Performance indicators used to study the sustainability of farms. Case study from Poland

2019 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 51-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Lewandowska-Czarnecka ◽  
Agnieszka Piernik ◽  
Andrzej Nienartowicz
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5234
Author(s):  
Mustafa S. Al-Tekreeti ◽  
Salwa M. Beheiry ◽  
Vian Ahmed

Numerous decision support systems have been developed to address the decision-making process in organizations. However, there are no developed mechanisms to track commitment down the line to the decisions made by corporate leaders. This paper is a portion of a study that establishes a framework for a comprehensive metric system to assess commitment to Sustainable Development (SD) decisions down the line in capital projects, and sets the groundwork for further development of performance indicators for SD outcomes. This ultimately leads to investigating the relationship between commitment to corporate decisions and better project performance in SD parameters. Hence, this study explores the literature to extract relevant parameters that reflect the degree of the project participants’ commitment to SD decisions and to develop commitment indicators. The study created then validated an index to track this commitment along the project stages: the Sustainable Development Commitment Tracking Tool (SDCTT). The SDCTT was tested on an infrastructure project case study. In this paper, techniques relevant to the first stage of projects (planning and definition) are presented. The SDCTT is the groundwork for the future development of performance indicators for SD outcomes, and within the postulated model should ultimately contribute towards reducing project waste, energy use, and carbon emissions.


2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Coram ◽  
Gary S. Monroe ◽  
David R. Woodliff

SUMMARY: This study examines whether assurance on the voluntary provision of nonfinancial performance indicators affects the stock price estimates of a group of sophisticated financial report users. We conducted an experiment where participants were provided with a case study containing excerpts from a hypothetical company's annual report. Nonfinancial performance and assurance were manipulated in a 2 (positive and negative nonfinancial performance indicators) ×2 (assurance and no assurance) +1 (control condition) between-subjects design. After reading the case materials, the participants indicated whether they believed the company's stock price would increase or decrease based on the information provided. As expected, we found that the nonfinancial performance indicators had a significant effect on stock price estimates. In addition, consistent with attribution theory, an assurance report on the voluntarily disclosed nonfinancial performance indicators only had a significant effect on stock price estimates when the nonfinancial performance indicators were positive, suggesting that the value of assurance is context-specific. Our research contributes to the discussion on the value of expanded assurance services and also on the value of enhanced corporate disclosure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Alpenberg ◽  
Tomasz Wnuk-Pel ◽  
Philip Adamsson ◽  
Johannes Petersson

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine why and how municipal managers and CEOs for municipally owned companies use the environmental performance indicators. Design/methodology/approach A case study approach as a research design was used. In total, 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted among managers for administrative departments and municipal company CEOs. Findings This study found that the environmental performance indicators are used by department managers mainly for resource allocation, control and for teaching the employees. The CEOs of the municipal companies use the environmental indicators for communicating with external stakeholders and see the indicators primarily as marketing tools. The main reason why the environmental performance indicators are used in the municipality can be the strong demand from the local politicians to push the “green agenda,” and therefore the managers have to comply. Research limitations/implications As in any case study, generalizations from the research should be made with care, but since this is only one municipality, further research is needed to find additional evidence. Practical implications The findings of this study have a number of implications for future practice, and it is worth mentioning that clear guidelines for how the information could be made more useful for managers at the managerial level in Växjö municipality (VM) are requested for both the municipal managers and the CEOs. Social implications Overall, this study strengthens the idea that environmental performance indicators could be used to a larger extent for communicating with external stakeholders both for municipal departments and companies. Originality/value The research adds to the literature by examining different patterns of using environmental performance indicators in a unique setting – in VM, which is called “the greenest city in Europe” and is one of the “pioneers” in environmental work and extensively uses performance indicators.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Mozart da Silva ◽  
Eliana Terezinha Pereira Senna ◽  
Orlando Fontes Lima Júnior ◽  
Luiz Afonso dos Santos Senna

Author(s):  
Maurizio Arnone

In the Piedmont region (Italy) the electronic ticketing system called BIP, is currently active across much of its territory, and thedata collected in the Province of Cuneo since the full activation of the system (2014) provide today a sound source ofinformation. Two different travel documents are available, travel passes and pay-per-use, with different validation rules: check-inonly for travel passes and check-in and check-out for pay-per-use. Data produced by this electronic ticketing system employingsmart cards allow to perform a detailed analysis of each user’s behaviour, and calculate time and space distributions of eachpassenger trip. In detail, data originating from smart card transactions allow to trace back the trip chains, establish journey originsand destinations, and produce a “travel diary” for each passenger. Based on this data, performance indicators (i.e. load factor) aswell as user mobility patterns and origin-destination matrices can be calculated in an automated and reliable way. This articlepresents a methodology for assessing the quality of the data collected when information about boarding and alighting stops isavailable from the (on board) validation system. It also presents an algorithm to assign a destination for each trip where only theboarding information is available. In the case study of the Province of Cuneo, it was found that 91% of the pay-per-use journeydata are reliable and can be used for further analysis, whereas with the use of the proposed algorithm it was possible to estimatethe destinations for 82% of the travel pass trips.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.1999


