strategic management and sustainability in small design rms

Strategic management and sustainability in small design

firms

L.W. Barten

July 16, 2010

Student BSc. L.W. (Luuk Willem) BartenAnr 255703Graduation date July 16th 2010Department Organization & StrategySupervisor Drs. Ir. K.M. (Karin) ThomasFaculty FEB (Faculteit Economie & Bedrijfswetenschappen)

Preface

After finishing my Bachelor thesis on the accountability of sustainability and my experi-ences with sustainability through several clients of my work, it was a logical step to finda research subject with regard to my additional Master study: Strategic Managementand the topic of sustainability. Pleased with previous research, 3D Projecten’s managerPeter Robben coincidentally showed interest in introducing sustainability to his areaof expertise and line of work: the design industry. The combination of these eventsfounded the basis of my master thesis research subject: the business-level strategy ofsmall design firms in relation to sustainability. In addition, 3D Projecten also served asthe case study for the developed scorecard.

I would like to thank Peter Robben of 3D Projecten for his cooperation, my thesismentor Karin Thomas from Tilburg University for all her help and support, Drs. JohnDagevos from the Telos Brabant Centre for Sustainable Development and Prof. PieterWinsemius for their advice regarding the theory on sustainability and my collegues Bartvan Leeuwen and Martijn Sandbergen at Elicit for their patience and support.

July 2010 - Luuk Barten

2

Management summary

The need for sustainability in business-level strategies has become more important in thepast few decades. The importance of this change has not only reached large companies,but also influences small design firms in changing the alignment of their strategy. Smalldesign firm owners start to realize that moving towards sustainability is a modern way ofsecuring a better future for the firm. In order to determine what changes are necessaryfor these type of small firms to increase their sustainability, a sustainability orientatedstrategy is needed that focuses on the business-level aspects of small design firms. Theproduct differentiation and differentiation focus strategies seem to be most suitable andcan be easily combined with sustainability and design firm processes and activities. Thesustainable value of this strategy should also be measurable. In order to measure thesustainability of the business-level processes of the firm, the theory based scorecard inthis thesis has linked the sustainability stocks of the Telos model with the value chainand the sustainable competitive advantages of small design firms. The formed scorecardentails a strategical framework devoted to increase the sustainability of small designfirms.

For these firms, the key sustainable competitive advantages that are incorporated in thescorecard are: employee creativity, the sustainability of the design process & productionand collaboration with other firms on sustainability related matters. This means smalldesign firms need to focus their strategy on attracting and securing new employees withcreative talent and increasing the possibilities of current employees to nurture theircreativity. Furthermore, they need to adapt their designer processes and used resources& materials to be more ecological friendly, while still respecting their clients preferences.Lastly, small design firms need to collaborate with other firms to increase their influencein the supply chain and explore new approaches to design processes and principles thatare more sustainability oriented.

Based on the scorecard a case study has been performed with 3D Projecten as a singletest sample to determine what sustainability improving activities the firm is alreadyconcerned with, and what activities or scorecard issues are still unexplored. The rec-ommendations for 3D Projecten entail the improvement of control on the origin of usedmaterials and resources along with possible certifications that ensure sustainability. Thiscould be enforced in collaboration with other small design firms in order to mitigate thelack of influence small-sized firms might have. Also, the designs made by the firm shouldfocus on sustainability proactively while still taking the clients perception of quality anddesign into account. The sustainability collaborations the firm already actively pursuesshould be continued in order to broaden the knowledge and research on new design con-cepts related to sustainability. Furthermore, 3D Projecten should be more pro activein the improvement of skills and training of its employees to invest in the creativityand quality of its products and prevent talented employees and with them, its mostimportant sustainable competitive advantage, from leaving the company.

3

Table of content

Abbreviations 6

Introduction 7

1 Background 81.1 Current situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.2 Problem statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.3 Research questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.4 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.4.1 Research design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.4.2 Primary data collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.4.3 Secondary data collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101.4.4 Sampling of literature and additional resources . . . . . . . . . . . 111.4.5 Sampling of case study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 Theory 122.1 Small design firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2.1.1 Small firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122.1.2 Design firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.2 Business-level strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152.2.1 Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.2.2 Strategic management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.2.3 Business-level and corporate-level strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182.2.4 Different business-level strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182.2.5 Internal analysis and resource-based view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192.2.6 Strategic human resource management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.3 Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.3.1 Sustainable development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.3.2 Dimensions of sustainable development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232.3.3 The Triple bottom line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3 Theory analysis 263.1 Business-level strategy and sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3.1.1 Business-level relevant stocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263.1.2 Mapping sustainability stocks to the value chain . . . . . . . . . . 28

3.2 Scorecard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303.2.1 Small firm questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313.2.2 Design firm questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313.2.3 HCRSCA questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4 Case study 334.1 Case study analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4

4.1.1 Small firm related answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334.1.2 Design related answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344.1.3 HCRSCA related answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344.1.4 Case study conclusions and recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

5 Conclusions and recommendations 37

Appendix 42

5

L.W. Barten Tilburg University July 19, 2010

Abbreviations

CIs Creative IndustriesDCMS UK Governments Department for Culture, Media and SportsHRM Human Resource ManagementHCRSCA Human Capital Resource as Sustainable Competitive AdvantageRBV Resource-based ViewSCA Sustainable Competitive AdvantageSHRM Strategic Human Resource ManagementSME Small to Medium-sized EnterprisesSWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, ThreatsUICN Union Internationale pour la Conservation de la Nature (International

Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources)IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

(Union Internationale pour la Conservation de la Nature)

6


Introduction

The purpose of this thesis is to find a business-level sustainability enhancing strategyfor small design firms. This problem statement along with its research questions andthe research methodology are described in chapter 1: Background. In order to answerthe different research questions and the main problem statement, the definitions of smallfirms, design, business-level strategy and sustainability will be researched in chapter 2:Theory. Following up on the theory, in chapter 3: Theory analysis, the small designfirm business-level aspects are analyzed and mapped on a value chain and connected tosustainability related activities based on the Telos and triple bottom line sustainabilitymodels. The sustainability goals from the Telos model along with other activities basedon the theoretical analysis are finally combined in a sustainability scorecard that servesas a sustainability enhancing strategy framework for small design firms. With this score-card the level of sustainability for 3D Projecten’s business-level strategy is determinedin chapter 4: Case study. The results of this case study lead to the conclusions andrecommendation for the firm in chapter 4.1.4: Case study conclusions and recommenda-tions. Based on the theory analysis and the case study results, the problem statement ofthe thesis is answered in chapter 5: Conclusions and recommendations. Future researchpossibilities based on the outcome of this thesis are also mentioned in this chapter.

7


1 Background

The basis for this thesis stems from the question of 3D Projecten’s manager Peter Robbenon how his firm could pursue sustainability in its vision, designs, products and overallstrategy. This question rose after a culture, identity and structure scan that had beenexecuted for 3D Projecten in 2008 (Alleleijn et al., 2008) by a team of students, includingthe author, as part of their Business Studies bachelor program. In order to answer thisquestion the firm has been included in this research as a first case study for the developedtheoretical scorecard.

1.1 Current situation

3D Projecten is a small retail interior design firm, situated in Tilburg, with 20 to 25employees. It provides its clients with a creative translation from their corporate visionall the way to the actual interior that is installed at a store location. In this process,creativity plays an important role in the conceptualization of the vision and the furtherrefinement of the concept to the designs of the final interior. Apart from these designingactivities, 3D Projecten also facilitates the actual construction of the designed interiorin its workplace, where a variety of materials are used for the production of furniture.Because the workplace can only support a small amount of production work, large pro-duction orders are outsourced to a variety of parties with a larger capacity. Till now,3D Projecten has been continuously searching for adaptations on its strategy on a short-term basis and whishes to define a new long-term sustainable strategy. The firm haslittle knowledge about the current sustainability of the firm’s processes and the usage ofresources and labour. 3D Projecten values the designing skills of its employees as one ofits core competitive advantages, which lets the firm excel in the industry it operates in,as proven by winning the 2007 retail year award for design. Since creativity and talentare tightly connected to the employees, they are the most valuable resource of the firmand the determinant of a firm’s competitive advantage based on the resource-based view(RBV) theory (Barney, 1991). A strategy for the management of the employees of a firmcan be approached through the human resource management (HRM) theory.

The combination of the RBV approach and HRM could be a first step of a theoreticalapproach for the stated problem. This combination can be found in the concept ofstrategic human resource management (SHRM), which is strongly based on the RBVtheory and acknowledges the skill, behaviors and interactions of human resources as animportant pillar in the determinations of a firm’s strategy (Colbert, 2004). However, theSHRM theory views the skills of an employee as a general addition to the competitiveadvantage of the firm and not as a core resource. This creates a certain gap in theliterature since there is little known about the influence of a single resource that mainlydetermines the competitive advantage within the concept of SHRM. The need to keepthe employee’s designer value as a resource in tact, forces a firm to look for strategies

8


that increase its sustainability without damaging its core competitive advantage: thecreative freedom of its employees.

Apart from the employee’s designer value as a resource, the firm also has to deal withother pillars (labour, resource, capital) of its strategy and how it can determine thesustainability of these three classical economic aspects (Smith, 1776). Coping with thesedifferent aspects in order to increase the overall sustainability of the firm requires aproper business-level strategy.

1.2 Problem statement

In need of a business-level strategy to increase the overall sustainability of the firm, 3DProjecten is looking for a strategy that enables them not only to improve the sustain-ability of their production, but also ensures continuity of their current activities andexpansion to future activities with sustainability as the main theme. This outline haslead to the the main problem statement of this thesis:

What business-level strategy should small design firms adopt to increase their sustain-ability?

1.3 Research questions

In order to answer the main problem statement this thesis will try to answer a set ofresearch questions leading to an overall conclusion.

Q1: What are the corporate characteristics of a small design firm?

Q2: What different kind of business-level strategies exist?

Q3: How can a firm increase its sustainability?

Q4: How can strategy be linked with sustainability while securing the main competitiveadvantage of the firm?

These questions will be answered in chapter 2: Theory and chapter 3: Theory analy-sis.

