Sustainable Development, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Due to the current conditions of development, people have to rebuild their strategies and plan their work efficiently. Sustainable development calls for an integrated approach of three dimensions social equity, economic viability and environmental sustainability. From a technological point of view, sustainable development requires significant innovative products, but there is also the need to better articulate specific local social-technical dynamics and political issues related to sustainability during the design process. Integration across this sustainability dimension is challenging, but can be expedited by substantial sustainability innovation with high velocity change being constructed. If we can be able to achieve engines of sustainable development, they enable business to achieve higher level of resources efficiently and productivity as well as improvement of life quality. The purposes of this editorial are to analyze the main obstacles and incentives for development and execution of sustainable innovation.

As mentioned social and ecological influencing factors must be systematically considered to promote the sustainability of projects, some concepts empowering development of an improved evaluating procedure with which managers can asses their innovation projects according to social, economic and ecological criteria have been discovered (Begium, 2012). The standard of the international standard organization (ISO) involve the monitoring of environmental performance and the assessment of achievements. Ems prefers projects to be evaluated in order to determine if the innovation is achieving its expected goals and if not then they discover the possible approaches in which to improve the innovation. All projects must be able to be well explained with the relevant impacts by the project manager.

 Sustainable Environmental Process

EMS principles suggest that projects need to be evaluated for creating sustainability. There are some concepts that support promotion of sustainability through improved procedures that are in accordance with economic and ecological methods (AMARAL, 2003). Most of the companies have come up with EMS strategies that continuously support and improve the environment.  Activities such as identifying clear goals, developing performance indicators, establishing baseline data, setting targets, and measuring progress towards such targets should be covered in the process of evaluation.

Sustainability assessing procedure must be able to recognize ecological and social goals of advance connect ecological and social influences to those objectives and quantify the outcomes of the advancement (Creamer, & Amari, 2011). To achieve these requirements it is essential to pinpoint appropriate performance procedures and choose suitable techniques for quantifying results. The project objectives should be explained into assessable parameters, and suitable metrics should prompt beginning conditions in association to prospects of future changes.

A potential methodology, which is established on EMS and LCA ideologies, should be centered on making process flow plans. This methodology should be suggested because process flow plans allow services to visualize and comprehend how methods work and how they can be enhanced. When invention projects is formulated and intended project executives should determinate all anticipated contributions of the method or activity, which are energy and other resources spent and raw resources and chemicals utilized, consistent flows, resolution points and procedure outputs, which are products, noise, wastewater discharges, and other expected aspects. When created meticulously process flow plans assist project managers to pinpoint ecological and social aspects.

Assessment of Environmental Impacts

There are environmental aspects when something interacts with the environment. Environmental aspects are features of innovation that affect the environment. Consequently, when the aspects have effects on social relations and stratifications hence it is said to have social aspect (Banerjee, 2002). For individuals to identify environmental and social aspects then they should study how their innovations affect the environment.

For every invention project, people must list exclusive ecological and social aspects. People only have to concentrate on the utmost important ecological and social aspects. Moreover, they do not have to concentrate on all-important features, only those that individuals can truly influence or manipulate. Aspects can be direct or secondary, and thorough record of ecological and social features must have a record of all possible ecological and social features, an evaluation of the importance of every ecological and social feature resulting into what actions should be taken to diminish the effects of important sustainable aspects. Direct maintainable aspects are connected with projected events over which a firm can be anticipated to have an effect and control. Indirect maintainable aspects are connected with actual or possible actions over which the association can be anticipated to have an effect, but no mandate. For instance, client controlled features, engagement of investors or supply chain controlled features.

One of the study objectives established on face-to-face discussions with top administrators achieved over the past two years must determinate maintainable features of inventions as a beginning essential phase for enhancement of invention assessment methods to be certain that future invention projects leads to community sustainability, group social obligation and maintainable development. The significance and relevancy of every group of features was debated. Joined with analysis of key assets – research articles and secondary works assessment process the group prepares a record of the most revealed and significant ecological and social features. Recognition of ecological aspects was simple procedure. The most stated aspect was connected with four commonly known ecological threats. As a result of investigation can be resolved, that most of supervisor’s answer, that recognition of ecological features should be applied and signify rather simple procedure when procedure flow plans will be used. Alternatively as was predicted ecological requirements are resolved slightly or are not solved at all. As an aim was responded difficult of inadequate resources, lower apparent significance of management.

