Search

Sustainable construction projects affect various stakeholders with different social, environmental and economic interests. It is essential that the decision makers maintain effective communication with relevant groups to avoid project failures. Although citizen participation offers a means of better addressing and meeting stakeholder concerns and expectations, the decision/evaluations of contemporary sustainable projects are becoming ever more complicated, with an increasing number of stakeholders involved to actively defend their own interests. In response, this paper provides a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the stakeholders of sustainable construction in China and quantifies their influence in decision/evaluations by semi-structured interviews (in research stage I) and a three-round Delphi survey (in research stage II). Follow-up interviews (in research stage III) are carried out to collect more in-depth views concerning the characteristics and the respective importance of each stakeholder group involved. The findings indicate that the government is the most influential entity and the extent to which its intervention is needed in balancing the interests of other stakeholders presents a major challenge. The high potential influence of end-users is also identified, suggesting the need for a more transparent and inclusive participatory decision/evaluation process in the country. An enhanced future role for NGOs is further identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization poses a significant challenge of accommodating the poor, particularly in developing countries such as China where affordable housing has only been initiated a few years ago and will continue to be developed in the coming years. Two major considerations in affordable housing programs are cost and time, as the ability to meet the needs of low-income households is the main target of these programs. However, it is not a common strategy to address affordable housing shortage by means of incorporating sustainability features. One of critical issues is the lack of sustainability framework to integrate sustainability in affordable housing. This paper aims to identify the key sustainability performance indicators (KSPIs) which are useful to guide the development of affordable housing. A preliminary list of 42 key sustainability performance indicators of affordable housing was identified through an extensive literature review. This was followed by a questionnaire survey to solicit the professional views from three stakeholder groups, namely government, developers and academics in the Chinese construction industry. Via the fuzzy set theory and variance analysis, 24 KSPIs were finally highlighted. These findings provide useful references for policy makers as well as industry practitioners to develop affordable housing programs in a sustainable manner. This helps to achieve the sustainable development at the regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to pursue sustainable development, appropriate sustainability measurement at the local scale is critical. However, few efforts have been made in this regard. This paper aims to fill such a gap by introducing the development of China National Demonstration Sustainable Communities (CNDSCs) and reviewing its indicator system. Research findings indicate that the current indicator system did provide valuable guidance on help different communities to move toward sustainable development as it reflects political tendency and evaluates effectiveness of public policies. However, this system is insufficient to evaluate the holistic nature of sustainable communities because it lacks integration among different aspects, such as the adequate consideration on regional disparity, lack of universal methods on data collection and calculation, as well as the linkage with local officials' performance. Further improvements should be made by involving more stakeholders so that their different concerns can be addresses. In addition, region-specifi Indicators should be developed with clear official guide on how to implement them in the realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although business and society are thought in a vicious relationship for diminishing trust among stakeholders, a few studies indicate the existence of a reciprocal nexus between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance, known as the “virtuous cycle”. Despite of some empirical studies in developed countries, little research has been conducted concerning the assumption in emerging markets, where large companies have more responsibilities to create positive and sustainable-shared values. This paper aims to explore the nexus between social performance and financial performance of Chinese companies for their global influential social and environmental impacts together with increasing awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR). A two-step longitudinal design, including cross-lagged correlation analyses and longitudinal path analyses, is applied to examine the overall and decomposed links. It is found the virtuous cycle does exist in the overall and in most decomposed links within the context of large construction companies in China. These findings are beneficial for interested policy-makers, corporate managers, and the public to create shared value on CSR and therefore contribute to CSR improvements. Analysis results indicate a one-year time lag to be appropriate for examining the lead–lag relationship between corporate social performance and financial performance. The research also inspires a potential generalisation of the virtuous cycle by similarly examining it in other industries or other countries with diverse CSR contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper introduces a new approach for conducting project feasibility study by embracing the principles of sustainable development. Construction projects, in particular, infrastructures have major influence on the attainment of sustainable development, thus project sustainability needs to be considered. This becomes a pressing issue particularly in those developing countries or regions, such as China where a huge amount of construction works are currently performed and remain to happen in the future. Previous study has addressed little on the relevance of project feasibility study to project sustainability performance. The importance of incorporating sustainable development principles in conducting project feasibility study is not effectively understood by project stakeholders. This paper addresses major challenges of undertaking project feasibility study in line with sustainable construction practice with reference to the Chinese construction industry. A case study approach is the major research method in this study. The research team collected 87 feasibility study reports from various projects. Attributes are used for measuring project performance, including 18 economic performance attributes, nine social performance attributes, and eight environmental performance attributes. Research results show that economic performance is given the most concern in the current practice of project feasibility study, whilst less attention is given to the social and environmental performance. The study reveals the insufficiency of examining the performance of implementing a construction project from the perspective of sustainable development. The results also suggest the need for shifting the traditional approach of project feasibility study to a new approach that embraces the principles of sustainable development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper investigates the influence of key stakeholder groups on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosures by Chinese mining and mineral companies. Salience of stakeholder groups founded in stakeholder theory forms the basis for this investigation because of the rising influence of a range of different stakeholders on corporate disclosures in the mining and mineral industry in Western countries. The aim is