1.4 Methodology

1.4.1 Research design

The business research conducted in this thesis consists of both basic and applied research.Basic business research generates knowledge on a general level by trying to understandhow certain problems that occur in organizations can be solved. Applied business re-search is conducted in order to solve specific problems or organizational issues faced by a

9


manager (Sekaran, 2003). The first part of the research will aggregate different theoret-ical components into a balanced scorecard through basic research in chapter 2: Theory.In this part the different research questions will be answered by an exploratory litera-ture review that touches upon different theoretical subjects and their relations yieldingquantitative data. The balanced scorecard formed by this basic research in chapter 3:Theory analysis will then be used in the second part of the research: the applied re-search, in chapter 4: Case study. In this chapter, the balance scorecard is used in acase study to determine the current level of sustainability for 3D Projecten. Based onthe scores, an analysis is made in chapter 4.1 from which conclusions can be drawn andrecommendations can be given in chapter 4.1.4. Using the theory based scorecard andthe case study conclusions and recommendations, the conclusions and recommendationsanswering the main problem statement are given in chapter 5.

1.4.2 Primary data collection

The primary data for the basic research is the scorecard that will be constructed on thebasis of the theoretical literature. The literature itself is considered secondary litera-ture. Primary data is also gathered for the applied research by conducting a structuredinterview with a questionnaire that resembles the theory based scorecard.

In order to ensure reliability of data collected with the use of a questionnaire, mostreliability testing methods need a sample with multiple entries to test for stability andconsistency of measures. In this research there is only a single source of data for thecase study. This leaves no room to claim the results of the case study are reliableenough to generalize and conclude for other small design firms. However, the main focusof this thesis is the formation of a theory based sustainability scorecard, which makesthe reliability of the case study more interesting in additional research with multiplefirms. Also, when testing for stability, test-retest reliability is only interesting if thetopic of the questionnaire could yield the same answers over time. Since the topicin this questionnaire resembles the current sustainability of the firm and has a cross-sectional time horizon, test-retest reliability will not be of interest. In order to stillensure reliability, the questions in the questionnaire will be phrased to leave no roomfor a variety of interpretations. Using a structured interview and questionnaire withno open questions will support this concept. To ensure content and convergent validityof the questionnaire the content will be directly linked to theory and authorities onsustainability will be asked to review the questionnaire.

1.4.3 Secondary data collection

In order to determine the scope of the applied research, the initial problem statement for3D Projecten, secondary data was gathered from previously held interviews (Alleleijnet al., 2008) with the company and an additional interview which was held to ensure

10


these findings where still accurate and up to date. Furthermore, secondary data willbe gathered in the form of literature related to the different theoretical topics of thesub questions. This consists of literature related to business-level strategies, small firms,design firms, sustainability and literature linking these topics.

1.4.4 Sampling of literature and additional resources

In order to find high quality literature that is most suitable for the theoretical part ofthis thesis, the databases connected to the library of Tilburg University will be searchedwith the definitions and the main concepts of the problem statement and the researchquestions. Furthermore the found literature will be analyzed on its references and cita-tions. This partly determines the quality of the literature and increases the chance offinding additional relevant literature.

Next to the usage of the databases and other digital information resources, institu-tions and authorities in the field of sustainable strategic management will be consultedfor additional theoretical insights. These institutions and authorities include: the Te-los Brabant Centre for Sustainable Development, Prof. P. Winsemius and Drs. JohnDagevos, of which the later two are affiliated with Tilburg University.

1.4.5 Sampling of case study

3D Projecten will serve as the main case study in this thesis, with the directing managerPeter Robben as the single interviewee. Considering the organizational structure of thefirm, the manager’s position gives a helicopter view of the entire firm along with itsoperations and supporting activities (Appendix : Organizational chart 3D Projecten).As an alternative, all employees could be interviewed, which would probably result ina more moderate result set with a higher reliability. Because there is only one firmand interviewee that will be analyzed with the scorecard, the results for this analysiscannot be generalized. However, since the research focuses primarily on the constructionof a scorecard with regard to the sustainability strategy of small design firms, this willnot lower the overall quality, validity, relevance and contribution of the research andscorecard.

For future research multiple different small design firms and or the related design industryfirms could be used as new samples. This form of structured snowball sampling couldhelp determine the sustainability of a firm since sustainability also entails responsibilityup and down the vertical industrial supply chain that a firm operates in (Seuring et al.,2008). In addition, outsourced production and suppliers eventually reflect 3D Projecten’squality and products. Lastly, subjecting multiple firms to the scorecard will yield possiblecorrelation between sustainability and other firm data.

11


2 Theory

In this part of the thesis, the relevant terms of the main problem statement formulatedin the research questions are explored more in depth based on literature, eventually an-swering the research questions. The first research question, regarding the characteristicsof small design firms, will be answered at the end of 2.1: small design firms. The secondresearch question, about the different business-level strategies is answered in chapter 2.2:business-level strategies. In chapter 2.3 the theory shows us how firms can increase theirsustainability.

2.1 Small design firms

In this chapter the question Q1: What are the corporate characteristics of a small designfirm? will be answered by examining the theoretical background of small firms anddesign firms and the corporate characteristics these bring forth.

2.1.1 Small firms

Most creative companies tend to stay small in order to incorporate a low level hierarchyand keep the personal touch in their products and services. This part of the theorywill define the term ”small firms” and its role in this thesis by exploring the size andcategorization that can be associated with small firms.

Small firms are part of the generally defined category of small to medium sized enter-prises (SME’s). In this category, according to the definition of the European Union, asmall firm is characterized by the employment of fewer than 50 persons and an an-nual turnover and/or annual balance sheet total below EUR 10 million (European-Commission, 2003). Based on a different set of characteristics, the American Committeefor Economic Development has set the following standards defining a small firm (Scottand Bruce, 1987).

(I) Management is independent. Usually the manager owns the firm.

(II) Capital is supplied and owned by an individual or small group.

(III) The firm mainly operates locally, but markets can be global.

Apart from acknowledging some of these governmental characteristics that make up asmall firm, a firm’s strategic characteristics help categorize it along with other smallfirms.Vesper classified small firms into mom and pop companies, stable high-payoff companiesand growth-oriented companies (Cooper, 1981). While the ’mom and pop’ firms haveno or a small amount of hired employees, rely heavily on family rooted managementand base their experience on their skills, the ’high-payoff’ companies tend to have more

12


experienced and effective management, resulting in a more competitive position andhigher profits. High-payoff companies usually stay small to ensure relatively large profits.In contrast, growth-oriented companies are founded for growth and eventually give a highpayoff by selling out the founded firm. Growth-oriented firms are usually founded by agroup of managers with adequate expertise to ensure a stable growth.Based on the European and American definition standards and Vesper’s categorization,the small design firms that entail the main subject of this research are characterized bythe employment of fewer then 50 employees, an annual balance/turnover below EUR 10million, independent management that owns the firm and a local focus of operations.With several employees and a single manager the small design firm is categorized as ahigh-payoff firm according to Vesper.

2.1.2 Design firms

Design can be associated with arts, creativity and innovation. In this thesis ’design’ isused as a term for translating visual art-full concepts into products, not the design ofnew processes or innovative systems.

In order to define what characterizes a firm to be a design firm, we need to look atthe industry the firm operates in. Because of the creative production, the design firmbelongs to the creative industry according to the UK Government’s Department for Cul-ture, Media and Sports (DCMS). The ’creative industries’ (CIs) have been defined bythe DCMS as: ”Those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skilland talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generationand exploitation of intellectual property” (DCMS, 2001). According to the DCMS, thedifferent sectors that make up the CIs are: Advertising, Architecture, Art & Antiques,Crafts, Design, Designer Fashion, Video, Film & Photography, Music and the Visual& Performing Arts and Publishing. A similar division of different sectors that makeup the creative industry by Scott (Scott, 2000) is: Theatre, Expositions, Museums, theProduction of Furniture (design) and Clothing (fashion), Graphical Design, Advertisingand Architecture. While these two divisions define creative industries by mentioning allrelated type of firms, they are both based on the assumption that every creative industryclassified firm has profit as its main goal and equate the creative value of their productswith commercial value (Bilton and Leary, 2002). Apart from the industrial categoriza-tion and commercial view on the creative industry, the CIs can also be defined as anindustry that produces symbolic goods (ideas, experiences, images). The value of thesesymbolic goods is determined by the end-user (viewer, reader, audience, consumer) andmay or may not be translated into financial return (Bilton and Leary, 2002). The smalldesign firms that this thesis refers to are categorized under the ’Design’ sector accordingto the DCMS and entail ”Production of furniture and clothing” based on Scott’s divisionof the CIs. In this context, the term ’design’ indicates creative production for a certainpurpose. Apart from a functional and commercial value, the creatively produced goodsalso entail a symbolical value to its end users.

13


CreativityThe term ’creativity’ has been corrupted by its usage in multiple fields. ”It has

become a fashionable term in the contemporary managerial and political lexicon, signalinggeneralised approval in education, business and the arts” (Bilton and Leary, 2002). Inbusiness, ’creativity’ is used to indicate the level of autonomy, innovation and flexibilityof the firm. In education creative students are not the students that excel at artsanymore. Creativity now indicates one’s problem solving abilities. Most definitionsof creativity are found in neurology and psychology. There are popular psychologicalstudies like Csikzentmuhaly’s ’flow’, where creativity is explained by being in the rightstate of mind, or Gardner’s idea of multiple intelligences that have different views onthe origin of creativity. From a neurological perspective the fostering of creativity isachieved by optimal collaboration of both sides of our brain (Kline, 1988). Peoplewho are highly creative enjoy creating new things and making discoveries. By nature,humans are programmed to be creative to deal with problems and ensure a certain future(Csikszentmihalyi, 1997). The enjoyment of creativity and creativity itself are fueled byseveral factors that continuously encourage a state of mind called ’flow’ (Table 1).

Employees that work under the conditions as mentioned in Table 1 are more likely to becreative. However, employees will not automatically become highly creative when in flow.Different people have different levels of creativity. An explanation for this difference increativity can be found in Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory. According to Gardner’stheory, the spatial/visual intelligence entails the ability to transform concepts and ideasinto visual products. Within this type of intelligence a visual/verbal subset exists thatenables humans to create visual links to verbal images or symbols (Gardner, 1983).Creative employees that work in small design firms highly profit from a high level of thisspatial/visual intelligence when transferring concepts to visual products.

