) and guilt can influence guests’ environmental behavior, those factors have not been tested with consideration of the subjective norm to measure their interaction and effect on recycling behavior. This study first examines the importance of internal and external LOC on factors for selecting hotel accommodation and the extent of agreement about hotel practices and, second, examines the differences in recycling behavior among guests with internal versus external LOC under levels of positive versus negative subjective norms and feelings of low versus high guilt.
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