scholarly journals How Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Can Uptake the Sustainable Development Goals through a Cluster Management Organization: A Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5939
Author(s):  
Eduardo Jiménez ◽  
Marta de la Cuesta-González ◽  
Montserrat Boronat-Navarro

Even though many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) realize the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for their sustainable business development, they face difficulties when individually pursuing this target. This paper aims to provide cluster-based SMEs with a framework to facilitate the uptake of the SDGs through a cluster network model. By focusing on the case study of a furniture production Cluster Management Organization (CMO Habic a network-based approach to sustainability management is analyzed in order to integrate the SDGs framework into SMEs’ everyday language and day-to-day operations. Through a cluster model approach, industry-specific sustainability material issues are tackled jointly and with the aim of applying a common solution to a similar challenge, Lehi-ODS, an online sustainability management tool for SME self-evaluation, has been developed wherein the participating SMEs can gain an overarching knowledge about the UN 2030 Agenda, assess their own alignment with the SDGs and with respect to that of their peers, and prioritize initiatives to correctly deliver them. The main conclusion derived from the paper is that a CMO is deemed to be a valuable driver in identifying common sector-specific challenges of corporate sustainability and in addressing collectively the question of contributing to the SDGs.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8624
Author(s):  
Hannah Jun ◽  
Minseok Kim

While multi-stakeholder engagement is critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is less understanding in the literature about how the private sector can enhance such engagement at an institutional level. In this study, we examine the case of LG Electronics (LGE), one of South Korea’s most sustainable firms. This case study highlights the key strategies that LGE employed in engaging stakeholders for the SDGs, with a focus on stakeholder scope and engagement over three phases: (1) stakeholder communication; (2) stakeholder involvement; and (3) stakeholder engagement. In addition, this paper emphasizes governance mechanisms that facilitated more effective stakeholder engagement, including the company’s Corporate Sustainability Management (CSM) strategies, CSR Committee and Sustainability Management Council. These findings also highlight the usefulness of the common language provided by the SDGs in stakeholder engagement and provide practical implications for the private sector in contributing to the shared global agenda.


Author(s):  
Laura Ballerini ◽  
Sylvia I. Bergh

AbstractOfficial data are not sufficient for monitoring the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): they do not reach remote locations or marginalized populations and can be manipulated by governments. Citizen science data (CSD), defined as data that citizens voluntarily gather by employing a wide range of technologies and methodologies, could help to tackle these problems and ultimately improve SDG monitoring. However, the link between CSD and the SDGs is still understudied. This article aims to develop an empirical understanding of the CSD-SDG link by focusing on the perspective of projects which employ CSD. Specifically, the article presents primary and secondary qualitative data collected on 30 of these projects and an explorative comparative case study analysis. It finds that projects which use CSD recognize that the SDGs can provide a valuable framework and legitimacy, as well as attract funding, visibility, and partnerships. But, at the same time, the article reveals that these projects also encounter several barriers with respect to the SDGs: a widespread lack of knowledge of the goals, combined with frustration and political resistance towards the UN, may deter these projects from contributing their data to the SDG monitoring apparatus.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 4224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Zamora-Polo ◽  
Jesús Sánchez-Martín

Sustainability, as a key concept in the education field, has submitted a relevant change during the last years. Thus, there is a growing debate about its meaning. It has undergone a crucial merging of significances from many fields: Ecology, environmental awareness, but also from politics, ethics or even spiritual approaches. All these fields have been co-involved in the building of such subject concept. In this sense, this article addresses the different ways of understanding sustainability as a polyhedral concept and how sustainability can be understood under the umbrella of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, it is proposed a conceptual framework to teach this UN Program at Higher Education, contributing to the training of undergraduate and postgraduate students from both a professional and a personal point of view. This framework is applied in a case study—in particular, in a course of Primary Teacher Degree called Didactics of Matter and Energy. This article finishes with practical consideration to build a change-maker University.


Author(s):  
Prof. Dr. Nadia Cipullo

The paper aims at showing how innovations in agri-food business models influence the corporate sustainability of rural ecosystems, assuring the attainment of specific sustainable development goals. The purpose is achieved through a case study method, using a relevant farmhouse and agritourism “Anna dei Sapori” located in the Cilento Bio-District – rich of bio-cultural diversity and homeland of the Mediterranean Diet, Intangible Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO – in Italy. Results show as all corporate processes are managed according to agroecological principles, introducing useful innovations. The goal demonstrates the impact of this thrilling “philosophy”, based on a circular and holistic approach, on environmental, sociocultural, and economic dimensions of sustainability, and the achievement of specific Sustainable Development Goals and targets.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Idowu A Akinloye

The limited scope of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the failure of the programme to achieve its developmental objectives at its expiry in 2015 led to the development and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) programme commencing 2016. The SDGs progamme has been widely accepted as laudable for its wider approach to global development and sustainability. However, if the SDGs programme is not to end as the Millennium Development Goals did, it is necessary that its implementing actors collaborate with stakeholders of institutions that will make more members of the populace aware of, accepting of, and involved in the implementation of the goals. This is crucial because the goals require the populace’ corresponding participation. This paper focuses on one such institutional stakeholder: religious leaders. This paper, through literature review and analysis of surveys and reports, examines the influence religious leaders have on their followers in Africa with Nigeria as a case study. It argues that religious leaders have a strong influence on their followers, as Nigerians and most Africans place more trust in, and respect the opinions of their religious leaders than their political counterparts. The paper, therefore, contends that if the global agenda of the SDGs is to be realised by getting a wider Nigerians to accept and involve in the implementation of the sustainable goals, then, the potential influence of religious leaders should be harnessed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 00048
Author(s):  
Vasiliy Savvinov

The article reveals the experience of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Russian universities based on the case study of North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU). The article presents a comparative analysis of strategic programs to manage the development of universities in the North of Russia and the northern countries of Europe and America in the context of global changes and growing uncertainty of the environment. It shows NEFU’s groundwork for the implementation of the sustainable development model of the northern territories and justifies the key principles and the directions of change in the academic and innovative activities of the university related to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.


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