Creativity and cultureThe corporate culture of the design industry is very important. There is no other

industry in which culture has more direct influence then an industry where creativity andinnovation are the corner stones of the firm (Archer and Walczyk, 2006). While Gardnerand Kline focus on creativity based on personal traits, Csikszentmihalyi’s ’flow’ theorydescribes a work setting, which enables employees to achieve their full creativeness. Thechance of such a setting being realized depends on the company’s corporate culture.Apart from the setting, communicating innovation and creativity as valued goals willalso enable employees to be more creative (Tesluk et al., 1997).

In short, small design firms are high-payoff firms that usually stay small to ensure largeprofits. They are characterized by having less then 50 employees, a turn over below 10EUR million, independent management and a local focus of operations. These operations

14


Table 1: Factors encouraging ’flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997)Factor DescriptionClear goals every step of the way In flow, the next step is always known. A cre-

ative enjoyable job has clear goals.

There is direct feedback to one’s ac-tions

The immediate feedback encourages continua-tion of the process. Feedback is given to oneself.There is no need for expert opinions.

There is a balance between chal-lenges and skills

In flow there is a perfect balance between bore-dom and anxiety that are derived from theprocess.

Action and awareness are merged Single mindedness gets one into the flow, onlyfocusing on the main process or subject.

Distractions are excluded from con-sciousness

Without any distractions staying concentratedand in flow becomes easier.

There is no worry of failure While in flow, one experiences a feeling of con-trol that inhibits us from thinking about failure.

Self-consciousness disappears Becoming fully dedicated with the task, onebecomes self-forgetfulness eventually emergingwith a stronger self-concept after completing thechallenging task.

The sense of time becomes distorted Fast actions seem to last longer because of afocused experience and working days becomeshorter.

The activity becomes an end in itself The task is worth doing for its own sake not theoutcome.

entail the autonomous creative production of transferring concepts to visual productsby employees in an environment that fuels and values this creative process.

2.2 Business-level strategy

”Business-level strategies are actions firms take to gain competitive advantage in a singlemarket or industry.” (Barney and Hesterly, 2006) A business-level strategy is a firm’sstrategy that determines the production or service processes on a firm level, inter-firmrelations and human resource management (HRM). In this chapter the research questionQ2: What different kind of business-level strategies exist? will be answered and literatureon different kinds of business-level strategies will be reviewed on their fit with the ’small’en ’design’ aspects of the firm type. This will partially operationalize the strategic

15


aspects of the content for the scorecard.

2.2.1 Strategy

Based on Steiner & Miner and Andrews & Quinn’s hierarchical definitions, Mintzberg’seclectic definition and Learned et al. & Quinn’s matching definitions of strategy andstrategic management (Mintzberg et al., 2003), Barney defined strategy as ”patterns ofresource allocation that enable a firm to improve or maintain its performance”, strategicmanagement as ”the process through which firms choose and implement their strategies”and a ’good’ strategy as ”one that neutralizes threats, exploits opportunities, takes ad-vantages of strengths, and avoids or fixes weaknesses” (Barney, 1997). The definitionof a ’good’ strategy resembles the adaptation of the popular SWOT analysis. Later,from a perspective of competitive advantage, Barney and Hesterly defined ’strategy’ as”a firm’s theory on how to gain a competitive advantage” (Barney and Hesterly, 2006),which still closely resembles the older definition. While both definitions of ’strategy’tend to emphasize the acquisition and maintenance of a sustainable position and howto achieve this position, the new definition has shifted its focus from merging manydefinitions to the achievement of competitive advantage as its main goal. As a result,with the newer definition of strategy, strategic management needs to focus on securinga competitive advantage in order to ensure a bright future. With a proper strategy,the proper competitive advantages can be generated. In order to retain these competi-tive advantages firms need sustainable competitive advantages (SCA) that will last overtime.

2.2.2 Strategic management

There are different theories on how the formation of a strategy should be managed. Byfar the most influential theories that have defined strategy and strategic managementin the passed years are Steiner & Meiner, Andrews & Quinn’s hierarchical process,Mintzberg’s eclectic approach and Porter’s five forces framework. Based on the earlyhierarchical process of strategy formation by Steiner & Meiner, Andrews and Quinn,Barney and Hesterly introduce a more extended sequential set of analyses used to arriveat a competitive advantage (Figure 1) (Barney and Hesterly, 2006).

Whereas the previous hierarchical model consisted of only four stages (Mission, Objec-tives, Strategies and Tactics & Policies), the new model incorporates all of these oldfactors and ads the external / internal analysis and competitive advantage stage, dis-playing the model as a horizontal process rather then a hierarchical flow of strategyformation. The new factors deal with the flaws of the hierarchical model, which did notaccount for internal and external effects in the process of strategy formation (Barney,1997).

Mintzberg’s model of strategy distinguishes between strategy as a plan, pattern, position

16


Figure 1: The Strategic Management Process

and perspective (Mintzberg et al., 2003). Strategy as a plan is explained by Mintzberg’semergent strategy formation model (Figure 2). Intended or planned strategies that arerealized are called deliberate strategies. However, intended or planned strategies arenot always realized and realized strategies where not always planned. How a strategicpattern is formed depends on how precise an intended strategy is realized. The part of therealized strategy that was not planned is the emergent strategy. This process of strategicplanning partially leading to a strategic pattern, is enforced by strategy as a positionand strategy as a perspective. Strategy as a position focuses on strategy becoming themediating force between internal and external forces. In this view Mintzberg’s definitionshow similarities with Barney’s external and internal analysis steps from the strategicmanagement process model (Figure 1). Strategy as a perspective defines how a firmperceives the world, what concepts it pursues and how its employees share the sameperspective through their intentions and actions.

RealisedIntended

Unrealised Emergent

Deliberate

Figure 2: Emergent strategy formation

Based on Barney’s and Mintzberg’s definitions of strategy and strategic management,strategic management can be defined as the process in which a firm translates its missioninto objectives, analyses and mediates external and internal factors related to theseobjectives, chooses a strategy accordingly and tries to implement this strategy, eventuallycreating a competitive advantage. In this process, part of the chosen strategy might notget implemented and part of the eventually implemented strategy might not have beenchosen beforehand.

17


2.2.3 Business-level and corporate-level strategy

Firms can have two levels of strategy: a business-level strategy and corporate-levelstrategy (Porter, 1987). The business-level strategy focuses on creating competitiveadvantage on the firm level, while the corporate level strategy has its focus on whatmarket the firm should operate in and how to arrange an array of different business units.The choice between business-level strategy vs corporate-level strategy is made in the’strategic choice’ section of the strategic management process (Figure 1). In this thesis,the small design firm will be treated as an individual firm, which has already defined itsmarket boundaries and is not in charge of leading other business units. Therefore thebusiness-level strategy plays a more prominent role when defining a suitable sustainablestrategy for small design companies.

2.2.4 Different business-level strategies

The most common business-level strategies are cost leadership, product differentiation,cost focus and differentiation focus (Table 2) (Porter, 1987). With a cost leadershipstrategy, a firm tries to gain a competitive advantage by minimizing costs in productionand other processes by training labour to work as cost efficiently as possible. Throughoutthe value chain, costs are minimized with every step and usually products reflect thisapproach. However, low cost does not always mean low quality. For example, thelow quality perception of products that are ”made in China” has shifted in the last fewyears, with Chinese firms slowly gaining the upper hand over Western firms by increasingquality while still keeping its costs and prices low (Chambers et al., 2006).

Table 2: Porter’s generic strategies

Target scopeAdvantage

Low Cost Product Uniqueness

Broad Cost leadership strategy Product differentiation strategy

Narrow Cost focus strategy Differentiation focus strategy

Firms that abide by a product differentiation strategy add value to their products byexpanding the product attributes in order to meet the needs of many buyers within theindustry. This moves the company to a niche and usually results in a premium pricedproduct contrary to the low priced products that are related to the cost leadership strat-egy. The third and combined generic strategy defined by Porter is the focus strategy.Focus strategy has two variants: cost focus and differentiation focus strategy. Both

18


variants focus on a specific narrow market segment and try to either exploit the differ-ences in consumer cost behaviour or differences in consumer needs to gain a competitiveadvantage.

With the most common business-level strategies mapped out, choosing a certain strategyfor the firm is easy. However, implementing the strategy in accordance with a firm’sresources and the competitive advantage it wishes to create can be toilsome. Sincethere is a lot of difference between firm operations in between and within differentindustries, a proper business-level strategy can only be achieved by analyzing the internaloperations of the firm in question and properly align them with its strategic mission(Figure 1).

Because small design firms tend to stay small to ensure a high pay-off (Cooper, 1981), thefocus of their strategy’s SCA is not suitable on the cost leadership strategy. Firms withapproximately 50 employees and no need for expansion are simply too small to competein a market where the strength of their SCA is based on economies of scale. For themost part, the SCA of design firms can be found in their product uniqueness, leaving theproduct differentiation strategy and differentiation focus strategy as the possible genericstrategies for small design firms to abide by. Small to medium sized companies tend tochoose a narrow target scope more often compared to large firms (Lynch, 2003). However,management should still consider whether the narrow market has enough potential andrevenue increasing possibilities.

2.2.5 Internal analysis and resource-based view

In order to analyze the internal strengths and weaknesses of the firm (Figure 1), theResource-Based View (RBV) is one of the most used tools (Mahoney and Pandian, 1992)(Colbert, 2004). ”The RBV is a model of firm performance that focuses on the resourcesand capabilities controlled by a firm as sources of competitive advantage” (Barney andHesterly, 2006). Resources are all tangible and intangible assets that can be used toimplement a firm’s strategy. Capabilities are a subset of resources that enable a firm totake a full advantage of other resources. In the RBV model, resources and capabilitiesare divided into four broad categories: financial resources, physical resources, individualresources and organizational resources. In order to gain a competitive advantage firmsneed to identify potentially valuable resources among these four categories. An analysisof a firm’s most valuable resources and capabilities can be done by studying its valuechain. According to Porter ”A firm’s value chain is a set of business activities in which itengages to develop, produce and market its products or services” (Barney and Hesterly,2006) (Porter, 1985).

