Decision making towards sustainability in process industry – drivers, barriers and business opportunities

Nani Pajunen

Decision making towards sustainability in process industry – drivers, barriers and business opportunities

Julkaisun otsikon käännös: Decision making towards sustainability in process industry – drivers, barriers and business opportunities

Nani Pajunen

Tutkimustuotos: Doctoral Thesis › Collection of Articles

Abstrakti

Nykyinen maailman talousjärjestelmä perustuu tekniseen suorituskykyyn ja jatkuvaan kasvuun. Markkinatalouden ohjaamassa maailmassa yrityksillä on kriittinen ja keskeinen rooli, kun uusien liiketoimintamallien kautta haetaan parempaa kilpailukykyä ja tavoitellaan kestävämpää tulevaisuutta. Prosessiteollisuudessa liikkuu suuria määriä materiaalia ja energiaa erilaisten prosessien aikana. Teollisuusprosessien lopputuotteena syntyy tuote, joka elinkaarensa aikana siirtyy useiden eri valmistusvaiheiden ja samalla yritysten kautta lopputuotteena käyttöön ja lopulta elinkaarensa lopussa joko materiaalina uudelleen käyttöön tai päätyy loppusijoitettuna jätteenä kaatopaikalle. Elinkaariajattelussa ei siis puhuta yhdestä yrityksestä vaan yritysten ketjusta, jotka kaikki vaikuttavat tuotteen, sekä valmistuksen että käytön aikaisiin, ympäristövaikutuksiin. Kaikkien yhteiskunnallisten toimijoiden pitää sitoutua kestävän kehityksen ja kiertotalouden tavoitteisiin ja toimia sen edistämisen puolesta. Tämä edellyttää laajaa yhteistyötä yli toimialojen. Myös Euroopan Unioni on sitoutunut tähän tavoitteeseen. Tulevaisuudessa Euroopasta halutaan rakentaa kierrätysyhteiskunta, missä toisen jäte on toisen raaka-aine. Lainsäädäntö on yksi tehokkaimmista keinoista edistää materiaalitehokkuutta. Toisaalta se saattaa toimia myös esteenä uusille innovatiivisille tavoille hyödyntää teollisuuden sivuainevirtoja. Laki toimii silloin tehokkaasti, kun sen avulla päästään kustannustehokkaasti asetettuun tavoitteeseen. Olisi kuitenkin tärkeätä miettiä, millä muilla keinoilla kestävää kehitystä yhteiskunnassa voitaisiin edistää. Yritykset raportoivat nykyään neljännesvuosikatauksissa toimintansa tuloksia. Tämä lyhytjänteinen tulosten tavoittelu ei kulje käsikädessä elinkaariajattelun ja tuotekehityksen kanssa. Kestävän kehityksen mukaisen liiketoiminna luominen ja uusien ympäristöystävällisempien tuotteiden kehitystyö voi viedä jopa vuosia. Tämän työn tavoitteena on esitellä niitä keinoja, joilla kestävää kehitystä voitaisiin yhteiskunnassa lisätä, sekä arvioida niiden toimivuutta. Kunnianhimoinen tavoite on löytää niitä pieniä kannustimia, joilla voidaan vaikuttaa jokapäiväisiin rutiineihin ja toimintatapoihin työpaikalla sekä ihmisten arjessa: jokaisella päätöksellä on merkitystä! Keskeisessä osassa tätä työtä onkin päätöksenteko yrityksissä, mitkä asiat niiden taustalla vaikuttavat. Yksi suuri este yhteiskunnan kehittymisen kannalta on siiloutuminen. Osaaminen, kehittyminen, uudet ideat ja toisten näkökulmien ymmärtäminen ei siirry toimialalta toiselle niin kauan kuin nämä siilot ovat olemassa. Tutkimus on toteutettu prosessiteollisuuden yrityksissä ja näkökulmaksi on valittu materiaalitehokkuus. Se pohjautuu laadulliseen tutkimusaineistoon, joka on kerätty useiden, teollisuuden kanssa yhteistyössä tehtyjen, tutkimushankkeiden aikana.

