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EBookClubs

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Book Eco efficiency in Small and Medium Enterprises

Download or read book Eco efficiency in Small and Medium Enterprises written by ERM-Hong Kong, Ltd and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Sustainability and Small and Medium sized Enterprises

Download or read book Sustainability and Small and Medium sized Enterprises written by Aharon Factor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-29 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Industrialisation has brought great benefits to humankind but now, after 200 years of fossil fuel use, land clearance and pollution, the planet’s boundaries are being stretched to their limits. Going beyond these confines would have severe consequences for humankind. To prevent this from happening, government, corporate and community initiatives must focus on reducing the environmental impact of approximately 400 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), given that they produce approximately 70% of the world’s pollution, 60% of carbon emissions and have a significant impact on land. To date, research shows that SMEs have been environmental laggards and more needs to be understood to improve sustainability in the SME sector. Broadening the researcher’s methodological focus, beyond traditional singular approaches, improves knowledge generation and better informs policy and practice. This book paves the way by showing the reader that a mixed method research design is able to provide a deep, diverse and holistic understanding of sustainability and SMEs. Importantly, the book also provides an in-depth mapping of mixed method sustainability and SME research at a regional level. As this book is about environmental sustainability framed in a business context, it will be of interest to researchers, academics, students and those in industry who are enquiring about the environmental sustainability of SMEs.

Book Energy Efficiency in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

Download or read book Energy Efficiency in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises written by Marika Bröckl and published by Nordic Council of Ministers. This book was released on 2014-02-28 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The EU’s Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency obliges Member States to develop programmes to encourage small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to improve energy efficiency by implementing energy audits and the recommendations that stem from these audits. This study looks at the barriers that SMEs face and the existing policy instruments in more detail and analyses which practices are working. The study concludes that SMEs cannot be effectively targeted with solely uniform solutions even within the same country and even though many of them face similar barriers. More emphasis is needed on sharing information and best practices and guiding SMEs to implement energy efficiency improvements after having identified the opportunities. The good news is that many good practices already exist and there is potential to improve. Now it is just a question of taking action.

Book Eco efficiency in Small and Medium Enterprises

Download or read book Eco efficiency in Small and Medium Enterprises written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and the Environment

Download or read book Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and the Environment written by Ruth Hillary and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tackles a largely neglected topic: small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their environmental impact. Over 90% of all firms are SMEs. Their importance to the health of national and international economies is recognized. But what of their environmental impact? Individually, this may be small but, collectively, they pose a huge and largely unregulated threat to national and indeed the global environment. There have been many failed attempts to engage SMEs in environmental stewardship. Why is this? And where are the success stories needed to set best-practice examples? Environmental protection is widely touted as being a win-win scenario for business with economic spin-offs in terms of energy and waste reduction quickly producing payback for capital expenditures. Why is the "good environmental management equals good business management" message not getting through? In Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Environment Dr Ruth Hillary brings together an outstanding international collection of experts from government, international and national support agencies, academics and the business community to present arguments about the key environmental business imperatives facing the small-firm sector. The book is divided into four sections:Attitudes and Perceptions of Small Firms to the Environment and SustainabilityEnvironmental Management in the Smaller FirmPractical Strategies for Reaching SMEsCase Studies from around the World. In these sections, the book examines the threats – such as trade, supply chain issues and legislative compliance – but is also solution-oriented, with considerable discussion of the management tools smaller firms can use to improve their environmental performance. It aims to provide practical strategies for smaller firms and to that end includes a range of informative case studies from around the world. Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and the Environment is the most comprehensive book on the subject available and will prove invaluable not only to SMEs themselves, seeking to understand a rapidly changing world, but to consultants and small-business advisors, local and central government and to all those in academia looking for ways to improve the environmental performance of small businesses.

Book Eco efficiency

Download or read book Eco efficiency written by Livio D. DeSimone and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book outlines the principles of eco-efficiency and presents case studies of their application from a number of international companies, including 3M and the Dow Chemical Company. The term "eco-efficiency" describes business activities that create economic value while reducing ecological impact and resource use. This book outlines the principles of eco-efficiency and presents case studies of their application from a number of international companies, including 3M and the Dow Chemical Company. It also discusses the value of partnerships--with other companies, business associations, communities, regulators, and environmental and other nongovernmental groups. In the conclusion, the authors argue that business must become more eco-efficient and that governments need to change the conditions under which business operates, including tax and regulatory regimes, to make them more conducive to eco-efficiency.