The business activities of the value chain can be divided into two main categories and ninesub-categories. The first main category, primary activities, include inbound logistics,operations, outbound logistics, marketing & sales and after-sales & service (Figure 3).The second category, support activities, include firm infrastructure, HRM, technology

19


development and procurement. These second category activities enable the input andinfrastructure for the primary activities. By analyzing both main value-chain categoriesfrom a economic point of view, a clear view emerges of a firm’s most valuable resources,its weaknesses and strengths.

Figure 3: Value chain

For small design firms, with product uniqueness and creativity as its main SCA, cre-ativity enhancing value chain processes are most important. Since creativity is directlylinked to the employee (Bilton and Leary, 2002)(Csikszentmihalyi, 1997), the secondaryactivity of human resource management (HRM) determines a great part of a small designfirm’s strengths.

Apart from analyzing the value-chain from an economic point of view, the model easilylends itself to analyze the organizational processes and activities from a different pointof view. This enables the opportunity to link competitive advantage with other strate-gical aspects like corporate social responsibility or sustainability (Porter and Kramer,2006). In order to create the balanced sustainability scorecard for small design firms,the value chain will be used to map the interdependency between the resources andprocesses of a firm and sustainability in subchapter 3.1: Business-level strategy andsustainability.

20


2.2.6 Strategic human resource management

Human resource management (HRM) includes ”anything and everything associated withthe management of employment relations in the firm”(Boxall and Purcell, 2000). Inthe field of HRM, the RBV approach has contributed a lot to the expansion of the thestrategic human resource management (SHRM) field of research (Wright et al., 2001).With an increase in strategic importance of a firm’s employees, the fields of strategyand HRM have been converged, resulting in the new research field of SHRM. Evenwith this convergence and its importance, it is still debated whether SHRM can beused as a SCA or if HRM practices are highly imitable and industry path dependant.Many textbooks argue that adding ’strategy’ to HRM means nothing at all (Boxall andPurcell, 2000). However, there are always strategic choices that can be made whendeciding how to cope with employee related issues that eventually contribute to a firm’sSCA. These decisions can be pre-planned or highly emergent like any other strategicaldecision (Barney and Hesterly, 2006). While a single HRM practice may be imitable,a HRM strategy that has developed over time is more unique and can contribute tothe sustainable competitive advantage of the human capital resource. However, thereis lack of evidence for the impact of HRM on the skills and behaviour of the workforceand its influence on performance. Wright et al. have proposed a preliminary frameworkthat links strategy literature on SCA with HRM literature on the process of attraction,development, motivation and retention of human capital (Barney et al., 2001). Evenwith this framework Wright et al. still point out that ”much of the research on the linkbetween RBV and HRM suffers from serious methodological shortcomings, producingspurious relationships or even reverse causation”(Barney et al., 2001). This seriousremark shows that the research on HRM as a SCA is still full of gaps. For the problemstatement of this thesis, the literature gap of SHRM is overcome by identifying creativity,which is undoubtedly connected to the employee, as the SCA , linking SCA directly toHRM.

From the RBV perspective, there are four conditions which make human resources asustainable competitive advantage (Wright and McMahan, 1992). First, they must pro-vide value for the firm (variety of skills, adaptation to requirements and needs of thefirm, contribution to the development of ’core skills’) . Secondly, human resources mustbe rare on the labour market. Thirdly, they must be difficult to imitate. And lastly,human resources must be non substitutable (by other resources like machines for exam-ple). Employees of small design firms fit all four conditions. For small design firms thismeans they should try and keep their human capital resource valuable, rare, inimitableand non substitutable to achieve a SCA. In contrast to this conclusion, research on 20French video game firms in the creative industries in 2002 showed that with the growthof a company, rare inimitable human capital resources would be traded in for generalhuman capital resources (Autier and Picq, 2002). This is contrary to RBV’s notion onresource management. The reason for this behaviour is the difficulty of managing humancapital and keeping it inimitable due to its specific and socially complex nature. As firmsgrow, art and business are uncoupled as the need for collective creativity increases and

21


creative divas have transformed from the corner stone of the small firm to the burdenof the large firm.

Because the role that human capital resources play in the SCA’s of a firm decreases forsmall design firms that are growing, these firms should stay small and use this position tomanage and strengthen their human capital resources as a SCA. If growth is inevitable, astrategy should be determined that deals with the transition of no longer having humancapital resources as an SCA. It seems unlikely that large firms are capable of managingtheir creative human capital resources in the same way they did when business andart were still intwined. In order to keep their creative human capital satisfied, factorsthat encourage the state of flow (Table 1) should be preserved in order to preserve thecreativity of the human capital as a SCA.

From Porter’s four different generic business-level strategies, the product differentiationstrategy and focus differentiation strategy are most suitable to sustain a small designfirm in using the creativity of their employees as the SCA of its strategy. The firm caneither ad value to its product or focus on the needs of the consumer.

2.3 Sustainability

In this subchapter the research question Q3: How can a firm increase its sustainability?is answered by looking at different theories and models concerning sustainability andsustainable development.

2.3.1 Sustainable development

At the end of the twentieth century the term ’sustainability’ started to become moreimportant. Especially in relation with the term ’development’. Sustainable develop-ment has been the main subject for many global conferences in the last 3 decades ofthe twentieth century. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment inStockholm in 1972 used the term to suggest the possibility of achieving economic growthand industrialization without damaging the environment. In the following decades theterm had been established as a mainstream term through the IUCN World Conserva-tion Strategy in Geneva (1980), the United Nations General Assembly’s Our CommonFuture report, a.k.a. The Brundtland report (1987), and the United Nations Conferenceon Environment and Development in Rio (1992) (UICN, 2006).

While many definitions of sustainable development exist, the Brundtland definitionseems to be the most popular. It defines sustainable development as ”developmentthat meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future genera-tions to meet their own needs” (United Nations General Assembly, 1987). Even thoughits popularity, this definition has been criticized for being a vague and unfocused termlike for example ’justice’. Fortunately, this broadness is also the reason why the idea of

22


sustainable development is so well known. Many people from different backgrounds usethe term to express their own version on the management of sustainable development.However, defining the goals that are needed to achieve sustainable development usuallydiffer among its followers (UICN, 2006). This brings forth subjectivity in determiningcurrent and future needs. Also, according to Brundtland’s own interpretation, the de-termination of the sustainable contribution must be answered relatively, since almostall activities in some way lead to environmental problems (Langhelle, 1999). This couldmean that in some situations damage to the environment is imminent for an increasein sustainability. Also, if the environmental damage would be minimized, it would stillonly be diminished, not removed (McDonough and Braungart, 2003). Furthermore, thedefinition is ambiguous since the balance between and weight of social-cultural, economicand ecologic development is unknown for the future.

In order to bring some structure into the many different interpretations of sustainabledevelopment that followed from the Brundtland definition, the Board on SustainableDevelopment of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences wrote a report in 1999 thatmade a distinction between what advocates and analysts of sustainable developmentmostly sought to sustain and to develop (board on Sustainable Development, 1999).This report reflected that there were 3 distinct ideas about what should be sustained:nature, life support and community, and what should be developed: people, economyand society (Kates et al., 2005). In order to link what is to be sustained and whatis to be developed, during the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable development, threedomains regarding sustainable development where incorporated into the JohannesburgDeclaration, emphasizing the strengthening and mutual reinforcement of the domainsat local, national, regional and global levels. These domains are known today as theeconomic, social and environmental development dimensions.

2.3.2 Dimensions of sustainable development

The three dimensions of the Johannesburg Declaration have been depicted in many dif-ferent ways showing different kinds of interaction (Figure 4). The constrained placement(Figure 4(a)) of the three dimension shows that the economic dimension is part of andlimited by the social dimension which in turn is embedded and constrained by the en-vironmental dimension. In this interaction economic sustainability entails the need toachieve balance between costs and benefits of economic activity, within the possibilitiesof the environment. Also, progress on an economical scale should not be made at theexpense of intergenerational equity and resources should not be exploited to the extentof compromising their re-generative ability. The social dimension fits right in betweenthe other dimensions because of its role. Social development should control economicdevelopment in order to ensure a corporate social responsible economy. Also, whenpursuing its own development, any damage to the environment should be avoided.

The cooperative intersection (Figure 4(b)) entails that, in order to achieve sustainability,all three dimensions must be integrated and accounted for. The intersection shows that

23


Social

Environmental

Economic

(a) Constrained placement

Social

Environmental Economic

Sustainable

(b) Cooperative intersection

Figure 4: Constrained placement (a), and cooperative intersection (b) of the three di-mensions.

the different dimensions are not exclusive and can be mutually enforcing. In order toachieve optimal sustainability all three dimensions should be integrated.

2.3.3 The Triple bottom line

The same interaction as the cooperative intersection, only now from a business per-spective, was introduced in 1994 as the Triple bottom line (TBL) approach (Elkington,1999). The term Triple bottom line was introduced to resonate with the business brains,integrating the social and economic dimensions of the Brundtland definition in order toachieve environmental progress. The TBL agenda makes operations not only focus onthe economic value that they add, but also on the environmental and social value thatthey add - or destroy. TBL is often depicted as a triangle containing all 3 dimensions(Figure 5).

The Telos Brabant centre for sustainable development in the Netherlands has adopted asimilar model of Elkington’s TBL triangle and has been determining what global quan-titative stocks are to be associated with the different dimensions of sustainability since1999. Dimensions are filled with stocks related to theoretical data (Table 3) (Hermanset al., 2006). The social, ecologic and economic dimensions of the Telos model are linkeddirectly to the social, environmental and ecological dimensions of the triple bottom linemodel. Stocks are translated in to goals, which in turn can be accounted for throughthe measurement of quantitative indicators (Appendix: Telos dimensions and stocks)

24


Figure 5: Triple bottom line triangle

Table 3: Dimension and stocks of Telos modelSocial Ecologic Economic1 health 1 nature 1 labour2 solidarity 2 soil 2 capital goods3 art and cultural heritage 3 groundwater 3 knowledge4 citizenship 4 air 4 infrastructure5 education 5 surface water 5 resources and meterials6 residential area 6 natural resources

7 landscape

(Hermans et al., 2006). A full list of the dimensions, the stocks and its underlying goalscan be found under the Appendix: Telos dimensions and stocks.