Julkaisun otsikon käännös	Decision making towards sustainability in process industry – drivers, barriers and business opportunities
Alkuperäiskieli	Englanti
Pätevyys	Tohtorintutkinto
Myöntävä instituutio	Aalto-yliopisto
Valvoja/neuvonantaja	Heiskanen, Kari, Vastuuprofessori Watkins, Gary, Ohjaaja
Kustantaja	Aalto University
Painoksen ISBN	978-952-60-6359-1
Sähköinen ISBN	978-952-60-6360-7
Tila	Julkaistu - 2015
OKM-julkaisutyyppi	G5 Artikkeliväitöskirja

Tutkimusalat

elinkaariajattelu
kestävä kehitys
johtaminen
ajurit
päätöksenteko
teollinen suunnittelu
tuotekehitys
kiertotalous

YK:n kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet

Tämä tuotos edistää seuraavia kestävän kehityksen tavoitteita:

Pääsy asiakirjaan

http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-6360-7Lisenssi: Määrittelemätön

OpenUrl-saatavuus

Koko teksti

Siteeraa tätä

@phdthesis{f81b0d00ff154ae2a936794f4614e740,

title = "Decision making towards sustainability in process industry – drivers, barriers and business opportunities",

abstract = "The present economy is based on growth and technical superiority. In a market-based economy companies play a critical role in adoption of sustainable business practices by demonstrating economic benefits and sustainable competitiveness. Environmental impacts are connected to flows of materials and energy, with the most important flows, at least for manufacturing companies, being closely linked to products. Greening of production is forcing companies to reconsider sustainable sourcing and supplier relationships because their total environmental impact is strongly influenced by the supply chain. Social, economic and ecological thinking can be an opportunity for all actors in the production and consumption cycle where saving raw-materials, increasing energy efficiency, using by-products and reducing waste might be win-win situations for companies and their employees, shareholders, consumers, communities and the environment. Sustainable production and consumption is also one of the key aims of the European Union's environmental policy. Legislation is one of the main drivers in improving material efficiency, but it may also become one of the main barriers. Legal systems are effective in achieving their objectives once the most difficult step of determining the right objectives is achieved. On the other hand one must ask whether there is any other way to achieve the same objectives without legislation or of even defining the targets from a systemic point of view. In this respect it is often unclear at to which is the most optimum approach to control a system. The short-term thinking encouraged by normal financial reporting and the time horizons over which financial returns are generally expected and or are acceptable to businesses and investors, does not go easily hand in hand with life cycle thinking and sustainability. In research and development work the time frame is counted in years and not months. This goes for greening business benefits as well as progress towards sustainability. One of the most important practicalities is a question of our values: every decision should change the world towards a more sustainable future. The aim of this study is to bring out and assess existing, especially market-based, drivers for effective industrial material use and their influence on environmental friendly business strategy and decision-making, especially in process industry. The ambitious target is to determine positive incentives to change the everyday working culture in companies and in society towards sustainability with the idea that every decision has a consequence. In this study, the target is to show the importance of new ways of thinking and how to break the silos in our minds and in society. This study rests on qualitative material, based on co-operation with Finnish process industry companies.",

keywords = "life-cycle thinking, sustainability, management, drivers, decision making, industrial design, product development, circular economy, elinkaariajattelu, kest{\"a}v{\"a} kehitys, johtaminen, ajurit, p{\"a}{\"a}t{\"o}ksenteko, teollinen suunnittelu, tuotekehitys, kiertotalous, life-cycle thinking, sustainability, management, drivers, decision making, industrial design, product development, circular economy",

author = "Nani Pajunen",

year = "2015",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-952-60-6359-1",

series = "Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS",

publisher = "Aalto University",

number = "124",

address = "Finland",

school = "Aalto University",

}

TY - BOOK

T1 - Decision making towards sustainability in process industry – drivers, barriers and business opportunities

