Zoekresultaten

The balancing act of optimised value creation

In BOP ventures the notion of “selling to the poor” has steadily been replaced by business approaches that suggest sustainable value creation. This has certain implications, in particular the development of strategies that serve triple bottom-line goals. These include economic, social and environmental benefits, in other words, the well known goals of people-planet-profit. However to optimise value-creation one ideally needs to follow a strategy that is based on some form of conceptual model that can serve as a frame of reference. This paper proposes such a conceptual model. The research was undertaken in 8 BOP projects involving multinational information and communication technology companies in Africa. ICT is relevant here because of frequently high expectations that it contributes positively to development goals. A study of the BOP literature reveals that several elements need consideration when trying to create value in developing areas. In addition it emerges that these elements are somehow interdependent. Using information found in the literature as guide a study of 8 cases was undertaken. The research approach was the case study method and the data was analysed for emerging patterns. Primary and secondary data was collected through interviews as well as a close study of archival and other sources. The analysis revealed three high level factors that may need to be aligned in order to ensure optimised value creation of BOP ventures. These three factors are BOP strategy, partnerships, and products & services development. It is also confirmed that neither BOP strategy nor partnerships nor products/service development can be synthesised independently from the rest. There is a delicate balance and interaction between the three where all three are interdependent and mutually influence each other.

A knowledge approach to sustainable agriculture

Moving from pilgrimage to responsible tourism: the case of Palestine.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, Palestine has seen complicated changes in its political circumstances, most notably the creation of Israel in 1948 and the 1967 war, where Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. These events have created catastrophic political, economic and social facts which deeply affected the life of the Palestinian people. In this context, tourism became a political tool in the supremacy and domination of the Israeli establishment over land, and people, and an instrument for preventing the Palestinians from enjoying the benefits and the fruits of cultural and human interaction on which tourism thrives. Israel controls all access to Palestine (land and sea borders), most of the Palestinian water resources and all movements of people and goods from, to and within Palestine. This article assesses the role that tourism may play in promoting peace by presenting the Palestinian Initiative for Responsible Tourism - code of conduct - and its contribution to peace. In addition, issues of sustainability and the triple bottom line will be evaluated which could go a long way towards healing some of the divisions in the Palestinian/Israeli society.

Sustainable hospitality: a meaningful notion?

This paper explores the concept of sustainable hospitality. The relevance and status of this area of enquiry are assessed by discussing the current status of the concepts involved. These discussions are then linked to progress made in sustainable hospitality both in research and practical applications in the hospitality industry. At least six principal schools of thought within hospitality are noted: hospitality science, hospitality management, hospitality studies, the "three domain school", the systems thinking school and the pragmatic tradition. This complexity and lack of clear definition are problems. The differences between sustainability and sustainable development, and between weak and strong sustainability add further complexities. This paper shows that progress in both sustainable hospitality and tourism has been limited by these problems. A series of technical, ethical and commercial problems are discussed. However, while sustainable hospitality as a research area is still in its infancy, it is concluded that it is very relevant within the wider context of sustainable tourism research, based on its impact and its specific position within the social-ecological-economic systems under investigation. Key areas of future work are suggested, notably to better understand the impacts of hospitality on the triple bottom line, and to explore systems approaches towards implementation.

Exploring participatory action research as a driver for sustainable tourism

The constantly growing tourism sector does not only bring economic well-being to host communities but also raises environmental and social questions. Communities increasingly experience negative impacts that strain their social, cultural, and ecological living environments. We investigate the potential of a more relational, action-oriented research approach for tourism: Participatory Action Research (PAR). Results show that PAR has the potential to actively involve tourism-affected communities in the decision-making processes that impact their living environments and facilitate them in co-creating community-specific initiatives for sustainable change. Yet, the current role of conventional research approaches hinders PAR in developing its full potential.

De ‘Triple Depreciation Line’

Steeds meer bedrijven publiceren naast hun financieel jaarverslag een integrated report, waarin naast financiële waarde ook over maatschappelijke waarden wordt gerapporteerd. Uit een rapport van KPMG (2017) blijkt dat 93% van de grootste bedrijven van de wereld een integrated report publiceert. Met de opkomst van integrated reporting is hier echter ook de nodige kritiek op ontstaan. Zo zouden bedrijven het integrated report vooral gebruiken om zich duurzamer voor te doen dan ze daadwerkelijk zijn (‘greenwashing’). In dit artikel wordt een analyse van de Triple Depreciation Line (TDL) beschreven. De TDL is een raamwerk, waarmee in potentie (voor een deel) tegemoet wordt gekomen aan de huidige kritiek op integrated reporting zoals bijvoorbeeld ‘greenwashing’. In dit artikel concluderen wij dat de TDL in zijn huidige opzet in de praktijk moeilijk toepasbaar is en doen wij aanbevelingen voor een meer praktische toepassing van dit raamwerk. Dit leidt tot een aangepast TDL-raamwerk, waarbij wij beargumenteren dat de toepassing van dit aangepaste raamwerk de potentie heeft om de transitie naar een duurzame economie aanzienlijk te versnellen.