In summary, a firm can increase its sustainability by focussing its products, processesand other activities on the preservation or growth of the three pillars of sustainability(social, economic and ecologic). The Telos model introduces a framework based on thesepillars which can be used to assess the sustainability of organizations and firms.

25


3 Theory analysis

In this chapter a model is created, linking strategy with sustainability in order to answerthe fourth research question: Q4: How can strategy be linked with sustainability whilesecuring the main competitive advantage of the firm?

3.1 Business-level strategy and sustainability

From the definitions of business-level strategy and sustainability, it is clear that, in orderto determine the sustainable value of a business-level strategy, the stocks associated witheach dimension must be aligned with the business-level strategy of the firm in question.For example: for small design firms, assessing the impact of certain strategic choiceson the local residential area, is less relevant compared to the environmental impact ofnatural resources used in production. Hence, it is important to choose the most relevantstocks for the business-strategy. With Brundtland’s definition in mind, according tothe TBL approach and in relation to the Telos capital-stock structure, business relatedchoices are only considered sustainable when growth of the capital of one of the threedimensions is achieved without diminishing another or diminishing the dimension’s ownfuture development.

In order to create a sustainable business-level strategy by mapping the Telos sustain-ability stocks on the processes and resources of the firm, a similar approach can be usedlike Porter did when mapping corporate social responsibility on a firms value chain (Ap-pendix: Corporate social responsibility mapped to the value chain) (Porter and Kramer,2006). By exchanging the corporate social responsible activities mapped to the valuechain with sustainable activities that are linked with Telos model stocks, an overviewis created of sustainability enhancing activities. For the sustainable strategy scorecardformed in this thesis the Telos model stocks will be used without the quantitative indi-cators, since the stocks and goals determine the strategy and the indicators are meansof measurement.

3.1.1 Business-level relevant stocks

In order to attach the proper Telos model stocks to the corporate value chain of smalldesign firms, a selection of relevant stocks has to be made. Stocks that are directly relatedto a firm’s sustainable corporate advantage (SCA), are more important for a sustainablefuture of a commercial firm compared to other stocks. Some stocks might not be relevantat all. In order to make a selection of the relevance of the stocks, a cross-reference canbe made between the Telos model stocks (Figure 3, Appendix: Telos dimensions andstocks) and the business-level strategy aspects that define small design firms along withthe human capital resource as its SCA (HCRSCA). The result of this cross-referenceis shown in Table 4. Since HCRSCA is based on the small and design aspects of the

26


firm, one can argue that it is already embedded in these strategical aspects and thereforeunnecessary to include. However, due to its importance and direct connection to SCAit will be considered as a strategical aspect on its own.

Table 4: Cross-reference of Telos stocks and relevance to business-level strategy aspectssmall, design and HCRSCAStock Small Design HCRSCA

Social stocks

Health YesSolidarity YesArt and cultural heritage YesCitizenshipEducation YesResidential area

Ecologic stocks

Nature YesSoil YesGroundwater YesAir YesSurface water YesNatural resources YesLandscape Yes

Economic stocks

Labour YesCapital goodsKnowledge Yes YesInfrastructureResources and materials Yes Yes

From this cross-reference in Table 4 it is clear that some stocks are of no relevance toany of the strategical aspects of small design firms. These stocks include: citizenship,residential area, capital goods and infrastructure. Citizenship is not affected by smalldesign firms since their influence on the citizen’s involvement with and position withinpolitics and society is very low and in this case negligible. In the residential area, smalldesign firms have no influence on the improvement of the residential climate quality sinceoperations take place at the firm location and at client business locations. The capitalgoods and infrastructure are also irrelevant, since small design firms have no influenceon the promotion of the investment level of the business sector to create more capital

27


goods or improve infrastructure due to their size. These stocks are most of the time onlyinfluenced by large conglomerations of market leaders.

The small business-level aspect is relevant to both knowledge and resources & materi-als stocks. Because small firms are very dependent on proper knowledge management(Desouza and Awazu, 2006), their work environment should stimulate and fuel inter-employee knowledge transfer. Also, individual research proposals tend to be approved ofmore easily in an informal business environment. Apart from adaptations and changes inthe knowledge area, small firms can change or influence work processes that involve thesustainable use of resources and materials more easily compared to large multi-layeredbureaucratic firms, which tend to be slow when it comes to change.

Since the process of design, in which materials are used and production of furniture andclothing takes place, influences the pollution of the used water and exhumed air and theusage of natural resources, the design business-level aspect is relevant for all ecological(planet) dimension stocks. The art & cultural heritage and resources & materials stocksare also influenced by the artistic and cultural value of the products and the resources& materials that are used to create these products.

Finally, for firms that need to keep creativity of employees as the HCRSCA, their influ-ences should be dedicated to health, solidarity and education by ensuring a healthy workenvironment, possibilities for employees to vent their opinions, employee career oppor-tunities and internships for educational purposes. Furthermore, labour is the most HCRrelated stock, since creating and keeping an employment market with creative talentsis essential for current and future employment within the firm. The knowledge stock isalso linked to HCRSCA. Knowledge management is very important for the small firmssince there is a lack of resources for attracting premium employees (Desouza and Awazu,2006). It also increases the knowledge level and quality of current employees. With theaggregated stocks (Table 4) a possible sustainability mapping for small design firms canbe made on the value chain (Figure 3).

3.1.2 Mapping sustainability stocks to the value chain

All the stocks mentioned in the cross-reference (Table 4) can be mapped to variousparts of the value chain in a similar way Porter mapped social responsibility aspects tothe value chain (Appendix: Corporate social responsibility mapped to the value chain).Each stock is mapped from one or multiple strategical aspects of the small design firm.The result of this mapping can be seen in Figure 6.

From the small strategical aspect, the knowledge management that small firms benefitfrom can be mapped as the knowledge stock on the secondary value-chain activities oftechnology development and human resource management. Whereas technology devel-opment deals with the research of products, materials and processes; the training aspectof human resource management encourages the increase of knowledge among the firm’s

28


Figure 6: Mapping of small(s), design(d) and HCRSCA(h) related sustainability stocksto Porter’s value chain

29


labour force. The resources & materials stock can also be mapped with technology devel-opment, since research is also centered around resources. Furthermore the resources &material stock can be mapped to the primary activity of inbound logistics that controlsthe purchase of materials for the firm’s operations.

Stocks related to the design facet of small design firms, are mostly related to ecologysince the value chain parts that are mapped with these stocks have the most influenceon ecology. Most of the design related actions occur in the main production processof the firm that is depicted as the primary activity of operations in the value chain.The process of design involves the choice of materials used, assembly of componentsfrom raw materials and fabrication of products that are all embedded in operations andinbound logistics. All of these processes have a direct or indirect effect on nature, soil,groundwater, air, surface water, natural resources, landscape and resources & materialsstocks because of the water, electricity and materials that are used and the air and wateremissions. Apart from its ecological role, the landscape stock is also mapped with theafter-sales service of the value chain. The installation of the newly designed productsalso has its effect on the landscape. Even if the landscape has an urban setting. Differentdesigns result in a different usage of resources, different type of emissions and differentproperties of the final product. The contribution to the art & cultural heritage stockcomes from the cultural value of design. Unfortunately, this value is hard to map withany activity of the value chain. Since the cultural value is created in the processes ofdesign and the actual manufacturing of the product, operations is the part of the valuechain where it can be mostly related to.

The stocks related to HCRSCA are mostly associated with the secondary value chainactivity of human resource management. Health and solidarity stocks entail the physicaland socially well being of the employees and education can be directly linked to the ex-ample of training and internships. Both labour and knowledge stock can be mappeddirectly on human resource management, where the knowledge stock in relation toHCRSCA emphasizes on employee training in order to increase creativity and assurethat employees are invested in on an intellectual level. With all these stocks mapped tothe value chain, it is clear what sustainability issues should be included in a sustainablebusiness-level strategy for small design firms with the creative skills of their employeesas their SCA.

3.2 Scorecard

The mapped stocks in Figure 6 form the basis of a scorecard with which small designfirms can aggregate their current level of sustainability. Each link between stock andvalue chain aspect results in one or more questions. These questions test whether thefirm takes the mapped stocks into account in its current sustainability strategy regardingthe value chain aspect. The questions in the questionnaire are grouped by the small,design and HCRSCA strategical aspects. An overview of the questions grouped by the

30


strategical aspects can be found in Appendix: Sustainability scorecard for small designfirms.

3.2.1 Small firm questions

From the small strategical aspect the resources & materials stock is mapped to inboundlogistics and technology development. In the purchasing process of inbound logistics afirm should continuously question the sustainable value of the resources and materialsit uses (Appendix: Sustainability scorecard for small design firms, Question S1). Smallfirms also have the advantage of research flexibility. This can be used to research thepossible use of new materials (Question S2). The knowledge stock is mapped to tech-nology development and human resource management. The firms size allows for flexibleresearch possibilities in order to enhance the knowledge of the firm leading to possibleproduct differentiation and the adaptation of processes (Questions S3, S4). It shouldbe noted however that research is expensive and mostly executed by large firms. Fur-thermore, as a small firm collaboration on sustainability enhancing projects with otherfirms could provide mutual benefits (Question S5). The link of the knowledge stock withhuman resource management resembles the firm’s efforts in facilitating and encouragingknowledge sharing between employees (Questions S6, S7). Especially in small firms thiscould result in an increase of overall knowledge within the firm.

