scholarly journals What do South African supermarket retailers disclose about the sustainability of suppliers?

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-193
Author(s):  
Lorren K. Haywood ◽  
◽  
Willem de Lange ◽  
Constansia Musvoto ◽  
Benita de Wet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
South African ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Managerial Implication ◽  
The Status ◽  
Consistent Manner ◽  
Annual Reporting ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Sustainable Sourcing

Background: As intermediaries between producers, manufacturers and consumers, retailers are uniquely positioned to influence production practices and consumption trends. Supermarket retailers are increasingly imposing responsibility on their suppliers to improve the sustainability of their supply chains. Purpose of study: The ways in which supermarket retailers disclose their sustainable sourcing initiatives are not well understood. The purpose of the study was to investigate the manner in which South African supermarket retailers disclose their sustainable sourcing practices and performance. The objective was to understand if sustainable sourcing is a key aspect of disclosure in the annual reporting of these retailers and if so, what information and performance measures are communicated. Design/Methodology/Approach: The annual reports of the five largest supermarket retailers in South Africa were downloaded from the internet. Content analysis was used to obtain information from the annual reports. Research questions were formulated from which the content categories were defined, for which in turn coded data was extracted from the reports. A scoring system was developed to score the status quo of the coded sustainable sourcing disclosure information. Results/Findings: The results show inconsistency in what information which the different supermarket retailers disclose with regard to sustainable sourcing and how they present it. It is difficult to compare sustainable sourcing practices and performance measurement amongst supermarkets. This has the potential to compromise the competitive advantage of the retailer. Recommendations: The authors recommend a standardised reporting protocol to aid the verification of sustainable sourcing claims and to enable comparisons between retailers. Managerial implication: Being able to disclose information on sustainable sourcing in the supply chains of retailers in a consistent manner, will enable performance comparisons amongst competing businesses. Using a standardised reporting protocol will facilitate the process of consistent and comparable disclosure, providing a basis for continuous improvement.

scholarly journals Companies’ contribution to sustainability through global supply chains

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (9) ◽  
pp. 2072-2077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tannis Thorlakson ◽  
Joann F. de Zegher ◽  
Eric F. Lambin
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Labor Rights ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sustainability Challenges ◽  
Sustainable Sourcing

Global supply chains play a critical role in many of the most pressing environmental stresses and social struggles identified by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Responding to calls from the global community, companies are adopting a variety of voluntary practices to improve the environmental and/or social management of their suppliers’ activities. We develop a global survey of 449 publicly listed companies in the food, textile, and wood-products sectors with annual reports in English to provide insight into how the private sector contributes to advancing the SDGs via such sustainable-sourcing practices. We find that while 52% of companies use at least one sustainable-sourcing practice, these practices are limited in scope; 71% relates to only one or a few input materials and 60.5% apply to only first-tier suppliers. We also find that sustainable-sourcing practices typically address a small subset of the sustainability challenges laid out by the SDGs, primarily focusing on labor rights and compliance with national laws. Consistent with existing hypotheses, companies that face consumer and civil society pressure are associated with a significantly higher probability of adopting sustainable-sourcing practices. Our findings highlight the opportunities and limitations of corporate sustainable-sourcing practices in addressing the myriad sustainability challenges facing our world today.

scholarly journals Integrated reporting vs. sustainability reporting for corporate responsibility in South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (29) ◽  
pp. 7-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra F. Clayton ◽  
Jayne M. Rogerson ◽  
Isaac Rampedi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Corporate Reporting ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Responsible Manner

AbstractLarge corporates have come under increasing pressure to conduct their business in a more transparent and responsible manner. In order for business to fulfil its obligations under the ethic of accountability stakeholders must be given relevant, timely, and understandable information about their activities through corporate reports. The conventional company reports on annual financial performance, sustainability and governance disclosures often fail to make the connection between the organisation’s strategy, its financial results and performance on environmental, social and governance issues. Recognising the inherent shortcomings of existing reporting models, there is a growing trend to move towards integrated reporting. South Africa has been one of the most innovative countries in terms of integrated corporate reporting. Since 2010 companies primarily listed on the country’s major stock exchange have been required to produce an integrated report as opposed to the former sustainability report. The aim in this study is to review the development of integrated reporting by large corporates in South Africa and assess the impact of the required transition from sustainability reporting to integrated reporting on non-financial disclosure of eight South African corporates using content analysis of annual reports.

scholarly journals Fifteen years of green supply chain research

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 202-212
Author(s):  
Nelson Oliveira Stefanelli ◽  
Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Green Supply Chain ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
The Status ◽  
Cooperation Network ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Green Supply Chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a discussion concerning how supply chains have evolved through the introduction of environmental concerns into the managerial field.Design/methodology/approach – The authors have reviewed several of the most relevant research results regarding Green Supply Chains and analyzed the status of cooperation among authors and countries.Findings – The authors set a discussion on the concept of the Green Supply Chain, along with its practices, drivers, motivations and barriers, presenting a modern review regarding the cooperation network among the mains authors and countries.Originality/value – Although research regarding Green Supply Chains has been intensively developed recently, there are several unexplored research avenues in which practitioners and scholars could advance. In order to support future studies concerning Green Supply Chains, ten research questions were elaborated.

scholarly journals EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE WORKING GROUP: WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (T29A) ◽  
pp. 531-538
Author(s):  
Francesca Primas ◽  
Sarah Maddison ◽  
Francesca Primas ◽  
Conny Aerts ◽  
Geoffrey Clayton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Women In Science ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The Status ◽  
Consistent Manner ◽  
Working Groups ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Status Of Women

The gender† dimension of science and technology has become one of the most important and debated issues worldwide, impacting society at every level. A variety of international initiatives on the subject have been undertaken, including the continued monitoring of the status of women in science by Unesco Institute for Statistics (UIS) or the annual reports “Education at a Glance” by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as well as field-related working groups and networking in order to collect data in a consistent manner. The majority of the international organizations have made clear statements about their discrimination policies (independently of their main field(s) of action), including the International Council for Science whose regulations are followed by the IAU. Gender equality at large is one of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which clearly calls for action related to science, technology and gender.

