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The implementation of sustainability-oriented practices in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has been discussed frequently over the years. Recent studies on sustainability have focused mainly on links between ecological and economic sustainability. This exploratory study aims to explore institutional barriers and facilitators regarding the implementation of sustainability-oriented practices in the Indonesian batik industry and to provide policy recommendations. The Indonesian batik industry is well-known for its cultural heritage and for being part of the Indonesian identity. Batik products are mostly hand-crafted by women crafters. The study used in-depth insights from two focus groups conducted with entrepreneurs active in the batik industry, while also building on earlier empirical insights. The lack of customer knowledge and socio-cultural and regulatory factors were found to be barriers to sustainability in batik SMEs. Ecological, technological, socio-cultural, and political factors were found to facilitate achieving sustainability objectives. This study contributes to the sustainable entrepreneurship and women entrepreneurship literature by considering facilitators and barriers as they are experienced by batik entrepreneurs and by furthering the conceptualization of sustainable entrepreneurs as either “committed” or “followers”.

AbstractThe study investigates the effect of economic and non‐economic factors on natural gas demand in Ghana at the aggregate and disaggregates levels. The structural time series model is employed as it has the ability of capturing exogenous non‐economic factors. The findings suggest that both economic and non‐economic factors influence natural gas demand. It further reveal that different sectors respond differently to these factors. The study recommends that policies such as natural gas price subsidies should be customised for different sectors to obtain optimal results.

In spite of the benefits from thermal energy storage (TES) integration in dwellings, the penetration rate in Europe is 5%. Effective fiscal policies are necessary to accelerate deployment. However, there is currently no direct support for TES in buildings compared to support for electricity storage. This could be due to lack of evidence to support incentivisation. In this study, a novel systematic framework is developed to provide a case in support of TES incentivisation. The model determines the costs, CO2 emissions, dispatch strategy and sizes of technologies, and TES for a domestic user under policy neutral and policy intensive scenarios. The model is applied to different building types in the UK. The model is applied to a case study for a detached dwelling in the UK (floor area of 122 m2), where heat demand is satisfied by a boiler and electricity imported from the grid. Results show that under a policy neutral scenario, integrating a micro-Combined Heat and Power (CHP) reduces the primary energy demand by 11%, CO2 emissions by 21%, but with a 16 year payback. Additional benefits from TES integration can pay for the investment within the first 9 years, reducing to 3.5–6 years when the CO2 levy is accounted for. Under a policy intensive scenario (for example considering the Feed in Tariff (FIT)), primary energy demand and CO2 emissions reduce by 17 and 33% respectively with a 5 year payback. In this case, the additional benefits for TES integration can pay for the investment in TES within the first 2 years. The framework developed is a useful tool is determining the role TES in decarbonising domestic energy systems.

Despite the fundamental role given to the sustainability of intergenerational programming regarding their demonstrated impact on an aging society, only a few studies have undertaken an exploration of the qualitative core dimensions of sustainable intergenerational programs. This article addresses how the sustainability of educational intergenerational programs relates to why and how intergenerational program managers in the Portuguese area of Porto may have developed different attitudes and beliefs around adequate implementation of the programs. Drawing on qualitative interview data of a four-case fieldwork study conducted in Porto, Portugal, the study examines autonomy, empowerment, and intergenerational relationships as dimensions other than time duration behind program sustainability. Attention to the managers’ narratives on how intergenerational programs are implemented can help to explain why some dimensions are more highlighted than others. A qualitative analysis of intergenerational program sustainability, it is argued, offers considerable findings which provide opportunities to its implementation and intersection with managers’ beliefs. Findings suggest a need to de-emphasize both time duration and managers’ persona as the key for sustainability. We recommend intergenerational program sustainability as an area for future theorizing through providing a conceptualizing framework that might go beyond the normative focus on its duration and into the relational nature of these programs.

A new relationship with our goods and materials would save resources and energy and create local jobs, explains Walter R. Stahel.

Based on contingency and agency insights, this study examines the influence of ownership characteristics on performance measurement systems (PMSs) and outcome-based compensation systems driven by differences in organizational goals and objectives between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) in Vietnam. The influence of ownership characteristics on the design of PMSs received little attention from researchers so far. Moreover, the few studies that are available so far only examined the relationship between firm ownership characteristics and the presence and use of economic performance indicators and economic outcome-based compensation in firms. In this study, the scope of PMSs is broader, and sustainability indicators focusing on community programs, ethical behavior, and government regulation are included in addition to economic based indicators. Analyzing survey data with the use of partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM), we find that the higher the share of the government in an organization’s capital is, the significantly more governmental duty indicators and significantly fewer ethical indicators and economic indicators are included in the PMS and outcome-based compensation systems. The inclusion of community indicators is not associated with firm ownership characteristics. Meanwhile, non-SOEs include significantly more economic value indicators, but no societal measures, like ethical, community-oriented, and governmental duty indicators.

Abstract This paper reports a study into the use of US patents to analyse responses to regulatory change in the automobile industry. Confirming that patents are a rich indicator of technological development, it focuses on the development of the electric vehicle (EV) and, in particular, the identification of networks of firms developing EVs. A key finding of the study is the way that car firms have formed links with competitors and with firms and inventors outside the automobile industry, in order to develop this technology. This contradicts the normal product development methods in the automobile industry, and is attributed to the substantially different technologies required for EVs. In addition, the limitations of defining patent searches in terms of products––rather than technologies––are discussed.