3.2.2 Design firm questions

Most design related stocks are related to ecology and the planet capital. Nature, soil,grounwater, air, surface water and natural resources are all mapped to operations withinthe value-chain. Design happens in the process of production which is part of the firmsoperations. All of the designers choices influence the process and the firms emissions.These emissions influence the quality of air, surface water, soil and groundwater (Ap-pendix: Sustainability scorecard for small design firms, Question D1). Furthermore,according to the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, production and services areconsidered sustainable if they are: ”safe and ecologically sound throughout their life cycle;as appropriate, designed to be durable, repairable, readily recycled, compostable, or easilybiodegradable; produced and packaged using minimal amounts of most environmentallybenign materials and energy” (Questions D2 - D6)(Veleva et al., 2001). One of the goalsof the landscape stock is the preservation of limited space. Small design firms have twolevels on which limited space is affected. Direct, which refers to the firm’s own location(Question D7). And indirect, which refers to the influence of the firm on other firm’slandscape with its products. Small design firms that design retail interiors have to takeinto account what the indirect impact of a new style of design can be on the (urban)landscape and its surroundings (Question D8). Finally from the design related stocks,the art & cultural heritage stock emphasizes the need to save and add new culturalheritage in the process of design (Question D9).

31


3.2.3 HCRSCA questions

Since the stocks of the HCRSCA questions are related to the sustainability of humancapital they are all connected to the human resource management segment of the valuechain. The first two questions related to the social well being of the firms activities arerelated to the health stock which is part of the people capital of the Telos model. Thequestions entail the stock’s goal of contributing to the physical and spiritual health ofthe population; in this case the employees (Appendix: Sustainability scorecard for smalldesign firms, Questions H1, H2 ). The solidarity stock goals include the promotion ofsocial cohesion and the expression of the individual. In small design firms ones individualexpression is essential for the promotion of creativity (Question H3). Social cohesionincreases the collaboration and acceptance among employees and determines the cultureof a firm which is essential for the creativity (Alleleijn et al., 2008) (Archer and Walczyk,2006) (Question H4). The knowledge and education stocks encourage the strengtheningof the innovative and creative capabilities of business, organizations and people. This isbe done by enabling employees to learn additional skills and train current ones (QuestionH5 5). Apart from increasing the skills of current employees, firms can also invest inattracting and training new (future) creative employees through internships (QuestionH6). In order to contain the gained creativity within the firm, measures need to betaken in order to ensure that employees are comfortable and satisfied with their currentemployer. For small firms, highly creative employers are not easily replaced compared tolarge firms (Autier and Picq, 2002). In order to avoid replacement of current employees,firms can also invest in refraining employees from leaving the firm (Question H7). Finally,apart from ensuring a healthy and legally compliant work environment, small designfirms should enable the work environment to provide a solid base for the expression ofcreativity by complying with the flow factors (Table 1). Because the last three factorsdescribe a state of mind and individual experiences, it is difficult to translate them intomeasurable questions. Also the merging of action and awareness and the exclusion ofdistraction can be combined into a single question, resulting in adding five questions ofthe nine flow factors as a question (Questions H8.1 - H8.5).

32


4 Case study

For this case study we use the aggregated sustainability scorecard for small design firmsto measure the current level of sustainability of 3D Projecten. Through a personallyadministered questionnaire all questions on the scorecard are answered by the owner,managing director of the firm: Peter Robben. The choice of interviewing a managingdirector is based on their high level of involvement in the strategy formation process.Because of the small firm size, having only one source as interviewee is sufficient, sincethe managing director can provide all information that is needed to answer the questionsof the scorecard. The managing director also has a good perspective on all aspects ofthe firm and its interaction with the different internal and external stakeholders.

4.1 Case study analysis

The answers of 3D Projecten’s managing director on the sustainability scorecard areshown in Appendix: Sustainability scorecard answers. From a total of 29, 20 (69%)were answered with ”Yes” and 9 (31%) with ”No”. In addition to the answers givenby the managing director of the firm, some elaboration is also worth mentioning whenstudying the outcome of the scorecard. In order to analyze the given answers, they arereviewed in the same order as the order of the questions and are followed by a conclusionand recommendation section.

4.1.1 Small firm related answers

Currently 3D Projecten does not question the sustainable value and origin of the usedresources and materials (Appendix: Sustainability scorecard answers, S1). This is in linewith the general approach of the company, which only enquires in the origin and sus-tainable value of materials by customer demand. Furthermore, the market from whichthe firm acquires its materials, does not have transparent regulations to ensure the sus-tainability of the origin of the materials. Research on new materials is part of the firm’sprocesses (S2), but only occurs when clients or other external stockholders indicate itsnecessity. Research on product differentiation and the improvement of processes (S3,S4)is also performed and has a strong overlap, since the firm offers their clients a wholeseries of processes that take a client from its vision, through a concept, to actual de-signs and a retail interior. The processes within the firm are almost fully in line withthe delivered services and products. Other activities of the firm that entail sustainabil-ity are collaborations with external parties (S5). An example of said collaboration isa construction project with Van Helvoirt Groenprojecten B.V. in which not only thedeliverables, but also the whole way different parties collaborate in the realization of theproject are sustainable. For facilitating and encouraging knowledge sharing (S6,S7), 3DProjecten has implemented a system called TRIAS, where all processes and productscan be monitored as well as the related knowledge.

33


4.1.2 Design related answers

The scorecard shows that 3D Projecten has never monitored the emissions that arerelated to the processes of the firm (Appendix: Sustainability scorecard answers, D1)and that getting an insight in the CO2 emissions and electricity usage has not beena priority. From an economical and generally sustainable perspective, material usageis kept to a minimum and environmentally friendly materials are preferred (D2). Thedesigns and products have an above average life expectancy within the retail branch andare designed to be timeless (D3). In the design process the ease of repair (D4) is takeninto account, while the biodegradability and recycling possibilities of the product (D5)are not. The amount of energy that is needed for the production is not considered inthe design (D6). For the type of lights that are embedded in the product sustainabilitydoes play a role. Many retail furniture pieces have embedded lights. The firm checksquarterly for new developments in the field of light emitting products.In regard to the local and urban landscape, the products have little to no influence onthe local landscape (D7). All production and design is done indoor and from the outsidethe building of 3D Projecten looks like any other building on the adjacent premises.When deploying the products in the urban setting, the impact of the products on theirsurroundings is not taken into account (D8). The products are only designed to improvethe image and function of the retail store. When cultural heritage is involved, 3DProjecten respects its value by taking it into account in its process of product design(D9).

4.1.3 HCRSCA related answers

3D Projecten incorporates only standard health regulations (Appendix: Sustainabilityscorecard answers, H1, H2) and employees have enough possibilities to express them-selves and grow individually within the company (H3). In order to encourage socialcohesion among employees there are several social activities a year (H4). The firm doesnot actively push its employees to learn additional skills (H5). However, employees dohave the possibility if they address this need themselves. In order to attract and investin future employees the firm hosts internships (H6). In contrast, it does not actively tryto keep current highly skilled employees from leaving the company (H7). If employeesfeel they want to leave the company and work elsewhere no measures are taken to pre-vent the employee from leaving. A high employee turnover has never been a problem.All questions that aggregated the presence of flow factors where answered with a ”yes”(H8.1 - H8.5). This shows that 3D Projecten has a solid basis for creativity, based onthe presence of flow enabling factors (H8).

34


4.1.4 Case study conclusions and recommendations

With 69% of all questions answered positively, 3D Projecten already has some part of thesustainability scorecard covered. Still 28% of the scorecard leaves room for improvement(question D7 is considered to be inapplicable due to its lack of influence). The small firmsize flexibility that enables firms to easily change their business-level strategy, does notseem to mitigate the little influence a small firm has in demanding transparency of theorigin of imported materials. Apart from the materials, the origin of the used electricityis not questioned on its sustainability either. To improve the sustainability and itsassessment of the imported materials and used resources, 3D Projecten could for examplecollaborate with other similar small design firms or join an existing organization in orderto increase the demand for PEFC and FSC certified lumber, increase the biodegradabilityof used plastics with the help of the EN 13432 certification as stated by EuropeanBioplastics and increase the demand for 100% green electricity in the industrial zonewhere the firm is located. If the size of the firm is the inhibiting factor to pursue thesegoals, it needs to team up with other firms for a mutual cause.

When looking at the business-level design processes, 3D Projecten does not monitor itsemissions and electricity usage. To keep track of the emissions and energy consump-tion the firm should start inventorying what kind of emissions it produces and whatbusiness-level processes use up most of the energy. Changing to 100% green electricityfor example reduces indirect emissions of energy production and changing energy us-age in the business processes might save the energy consumption and lower productioncosts. Currently, the firm’s products are not designed to be easily recycled, biodegradedor composted or to use as little energy as possible for their production. The attributesthat makeup the final product are mostly influenced by the client. Only if the clientdemands highly sustainable cradle to cradle application of materials, the design will befocused on the client’s preferences. To increase the recyclability, biodegradability andcomposting possibilities of its products, 3D Projecten could choose to always fully incor-porate these aspects into the design processes instead of having it depend on the client’swishes. When choosing this approach, it is essential for 3D Projecten that their new,sustainability driven design and production strategy is promoted as a great addition fortheir client’s product and not as a shortcoming, handicap or general nuisance in thedesign process. This will enable the firm to treat the sustainability of their products asone of company’s SCA’s and pave the way for future improvement in this area. Sus-tainability in design could even open up a whole new creative field and introduce newtypes of design for new applications (Roy, 2000). The firm’s current collaboration withvan Helvoirt Groen Projecten B.V. is a perfect example of this development; it takes3D Projecten to a whole new level of design and sustainability. With regard to theurban landscape, 3D Projecten does not take into account what the effect on the urbansurroundings will be when designing the interior for one of the retail clients. Since theproduct focus is on the interior of the store, there is almost no landscape to take intoaccount. The fact that the firm does take locally involved cultural heritage into accountwith their designs suffices for a positive stance on possible landscape influence and the

35


preservation of existing heritage.

The HRM policy of 3D Projecten is mostly focused on meeting legislation standards,taking a supportive stance towards its employees and facilitating internships for possiblefuture employees. In order to attract and keep creative talented employees within thecompany, the most important factor is the freedom in design and a proper environmentfor an employee to develop their creativity (Bilton and Leary, 2002)(Csikszentmihalyi,1997). 3D Projecten already facilitates these circumstances in relation to the flow fac-tors. However, improvements could entail above standard health regulations, a pro activetake on additional training & skill improvement and other possible benefits or creativityenhancing or nurturing activities. Apart from decreasing the chances of employees leav-ing, these measures can also enhance the creativity and work quality of the employeesand with that, increasing the overall quality of the designs and products. Luckily for 3DProjecten, employee turnover has always been low, rendering the need for measures torefrain employees from leaving the company currently unnecessary. Also, if 3D Projectenwhere to improve the 28% of the questions of the scorecard, the circumstances enablingflow should be taken into account.