to examine whether such stakeholders appear to be salient in the emerging Chinese context. The contents of 176 corporate annual and CSR reports produced by all mining and minerals companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in the four year period 2007 to 2010 were analyzed. Results indicate that in addition to the central government, salient stakeholders with a significant impact now include international consumers, while unexpectedly mining industry associations, local communities and employees are not considered as salient as they do not have a significant impact on CSR reporting practice. The main policy implication is that considerable scope remains for improving accountability through CSR reporting to be encouraged by incorporating the views of the current stakeholder groups exhibiting low salience in the mining and minerals industry in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates the influences of stakeholders' power and corporate characteristics on social and environmental disclosure practices of socially responsible Chinese listed firms identified by a social responsibility ranking list. A stakeholder-driven, three-dimensional social and environmental disclosure index including disclosure quantity, disclosure type quality and disclosure item quality, is constructed to assess sample firms' social and environmental disclosures in their two public reports: annual reports and corporate social responsibility reports. Findings indicate that corporate social and environmental disclosures have significant and positive associations with firm size, profitability, and industry classification. The roles of various powerful stakeholders in influencing corporate social and environmental disclosures are found to be generally weak in China, except that shareholders have influenced corporate social and environmental disclosures and creditors have influenced corporate disclosures related to firms' environmental performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Moving towards an eco-city, the local universities should play an active role. To create a green university is one effort so that all the faculties, staff members and students can join such an effort. However, how to initiate a green university project remains questionable in China. In this paper an integrated model on green university is proposed. Such a model aims to manage all the campus activities on a sustainable basis. It addresses all the issues related with one university's metabolism and ensures that the views and goals of different stakeholders are considered together. In order to test its feasibility, a case study approach is employed. Shenyang University (SU) was chosen due to its unique feature and data availability. Various efforts at SU are detailed, such as the application of ground source heat pump, wastewater recycling at the campus level, integrated solid waste management (such as collection of discarded PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, etc), green education and research. With all these efforts, significant economic, environmental and social benefits have been received, such as more efficient materials and energy use, cost savings from lowered insurance costs and reduced environmental penalties, reduction of greenhouse gas emission, reduction of wastewater discharge and solid wastes, avoidance of toxic materials, increased environmental awareness, improved green image, etc. The achievements that Shenyang University has made have demonstrated a robust model to other Chinese universities so that they can start their initiatives by considering their own realities. During this process, the close collaboration with local government, strong leadership and a comprehensive plan will be necessary so that all the stakeholders can join it and more resources can be gained to support its implementation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With China's rapid development, e-wastes issue has become increasingly critical. Without appropriate collection and treatment, e-wastes will bring serious environmental challenges. This paper reviews e-wastes collection in Dalian, China. Our findings show that although the Dalian municipality has made progress in improving the collection rate of e-wastes, several challenges still exist, including unclear responsibilities of stakeholders for e-waste collection in laws and regulations; high collection costs for formal treatment plants; and the lack of appropriate infrastructure, especially collection centers. As part of the research study, we identify several potential solutions for policy makers to overcome these challenges. The initiatives used by Dalian can provide implications for other municipalities in China as well as in other developed and developing countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With the increasing environmental issues, now cleaner production has been implemented across all the regions of China. During this process, regional governments have played a leading role for promoting cleaner production. Main measures include coordinating the various stakeholders, providing financial support, stipulating appropriate policies and conducting capacity building programs. Such an innovative initiative is quite unique and should be further studied. This paper reflects such a perspective through a case study of Liaoning province. We first introduce the main initiatives for the promotion of cleaner production in Liaoning and then identify the key barriers. Our focus is to provide suggestions for future improvements. Finally we make our conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the functions of a government-oriented disclosure program in China, which rates company environmental performance into five colors and discloses the results to the public. The rating results and their annual changes during 2005–2007 are statistically summarized by using the detailed database provided by municipal environmental protection bureau of the study area: Changshu city in Jiangsu province. The reflexive, deterrent and enhancement mechanisms, preliminarily identified for the disclosure program, are qualitatively evaluated by using the information collected by onsite interviews to 32 program participating firms. In overall, the firms'' environmental performances have been improved. The companies with worse rating records would be more likely to improve their environmental performances in the following years. The disclosure program encourages the firms to be more reflexive to their internal environmental problems. The deterrent and enhancement functions of the program are weak due to the marginal pressure from the classified stakeholders such as investors, business partners and creditors. The influence of the public, such as neighboring communities and environmental NGOs, is weak too. Encouraging serious reactions of firm''s stakeholders to the disclosed rating results should be addressed in order to enhance the effectiveness of the disclosure strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The GreenWatch program has been implemented nationally in China. However, whether the program and its process have been effective in improving firms'' environmental performance remains unclear. Based on the stakeholder theory, this paper conducts a comparative analysis between firms participating in the program and those that do not, all of which are based in Changshu City in the developed part of Jiangsu Province, China. Data suggest that GreenWatch encourages firms to improve and disclose their environmental performance. Through pressures imposed by different stakeholders—from the government, investors, and consumers, to the public, such as the community and media—this program has become the main driving force for improving the firms'' environmental performance. The current study also provides substantial evidence that public disclosure in China opens up channels for effective public participation. Therefore, the GreenWatch program deserves to be promoted in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]