AU - Pajunen, Nani

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - The present economy is based on growth and technical superiority. In a market-based economy companies play a critical role in adoption of sustainable business practices by demonstrating economic benefits and sustainable competitiveness. Environmental impacts are connected to flows of materials and energy, with the most important flows, at least for manufacturing companies, being closely linked to products. Greening of production is forcing companies to reconsider sustainable sourcing and supplier relationships because their total environmental impact is strongly influenced by the supply chain. Social, economic and ecological thinking can be an opportunity for all actors in the production and consumption cycle where saving raw-materials, increasing energy efficiency, using by-products and reducing waste might be win-win situations for companies and their employees, shareholders, consumers, communities and the environment. Sustainable production and consumption is also one of the key aims of the European Union's environmental policy. Legislation is one of the main drivers in improving material efficiency, but it may also become one of the main barriers. Legal systems are effective in achieving their objectives once the most difficult step of determining the right objectives is achieved. On the other hand one must ask whether there is any other way to achieve the same objectives without legislation or of even defining the targets from a systemic point of view. In this respect it is often unclear at to which is the most optimum approach to control a system. The short-term thinking encouraged by normal financial reporting and the time horizons over which financial returns are generally expected and or are acceptable to businesses and investors, does not go easily hand in hand with life cycle thinking and sustainability. In research and development work the time frame is counted in years and not months. This goes for greening business benefits as well as progress towards sustainability. One of the most important practicalities is a question of our values: every decision should change the world towards a more sustainable future. The aim of this study is to bring out and assess existing, especially market-based, drivers for effective industrial material use and their influence on environmental friendly business strategy and decision-making, especially in process industry. The ambitious target is to determine positive incentives to change the everyday working culture in companies and in society towards sustainability with the idea that every decision has a consequence. In this study, the target is to show the importance of new ways of thinking and how to break the silos in our minds and in society. This study rests on qualitative material, based on co-operation with Finnish process industry companies.

AB - The present economy is based on growth and technical superiority. In a market-based economy companies play a critical role in adoption of sustainable business practices by demonstrating economic benefits and sustainable competitiveness. Environmental impacts are connected to flows of materials and energy, with the most important flows, at least for manufacturing companies, being closely linked to products. Greening of production is forcing companies to reconsider sustainable sourcing and supplier relationships because their total environmental impact is strongly influenced by the supply chain. Social, economic and ecological thinking can be an opportunity for all actors in the production and consumption cycle where saving raw-materials, increasing energy efficiency, using by-products and reducing waste might be win-win situations for companies and their employees, shareholders, consumers, communities and the environment. Sustainable production and consumption is also one of the key aims of the European Union's environmental policy. Legislation is one of the main drivers in improving material efficiency, but it may also become one of the main barriers. Legal systems are effective in achieving their objectives once the most difficult step of determining the right objectives is achieved. On the other hand one must ask whether there is any other way to achieve the same objectives without legislation or of even defining the targets from a systemic point of view. In this respect it is often unclear at to which is the most optimum approach to control a system. The short-term thinking encouraged by normal financial reporting and the time horizons over which financial returns are generally expected and or are acceptable to businesses and investors, does not go easily hand in hand with life cycle thinking and sustainability. In research and development work the time frame is counted in years and not months. This goes for greening business benefits as well as progress towards sustainability. One of the most important practicalities is a question of our values: every decision should change the world towards a more sustainable future. The aim of this study is to bring out and assess existing, especially market-based, drivers for effective industrial material use and their influence on environmental friendly business strategy and decision-making, especially in process industry. The ambitious target is to determine positive incentives to change the everyday working culture in companies and in society towards sustainability with the idea that every decision has a consequence. In this study, the target is to show the importance of new ways of thinking and how to break the silos in our minds and in society. This study rests on qualitative material, based on co-operation with Finnish process industry companies.

KW - life-cycle thinking

KW - sustainability

KW - management

KW - drivers

KW - decision making

KW - industrial design

KW - product development

KW - circular economy

KW - elinkaariajattelu

KW - kestävä kehitys

KW - johtaminen

KW - ajurit

KW - päätöksenteko

KW - teollinen suunnittelu

KW - tuotekehitys

KW - kiertotalous

KW - life-cycle thinking

KW - sustainability

KW - management

KW - drivers

KW - decision making

KW - industrial design

KW - product development

KW - circular economy

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

SN - 978-952-60-6359-1

T3 - Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS

PB - Aalto University

ER -

Decision making towards sustainability in process industry – drivers, barriers and business opportunities

Abstrakti

Tutkimusalat

YK:n kestävän kehityksen tavoitteet

Pääsy asiakirjaan

OpenUrl-saatavuus

Sormenjälki

Siteeraa tätä