36


5 Conclusions and recommendations

The theoretical analysis of the basic research in this thesis shows that small design firmsare characterized by a small amount of employees, marked as high-payoff firms due toa relative high turnover & experienced management, have a single manager and a localfocus of operations. The operations of these firms entail the autonomous creative pro-duction of transferring concepts to visual products. Also, it is essential for these firms tohave an environment that fuels and values this creative process in order to ensure highquality products and services. Therefore, it is very important that the (flow) factorsthat fuel this creativity are respected and enhanced where possible.Furthermore, the basic research shows that the most appropriate business-level strategyfor small design firms is either the product differentiation strategy or focus differentia-tion strategy. These strategies are highly useful for small design firms that want to usethe creativity of their employees as their sustainable competitive advantage. With theseunique design skills the firm can enter the market with unique products or adapt to theconsumer needs. Apart form the basic economic advantage of the most appropriate firmstrategies, they can be used very well to increase a firms sustainability. Sustainabilitycan either be a value added product or service when following the product differentiationstrategy, or specifically applied for the consumer when following the focus differentiationstrategy. Furthermore, the research shows that in order to increase its overall sustainabil-ity, small design firms should focus their operations and activities on the improvementand preservation of all three sustainability pillars: social, ecologic and economic. TheTelos model provides a framework which can be used to assess a firm’s level of sustain-ability based on the three pillars.By combining the value chain of small design firms with relevant stocks of the Telossustainability model, the developed scorecard in this thesis provides a promising sus-tainability enhancing strategic framework. This custom framework provides a basis todetermine the current and future sustainability goals for small design firms. The theo-retical analysis and case study of the research results show that for small design firms,employee creativity is the most important sustainable competitive advantage related tothe triple bottom line’s people of sustainability. The processes and design activities arethe most influential firm aspects of the planet dimension and the profit dimension ishardly influenced by these small design firm’s characteristics.Small design firms need a strategy that nurtures and aggregates employee creativity toensure a sustainable future and quality of its products and services and keep employeeturnover low. Furthermore, in relation to the planet dimension, most sustainabilityprogress can be made by adapting the design and production process in combinationwith an improved choice of resources. For small firms however, this adaptation is not amere action of choice. Their low influence and bargaining power towards suppliers andother stakeholders of the supply chain creates a barrier when trying to set new purchas-ing standards for the origin and sustainability enhancing properties of the resources andmaterials. Collaboration with other (small) firms is key to increase the influence andbargaining power towards suppliers and other stakeholders.

37


Clients are especially important stakeholders to take into account when adapting thefirm’s strategy. Especially if a focus differentiation strategy is considered. When switch-ing towards more sustainable design processes, materials and resources and following theproduct differentiation strategy, the change must enhance the clients experience of valuefor design, product quality and service. However, with the subjective nature of designquality assertion, this can become quite a challenge. Lastly, small design firms shouldcontinue to research new ways to increase the sustainability of their designs, usages ofresources & materials and other processes. These changes should be done in collabora-tion with other small firms to diminish the relatively high costs for small firms and withthe clients perception of design, value and quality in mind.

The outcome of the case study demonstrates the completeness and usefulness of theframework for the single case of 3D Projecten. However, the results are not generalizablebecause the scorecard has only been used in a single case study. Future research isinevitable to properly assert the strategy framework’s quality and general usefulnessfor other small design firms. Also, only the directing manager of the firm has beeninterviewed. Therefore increasing the number of interviews within a single firm andincluding the employees would increase the reliability and validity of the collected data.Especially on the social dimension of the stocks and the flow factor aspects within thefirm. Interviewing the entire design department (Appendix: Organizational chart 3DProjecten) for example, would give more valid and reliable results for the presence offlow factors.For future research, different small design firms, categorized under the design industryfirm types that are described in section 2.1 (DCMS, 2001; Scott, 2000), could be usedas new samples for the case study using the same scorecard. This form of structuredsnowball sampling could help determine the sustainability of a firm in different directions,since sustainability also entails responsibility up and down the vertical industrial supplychain that a firm operates in (Seuring et al., 2008). Subjecting multiple firms to thescorecard will yield possible correlation between sustainability and other firm data. Inaddition, data from multiple relevant samples could be used to adapt and perfect thescorecard to provide better results for small design firms.In order to add more depth to the scorecard and the firm’s sustainability results, thegoal indicators of the Telos model that measure the current level of sustainability couldbe integrated in the scorecard. Lastly, the process of mapping the Telos sustainabilitystocks related to small design firms to the value chain, could also be applied to othertypes of firms in line with their strategic theoretical background.

38


References

G.J.P Alleleijn, L.W. Barten, E. Foks, A.A.F Mickers, and M.W. Van Twuijver. 3dprojecten: Project assignment d. -, 2008.

A. Archer and D. Walczyk. Driving creativity and innovation through culture. Designmanagement review, 17(3):15, 2006.

Fabienne Autier and Thierry Picq. Video games companies: a progressive uncoupling ofart and business. European Group for Organizational Studies, 18:1–20, July 2002.

Jay B Barney. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Man-agement, 17(1):99–120, 1991.

Jay B Barney. Gaining and sustaining competitive advantage. Addison-Wesley Publish-ing Company, 1997.

Jay B Barney and William S. Hesterly. Strategic Management and Competitive Advan-tage. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.

Jay B Barney, Mike Wright, and Dadvid J Ketchen. The resource-based view of thefirm: Ten years after 1991. Journal of Management, 27:625–641, 2001.

C. Bilton and R. Leary. What can managers do for creativity? brokering creativity inthe creative industrie. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 8(7):49–64, 2002.

N. R. C. board on Sustainable Development. Our Common Journey: A TransitionToward Sustainability. National Academy Press, 1999.

Peter Boxall and John Purcell. Strategic human resource management: Where have wecome from and where should we be going? International Journal of ManagementReviews, 2(2):183–203, June 2000.

C Chambers, P Kouvelis, and J Semple. Quality-based competition, profitability, andvariable costs. Management Science, 52(12):1884–1895, 2006.

Barry A. Colbert. The complex resource-based view: Implications for theory and practicein strategic human resource management. Academy of management review, 29(3):341–358, 2004.

Arnold C. Cooper. Strategic management: New ventures and small business. Long rangeplanning, 14(5):39–45, 1981.

M. Csikszentmihalyi. Happines and creativity. The Futurist, 31(5):8–12, 1997.

DCMS. Creative industries mapping document 2001. Technical report, DCMS Depart-ment for culture media and sport, 2001.

Kevin C Desouza and Yukika Awazu. Knowledge management at smes: Fice peculiari-ties. Journal of Knowledge Management, 10(1):32–44, 2006.

39


John Elkington. Cannibals With Forks: Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business.John Wiley and Sons Ltd, new edition edition, 1999.

European-Commission. Commission recommendation of 6 may 2003 concerning the def-inition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Official Journal of the EuropeanUnion, 1:36–41, 2003.

H. Gardner. Frames of the mind, the theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books Inc.Publishers, 1983.

Frans Hermans, Luuk Knippenberg, Wim Haarmann, and John Dagevos. Duurzaamhei-dsbalans van brabant 2006: De verantwoording, december 2006.

Robert W. Kates, Thomas M. Parris, and Anthony A. Leiserowitz. What is sustainabledevelopment? Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 47(3):8–12, April 2005.

P. Kline. The everyday genius, Restoring children’s natural joy of learning and yours,too. Great Ocean publishers, 1988.

Oluf Langhelle. Sustainable developement: exploring the ethics of our common future.International Political Science Review, 20(2):129–149, 1999.

R. Lynch. Corporate Strategy. Prentice Hall Financial Times, 3rd edition, 2003.

Joseph T. Mahoney and J. Rajendran Pandian. The resource-based view within theconverstation of strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 13:363–380,1992.

W. McDonough and M. Braungart. Beyond the triple bottom line: A new standard fortwenty-first century commerce. GreenMoney Journal, -(-):–, June 2003.

Henry Mintzberg, Joseph Lampel, James Brian Quinn, and Sumantra Ghoshal. TheStrategy Process: concepts, contexts, cases. Pearson Education Limited, 2003.

Michael E. Porter. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Perfor-mance. New York: Free Press, 1985.

Michael E Porter. Competitive Advantage. New York: Free Press, 1987.

Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer. Strategy and Society The Link Between Com-petitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility. Harvard Business Review,2006.

Robin Roy. Sustainable product-service systems. Futures, 32(3-4):289–299, April 2000.

A.J. Scott. The cultural economy of cities: essays on the geography of imago-producingindustries. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 21(2):323–339,2000.

40


Mel Scott and Richard Bruce. Five stages of growth in small business. Long rangeplanning, 20(3):45–52, 1987.

Uma Sekaran. Research Methods For Business: A Skill-building Approach. John Wiley& Sons, Inc, fourth edition, 2003.

Stefan Seuring, Joseph Sarkis, Martin Muller, and Purba Rao. Sustainability and sup-ply chain management – an introduction to the special issue. Journal of CleanerProduction, 16:1545–1551, October 2008.

Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. W.Strahan and T. Cadell, London, metalibri digital library (2007) edition, 1776.

P. E. Tesluk, J. L. Farr, and S. A. Klein. Influences of organisational culture and climateon individual creativity. Journal of Creative Behavior, 31(1):27–41, 1997.

V. Veleva, M. Hart, T. Greiner, and C. Crumbly. Indicators of sustainable production.Journal of cleaner productions, 9:447–452, 2001.

P. Wright, B. Dunford, and S. Snell. Human resources and the resource-based view ofthe firm. Journal of Management, 6:701–721, 2001.

Patrick M. Wright and Gary C. McMahan. Theoretical perspectives for strategic humanresource management. Journal of Management, 18:295–320, 1992.