When query of social features was discussed the apparent goal of minor involvement was, that administrators have no strong idea, what must be deliberated as social features or social requirements. Queries connected with social features of invention were not adequately answered and must be resolved, that there is omitted information about this part of assessment. Only limited social features were declared without any orderly significance purpose or classification. Social impact assessment (SIA) in assessment of invention projects was not used in not any of the questioned firms. Most stated social features of invention were connected with organizational management, communal and ecological based protection and environmental health. Another exploration query addresses the prominence of ecological and social aspect. Depth discussion with administrators result to outcomes that important of features is different for each firm. More advantageous than voting for the most important features seem to be implementing suitable instrument to decide which features are for each firm significant. With this view, approve most of respondents.

Literature review

Obstacles for Development

Lack of financial recourses is one of the most important barriers for implementation of sustainable development. It is noted that most of SME that do not have experience in the sector of sustainable innovation suggest that lack of financial recourses as an obstacle. 34% of SME have implemented at least one sustainable innovation. The explanation for this is the use of special funding programs for innovation implementation by SME. Lack of time is the other problem that is observed by SMEs as a vital hindrance for growth and implementation of sustainable improvements. Most of the respondents have shown that this hindrance is of a big or major significance. The is because environmental tasks in SMEs are regularly left for the individual contemplation of the top manager, probably because they are not considered significant enough to be passed on to another staff colleague or were passed on as an assignment without adequate time. This problem became mostly vital during the economic disaster when SMEs had to cut the staff number to survive through the difficult market conditions.

Problems connected to both awareness and lack of the facts about sustainable innovations is also greatly significant for SMEs. Unexpectedly, research outcomes show that these obstacles are more important in SMEs that have no experience in sustainable innovation development and implementation. In relations to human resources, which is inadequacy of qualified personnel, the assessments of SMEs having knowledge in sustainable innovation growth and implementation and those that do not have is different. This obstacle is joined with limited accessibility of evidence about sustainable innovations and their prospective in improving financial, ecological and social performance of enterprises.

The difficulty of new sustainable inventions in addition to innovation evaluation must be resolved with a system meeting all stated needs, particularly technical, economical, ecological and social needs. Practical and economical features are conventionally resolved with already known techniques. Technical resolutions, financial investigation, cash movements or marketing objectives are basic information incorporated in each viability study (Gomes, 2011). Conversely, ecological and social requirements are resolved slightly or are not solved at all. There are numerous explanations for this state of matters. It is mentioned minor alleged significance of administration, lesser ecological and social accountability of company, inadequate resources, but one of the greatest understandable objective is, that administrators have not perfect idea, what should be deliberated as ecological and social requirements. Many firms’ device waste administration or ecological departments only to allow possible cost savings and shun wasting. However, notion of sustainability needs much more.

Integration across this sustainability dimension is challenging, but can be facilitated by substantial sustainability innovation with high velocity change being constructed. If we can be able to achieve engines of sustainable development, they enable business to achieve higher level of resources efficiently and productivity as well as improvement of life quality (GOMES, 2007). Ems prefers projects to be evaluated in order to determine if the innovation is achieving its expected goals and if not then they discover the possible approaches in which to improve the innovation. For individuals to identify environmental and social aspects then they should study how their innovations affect the environment. Joined with analysis of key assets – research articles and secondary works assessment process the group prepares a record of the most revealed and significant ecological and social features. Recognition of ecological aspects was simple procedure.