Book Eco efficiency and Beyond

Download or read book Eco efficiency and Beyond written by Jan-Dirk Seiler-Hausmann and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Business-as-usual, it is widely accepted, will exceed the Earth's carrying capacity in an alarmingly short space of time. In simple terms, we need to learn to use the world's rapidly depleting resources in a significantly more efficient manner. Practical and readily adopted solutions are needed now. Eco-efficiency-or "produce more with less" – is achieved when goods and services satisfy human needs, increase the quality of life at competitive prices and when environmental impacts and resource intensity are decreased to a degree that keeps them within the limits of Earth's expected carrying capacity. Eco-efficiency – a term first proposed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in 1992 – is a management approach that allows businesses to carry out environmental protection measures from a market-oriented point of view, with the aim of illustrating that ecology and the economy do not need to be a contradiction. Indeed, eco-efficiency has been portrayed as a win-win-for both business and the environment. This book, which developed out of two conferences on eco-efficiency held in Düsseldorf in 1998 and 2001, is edited by Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and his team from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, one of the world's leading research programmes on resource productivity. The aim is not simply to explain the past and present of eco-efficiency but to look forward to and encourage a future where the comprehensive take-up of the concept by business, government and consumers could lead to innovation on a grand scale and the possibility of a giant leap beyond towards overall sustainability. There have been considerable achievements to date. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which aims to list the most sustainable corporations for investors, includes companies such as BASF, Climatex, Henkel and Matushita/Panasonic (all represented in this book), who are implementing eco-efficiency measures. A number of political initiatives have also been formed. In December 2001, the German government suggested a National Sustainability Strategy to measure Germany's sustainable development. While this not yet an accepted political target or even law, it shows that politics is moving toward binding targets for increasing efficiency. Eco-Efficiency and Beyond collects together the leading thinkers on the topic and aims to illustrate not only that the concept should be part of every business strategy but that it is a key trigger for innovation. Innovation cuts through paradoxes. It is the creation of solutions to conflicting demands. Flying in a vacuum gave us rockets and satellites; switching electrons through insulators gave us Silicon Valley and the digital age. Sustainable development presents a similar field of paradoxical innovation forces: i.e. provide affordable products and services for the growing unmet needs of the world population while reducing environmental impacts. This book is the definitive collection on eco-efficiency and will be required reading for business, government, NGOs and academicians.

Book Small and Medium Sized Companies in Europe

Download or read book Small and Medium Sized Companies in Europe written by David Hitchens and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The environmental performance of SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises) is an area of major policy concern. SMEs in Europe reports on factors influencing the environmental performance of SMEs across four European countries: the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy. While there are a range of factors which are expected to influence the take up of clean technology, this book focuses on three key hypotheses, namely firm competitiveness, culture and use and availability of information and advice. The book is unique as it is based on in-depths interviews conducted in 300 SMEs and an additional postal survey with more than 800 replies.

Book The Role of Intermediary Organizations in Eco Efficiency Improvements in SMEs

Download or read book The Role of Intermediary Organizations in Eco Efficiency Improvements in SMEs written by Johanna Klewitz and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Corporate Sustainability (CS) links environmental and social issues to the corporate level by integration into conventional management. Thereby, companies can achieve sustainable organizational development and contribute to the sustainable development of society. One criterion of CS, among others, is eco-efficiency which aims to achieve environmental and economic excellence. By combining environmental issues with economic performance, aiming for eco-efficiency can be a practical starting point for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) reorienting their conventional management with small, not too radical steps. Considering the peculiarities of SMEs and inherent resource constraints, collaboration with intermediary organizations can promote this process. Through such collaboration SMEs have access to comprehensive and external expertise, can solve problems at the business level, establish new forms of partnerships and engage in learning networks. To identify the role of intermediary organizations in the process of aiming for eco-efficiency, this study chose a qualitative exploratory research using the multi-case study approach. Thereby drivers, barriers and matters related to adopting eco-efficiency through collaboration were identifiable. Owners and managers of SMEs operating in the metal- and mechanical engineering industries in Germany were interviewed. These companies took part in the ECOPROFIT®-scheme Germany, a partnership model between public and private organizations aiming to improve eco-efficiency. In this model local authorities act as intermediary organizations in terms of facilitating change and mediating between partners. The findings of this study suggest that eco-efficiency may be a suitable first step for SMEs to move towards CS as it presents a win-win situation. The role of intermediary organizations as initiators and facilitators to overcome challenges and barriers specific to SMEs is also indicated by the presented study.