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 388
Author(s):  
Ilse Svensson de Jong

Measuring innovation is a challenging but essential task to improve business performance. To tackle this task, key performance indicators (KPIs) can be used to measure and monitor innovation. The objective of this study is to explore how KPIs, designed for measuring innovation, are used in practice. To achieve this objective, the author draws upon literature on business performance in accounting and innovation, yet moves away from the functional view. Instead, the author focuses explicitly on how organizational members, through their use of KPIs in innovation, make sense of conflicting interpretations and integrate them into their practices. A qualitative in-depth case study was conducted at the innovation department of an organization in the process industry that operates production sites and sales organizations worldwide. In total, 28 interviews and complementary observations were undertaken at several organizational levels (multi-level). The empirical evidence suggests that strategic change, attributed to commoditization, affects the predetermined KPIs in use. Notably, these KPIs in innovation are used, despite their poor fit to innovation subject to commoditization. From a relational perspective, this study indicates that in innovation, KPIs are usually complemented by or supplemented with other information, as stand-alone KPIs exhibit a significant degree of incompleteness. In contrast to conventional studies in innovation and management accounting, this study explores the use of key performance indicators (KPIs) in innovation from an interpretative perspective. This perspective advances our understanding of the actual use of KPIs and uncovers the complexity of accounting and innovation, which involve numerous angles and organizational levels. Practically, the findings of this study will inform managers in innovation about the use of KPIs in innovation and the challenges individual organizational members face when using them. In innovation, KPIs appear to be subjective and used in unintended ways. Thus, understanding how KPIs are used in innovation is a game of reading between the lines, and these KPIs can be regarded as misfits.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Chris Ogwumike ◽  
Huda Dawood ◽  
Tariq Ahmed ◽  
Bjarnhedinn Gudlaugsson ◽  
Nashwan Dawood

This paper presents an assessment of the impacts of the different tools implemented within the inteGRIDy project through the analysis of key performance indicators (KPIs) that appropriately reflect the technical and economic domains of the inteGRIDy thematic pillars, comprising demand response and battery storage systems. The evaluation is based on improvements brought about by individual components of the inteGRIDy-enabled smart solution across the Isle of Wight (IOW) pilot site. The analyses and the interpretation of findings for the pilot use case evaluation are presented. The results indicate that the smart solution implementation across the IOW pilot site resulted in achieving the inteGRIDy set objectives. Overall, a 93% reduction in energy consumption, equivalent to 643 kWh was achieved, via the M7 energy storage system and heat pumps developed as part of inteGRIDy solution. Additionally, the grid efficiency and demand flexibility contribution to the distribution network operator (DNO)-triggered DR services, based on a 10% increase/decrease in demand, resulted in stabilizing the grid efficiency.


Facilities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph H.K. Lai ◽  
Huiying (Cynthia) Hou ◽  
David J. Edwards ◽  
P.L. Yuen

Purpose This study aims to establish a rigorous model that can pragmatically evaluate the facilities management (FM) performance of hospitals. Design/methodology/approach Among the applicable performance indicators that were identified from extant literature, a focus group study shortlisted ten key performance indicators (KPIs) in four categories (safety, physical, financial and environmental) and verified their practicality. Using the analytic network process (ANP) method to process the focus group’s responses yielded importance weightings for the KPIs and developed the intended evaluation model. This model was then validated by a case study. Findings From the empirical data collected, two types of FM performance data and two scenarios of KPI scores were identified. To process these data and scores, a robust calculation method was devised and then proved useful in obtaining an overall score for holistic hospital FM performance. The case study confirmed the appropriateness and validity of the model developed. Research limitations/implications Through illustrating how the ANP method could be applied to develop an FM performance evaluation model, the study contributes knowledge to the multi-criteria decision-making domain. Despite the geographical limitation of the model established (i.e. centered around a group of hospitals investigated in Hong Kong), the study can serve as a reference for developing performance evaluation models for other buildings or infrastructures globally. Practical implications The model constitutes a practical tool for evaluating the FM performance of hospitals. Using this model on a regular basis will enable performance benchmarking and hence, continuous improvement of FM services. Originality/value The ANP model established is the first of its kind tailored for evaluation of hospital FM performance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M. Sobota

<p><br clear="none"/></p><p>During the optioneering phase, engineers face the challenge of choosing between myriads of possible designs, while, simultaneously, several sorts of constraints have to be considered. We show in a case study of a 380 m long viaduct how parametric modelling can facilitate the design process. The main challenge was to satisfy the constraints imposed by several different stakeholders. In order to identify sustainable, aesthetic, economic as well as structurally efficient options, we assessed several key performance indicators in real time. By automatically estimating steel and concrete volumes, a simple, yet suitable approximation of the embodied carbon (considering 85-95%) can be obtained at a very early design stage. In summary, our parametric approach allowed us to consider a wider range of parameters and to react more flexibly to changing conditions during the project.</p><p><br clear="none"/></p>


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