It is clear, that use of suitable principles for assessment of inventions must be treated with respect to sustainability of projects, nevertheless, social and environmental influencing aspects must methodically be reflected. It is essential to abandon common and improper notion frequently established in mind of administrators – that only the economic and technical assessment of invention project effectiveness is an adequate process for the director’s verdicts referring to choosing and continuing a project. Administrators should use enhanced method to recognize ecological and social aspects, beginning with emerging process flow plans, pinpointing ecological and social features and recognizing their importance. The most significant ecological features are associated with air emissions, releases to aquatic, pollution of land, energy consumption, aquatic consumption, material gaining, storage and utilization of resources, waste management and other matters frequently precise for every individual company. Assessment methods must consider also possible ecological effects like natural resources consumption, traffic release and irritant impacts. The most significant social features are related with reduced real individual safety, enlarged hazard experience, reduced self-governors, individuality, adjustment in status or kind of occupation, or becoming unemployed.

Summary

Research indicates that the firm has lack of knowledge to assess ecological and social features of its products and invention projects. Determination sustainable features of inventions as a first essential phase for enhancement of invention assessment procedures in order to be certain that future invention projects leads to community sustainability, corporate social accountability and sustainable growth. Therefore, people can recommend constructing and improving assessment schemes via LCA events, and Ecological and Social Impact evaluation methods, covering and considering all revealed aspects, determined in the investigation findings.

The difficulty of new sustainable inventions in addition to innovation evaluation must be resolved with a system meeting all stated needs, particularly technical, economical, ecological and social needs. Practical and economical features are conventionally resolved with already known techniques. As mentioned social and ecological influencing factors must be systematically considered to promote the sustainability of projects, some concepts empowering development of an improved evaluating procedure with which managers can assess their innovation projects according to social, economic and ecological criteria have been discovered. For every invention project, people must list exclusive ecological and social aspects. People only have to concentrate on the utmost important ecological and social aspects. There are environmental aspects when something interacts with the environment.

Environmental aspects are features of innovation that affect the environment. Consequently, when the aspects have effects on social relations and stratifications hence it is said to have social aspect. Integration across this sustainability dimension is challenging, but can be expedited by substantial sustainability innovation with high velocity change being constructed. If we can be able to achieve engines of sustainable development, they enable business to achieve higher level of resources efficiently and productivity as well as improvement of life quality. Moreover, they do not have to concentrate on all-important features, only those that individuals can truly influence or manipulate. Most stated social features of invention were connected with organizational management, communal and ecological based protection and environmental health. Another exploration query addresses the prominence of ecological and social aspect. One of the study objectives established on face-to-face discussions with top administrators achieved over the past two years must determinate maintainable features of inventions as a beginning essential phase for enhancement of invention assessment methods to be certain that future invention projects leads to community sustainability, group social obligation and maintainable development. Activities such as identifying clear goals, developing performance indicators, establishing baseline data, setting targets, and measuring progress towards such targets should be covered in the process of evaluation.

References

Amaral, S. P., La Rovere, E. L. (2003). Indicators to evaluate environmental, social and economic sustainability: a proposal for the Brazilian oil industry. Oil & Gas Journal, 101 (19), 30-35.

Begium, P etal. (2012). Activity at work, innovation and sustainable development.

Banerjee, S. B. (2002). Organisational strategies for sustainable development: developing a research agenda for the new millennium. Australian Journal of Management, 27, 105-117.

Creamer, W & Amari, P. (2011). The effect of business transformation and innovation economics on sustainable corporate competitive advantage.

Fleury, M. T. (2002). As pessoas na organização. Editora Gente, São Paulo.

Gomes, C etal. (2011). Innovation Management for Sustainable Development Practices in the Internalization Context.

Gomes, C. M. (2007). Gestão de fontes externas de informação tecnológica e desempenho inovador na empresa, PhD thesis, University of São Paulo, São Paulo.

Manzini, E., Vezzoli, C. (2005). O desenvolvimento de produtos sustentáveis. EDUSP, São Paulo.

Vasilenko, L & Arbaciauskas, V. (2012). Obstacles and Drivers for Sustainable Innovation Development and Implementation in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises.

Vavra, J. (2011). Sustainable aspects of innovations.