Pathways ahead for New Zealand hill country farming

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 ◽  
pp. 73-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.G. Scrimgeour
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Hill Country ◽  
The Status ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Hill Farming ◽  
The Hill

This paper provides a stocktake of the status of hill country farming in New Zealand and addresses the challenges which will determine its future state and performance. It arises out of the Hill Country Symposium, held in Rotorua, New Zealand, 12-13 April 2016. This paper surveys people, policy, business and change, farming systems for hill country, soil nutrients and the environment, plants for hill country, animals, animal feeding and productivity, and strategies for achieving sustainable outcomes in the hill country. This paper concludes by identifying approaches to: support current and future hill country farmers and service providers, to effectively and efficiently deal with change; link hill farming businesses to effective value chains and new markets to achieve sufficient and stable profitability; reward farmers for the careful management of natural resources on their farm; ensure that new technologies which improve the efficient use of input resources are developed; and strategies to achieve vibrant rural communities which strengthen hill country farming businesses and their service providers. Keywords: farming systems, hill country, people, policy, productivity, profitability, sustainability

EXPLORING THE CONTENTS OF THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD ANNUAL REPORTS: 1827–1856

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary John Previts ◽  
William D. Samson
Keyword(s):  
Annual Report ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Corporate Disclosure ◽  
University Of Alabama ◽  
Complete Collection ◽  
Archival Collection ◽  
Annual Reporting ◽  
The University ◽  
Disclosure Practice ◽  
Corporate Practice

In 1995, a nearly complete collection of the annual reports of the earliest interstate and common carrier railroad in the U. S., the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O), was rediscovered in the archival collection at the Bruno Library of the University of Alabama. Dating from the company's inception in 1827 to its acquisition by the Chessie System in 1962, the reports present a unique opportunity for the exploration, study, and analysis of early U.S. corporate disclosure practice. This paper represents a study of the annual report information made publicly available by one of America's first railroads, and one of the first modern U.S. corporations. In this paper, early annual reports of the B&O which detail its formation, construction, and operation are catalogued as to content and evaluated. Mandated in the corporate charter, the annual “statement of affairs” presented by the management and directors to stockholders is studied as a process and as a product that instigated the institutional corporate practice recognized today as “annual reporting.” Using a single company methodology for assessment of reporting follows a pattern developed by Claire [1945] in his analysis of U.S. Steel and utilized by other researchers. This study demonstrates the use of archival information to improve understanding about the origins and contents of early annual reports and, therein, related disclosure forms.

Study on Common Ground Testing Platform Technology for Telemetry Core Equipment

2012 ◽  
Vol 220-223 ◽  
pp. 1472-1475
Author(s):  
Qiu Lin Tan ◽  
Xiang Dong Pei ◽  
Si Min Zhu ◽  
Ji Jun Xiong
Keyword(s):  
Data Exchange ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Digital Signal ◽  
Test System ◽  
Automatic Test System ◽  
Module Design ◽  
The Status ◽  
Output Module ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Hardware Circuit

On the basis of automatic test system of the status in domestic and foreign, by analysis of the various functions and performance of the integrated test system, a design of the integrated test system is proposed, FPGA as the core logic controller of the hardware circuit. The system of the hardware design include: digital signal source output modules, analog output module and PCM codec module. Design of hardware circuit are mainly described. In addition, a detailed analysis of some key technologies in the design process was given. Overall, its data exchange with host computer is through the PCI card, data link and bandwidth can be expanded in accordance with the actual needs. The entire system designed in the modular principle, which has a strong scalability.

“English is the best way to communicate” - South African Indian students’ blind spot towards the relevance of Zulu

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-171
Author(s):  
Sana Jeewa ◽  
Stephanie Rudwick
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
South African ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Language Ideologies ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Language Management ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
The Status ◽  
Indian Students

AbstractThe South African University of KwaZulu-Natal has developed an ambitious language policy aiming “to achieve for isiZulu the institutional and academic status of English” (UKZN LP 2006/2014). Part of this ambition is a mandatory Zulu language module that all undergraduate students have to pass if they cannot prove knowledge of the language. In this article, we examine attitudes of South African Indian students towards this compulsory module against the strained history and relationship between Zulu and Indian people in the province. Situated within the approach of Language Management Theory (LMT), our focus is on students as micro level actors who are affected by a macro level policy decision. Methodologically combining quantitative and qualitative tools, we attempt to find answers to the following broad question: What attitudes do South African Indian students have towards Zulu more generally and the UKZN module more specifically? The empirical findings show that students’ motivations to learn Zulu are more instrumental than integrative as the primary goal is to ‘pass’ the module. South African Indian students have developed a blind spot for the prevalence and significance of Zulu in the country which impacts negatively on the general attitudes towards the language more general and the module more specifically. Language ideologies that elevate the status of English in the country further hamper the success of Zulu language learning.

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