41


Ap

pen

dix

Org

aniz

ati

onal

chart

3D

Pro

ject

en

Fig

ure

7:O

rgan

izat

iona

lch

art

3DP

roje

cten

2010

42


Telo

sdim

ensi

ons

and

stock

s

Soci

alSt

ock

Des

crip

tion

Goa

lsH

ealt

hO

neof

the

prec

ondi

tion

sfo

ra

sust

aina

ble

soci

ety

isa

heal

thy

popu

lati

on,

both

ina

phys

ical

and

am

enta

lse

nse.

Hea

lth

has

both

anob

ject

ive

(per

cent

age

ofpe

ople

sick

and

num

-be

rof

deat

hs)

and

asu

bje

ctiv

eco

mpo

nent

(hea

lth

perc

ep-

tion

).Fu

rthe

rmor

e,al

thou

ghth

ere

spon

sibi

lity

for

heal

than

dhe

alth

care

lies

part

lyw

ith

the

publ

icau

thor

itie

sit

mos

tce

rtai

nly

also

lies

wit

hth

ein

divi

dual

citi

zens

.

-C

ontr

ibut

ing

toim

prov

ing

the

phys

ical

and

spir

itua

lhe

alth

ofth

epo

pula

tion

.-

Impr

ovin

gth

equ

alit

yan

dac

cess

i-bi

lity

ofhe

alth

care

.

Solid

arit

ySo

lidar

ity

isan

impo

rtan

tpr

econ

diti

onfo

rco

hesi

onin

so-

ciet

y;it

func

tion

sas

aso

cial

glue

.So

lidar

ity

isab

out

ties

whi

chbi

ndpe

ople

,be

twee

nfa

mily

mem

ber,

but

also

be-

twee

nin

divi

dual

san

dth

ein

tere

stor

gani

sati

ons

twit

hw

hich

peop

leid

enti

fy.

Itis

the

prec

ondi

tion

for

soci

alin

tera

ctio

nan

dat

the

sam

eti

me

deno

tes

the

degr

eeto

whi

cha

soci

ety

man

ages

topr

even

ta

soci

aldi

vide

.

-P

rom

otin

gso

cial

cohe

sion

.-

Pre

vent

ing

pove

rty.

-P

reve

ntin

gex

clus

ion.

Inha

bita

nts

may

expr

ess

thei

rid

en-

tity

aslo

ngas

itdo

esno

tre

stri

ctot

her

peop

les

free

dom

.

Art

and

cult

ural

heri

tage

The

art

and

cult

ural

heri

tage

stoc

kde

als

wit

hth

epr

eser

ving

and

rest

ruct

urin

gof

cult

ural

expr

essi

ons

set

dow

nin

tim

ean

dsp

ace,

pres

ervi

ngan

dpr

otec

ting

the

cult

ural

heri

tage

.It

isal

soco

ncer

ned

wit

hth

eav

aila

bilit

yof

,an

dac

cess

to,

cult

ural

faci

litie

san

dac

tivi

ties

.

-Im

prov

ing

the

quan

tity

and

qual

-it

yof

cult

ure

onoff

er.

-P

rom

otin

gth

eac

tive

orpa

ssiv

eus

eof

the

cult

ure

onoff

er.

-P

rote

ctin

gan

dst

reng

then

ing

the

cult

ural

heri

tage

.

43


Cit

izen

ship

Cit

izen

ship

deno

tes

the

polit

ical

rela

tion

ship

sbe

twee

nth

ein

habi

tant

sof

ade

moc

rati

cst

ate

and

all

the

orga

nise

dpo

-lit

ical

inst

itut

ions

ofth

atst

ate.

Cit

izen

ship

isba

sed

onth

epr

inci

ple

ofeq

ualit

y:as

citi

zens

ina

stat

e,ev

ery

pers

onha

seq

ual

righ

tsan

ddu

ties

befo

reth

ela

w.

-P

rom

otin

gth

ein

volv

emen

t(b

oth

acti

vean

dpa

ssiv

e)of

citi

zens

inpo

l-it

ics

and

soci

ety.

-Im

prov

ing

the

qual

ity

ofin

form

a-ti

onpr

ovis

ion

toci

tize

nsso

that

they

are

ina

posi

tion

toin

fluen

cede

cisi

onm

akin

g.

Edu

cati

onE

duca

tion

isex

trem

ely

impo

rtan

tfo

rou

rso

ciet

y,bo

thin

term

sof

the

tran

sfer

ofpr

acti

cal

orec

onom

ical

lyus

able

know

ledg

ean

dsk

ills

and

wit

hre

gard

toth

etr

ansf

erof

val-

ues

and

stan

dard

sfr

omon

ege

nera

tion

toth

ene

xt.

Inth

eed

ucat

ion

stoc

k,at

tent

ion

isde

vote

dbo

thto

the

qual

ity

ofpr

imar

yan

dse

cond

ary

educ

atio

n,as

wel

las

toth

etr

aini

ngan

ded

ucat

ion

ofad

ults

and

the

tie-

upbe

twee

ned

ucat

ion

and

the

need

sof

soci

ety.

-Im

prov

ing

the

qual

ity

and

acce

ssi-

bilit

yof

educ

atio

nat

ever

yle

vel.

-Im

prov

ing

the

tie-

upbe

twee

ned

-uc

atio

nan

dth

ene

eds

ofso

ciet

y.-

Red

ucin

gth

edr

opou

tra

tes

ofyo

ung

peop

lein

educ

atio

n.

Res

iden

tial

area

Wit

hin

the

stoc

kL

ivin

gco

ndit

ions

,at

tent

ion

isde

vote

dto

the

avai

labi

lity

and

qual

ity

ofho

usin

g,th

eav

aila

bilit

yof

publ

icfa

cilit

ies

and

ever

yday

nece

ssit

ies,

and

peop

les

sati

s-fa

ctio

nw

ith

thei

row

nliv

ing

cond

itio

ns.

-Im

prov

ing

the

qual

ity

and

size

ofth

eho

usin

gsu

pply

.-

Impr

ovin

gth

equ

alit

yof

the

resi

-de

ntia

lclim

ate

(pub

licfa

cilit

ies

and

ever

yday

nece

ssit

ies

acce

ssib

lean

dw

ithi

nea

syre

ach)

44


Eco

logi

cSt

ock

Des

crip

tion

Goa

lsN

atur

eO

nth

esu

stai

nabi

lity

bala

nce

shee

t,an

ecos

yste

map

proa

chto

natu

reis

used

whi

chis

conn

ecte

dw

ith

the

biod

iver

sity

inan

area

.In

this

stoc

ka

dist

inct

ion

ism

ade

betw

een

natu

reon

ala

rge

scal

e,su

chas

isfo

und

inth

eec

olog

ical

netw

ork,

and

natu

rein

the

rura

lar

eas.

-Inc

reas

ing

the

area

cove

red

byin

-te

rlin

ked

natu

rere

serv

es.

-In

crea

sing

biod

iver

sity

(var

iati

onof

plan

tan

dan

imal

spec

ies)

.

Soil

The

soil

stoc

kre

late

sto

the

topm

ost

laye

rof

the

eart

hscr

ust,

inso

far

asth

isis

root

edin

and

chan

ges

unde

rth

ein

fluen

ceof

phys

ical

,ch

emic

alor

biol

ogic

alpr

oces

ses.

The

shal

low

(fre

atic

)w

ater

tabl

eal

sofo

rms

part

ofth

eso

ilst

ock.

-Im

prov

ing

soil

qual

ity

(cle

aner

).-

Pre

serv

ing

the

prod

ucti

vequ

alit

y(a

gric

ultu

re).

Gro

undw

ater

The

dist

inct

ion

betw

een

the

grou

ndw

ater

,sur

face

wat

eran

dso

ilst

ocks

isso

met

imes

diffi

cult

tode

term

ine.

We

have

con-

fined

this

tode

epgr

ound

wat

er(b

elow

10m

)w

hich

isab

-st

ract

edfo

r,fo

rex

ampl

e,pr

oces

sw

ater

and

the

irri

gati

onof

agri

cult

ural

area

s.G

roun

dwat

erqu

alit

yca

nbe

thre

aten

edby

eutr

ophi

cati

on,

acid

ifica

tion

and

the

use

ofha

zard

ous

subs

tanc

essu

chas

pest

icid

es.

-Im

prov

ing

the

qual

ity

ofth

egr

ound

wat

er(c

lean

er).

-N

ogr

eate

rab

stra

ctio

nof

grou

nd-

wat

erth

anca

nbe

natu

rally

repl

enis

hed.

Air

The

air

stoc

kre

late

sto

the

com

posi

tion

ofth

eam

bien

tai

rin

apa

rtic

ular

area

.A

irqu

alit

yis

affec

ted

toa

larg

eex

tent

byem

issi

ons

whi

ch,

alth

ough

som

etim

eslo

cal,

are

very

ofte

nno

tem

itte

din

the

sam

ear

ea.

Air

qual

ity

isth

eref

ore

anis

sue

ata

num

ber

ofdi

ffere

ntle

vels

.A

ta

loca

lle

vel

itin

volv

espr

oble

ms

such

assm

ogan

dfin

epa

rtic

ulat

esw

hile

atth

eot

her

extr

eme,

ata

glob

alle

vel,

emis

sion

sof

CO

2fr

omin

cine

rati

onpr

oces

ses

play

aro

le.

-Im

prov

ing

air

qual

ity

(cle

aner

).R

educ

ing

odou

rnu

isan

ce.

-R

educ

ing

nois

enu

isan

ce.

-B

eing

clim

ate

neut

ral

by,

for

ex-

ampl

e,re

duci

ngem

issi

ons

ofgr

een-

hous

ega

ses

toze

ro.

-C

omba

ting

light

nuis

ance

.

45


Surf

ace

wat

erT

hesu

rfac

ew

ater

stoc

kis

unde

rsto

odto

mea

n:th

atpa

rtof

the

soil

surf

ace

that

,in

prin

cipl

e,is

cove

red

byw

ater

.W

edi

stin

guis

hflo

win

gw

ater

,su

chas

rive

rsan

dst

ream

s,an

dst

illw

ater

,su

chas

lake

s,ca

nals

,di

tche

san

dbo

gs.

As

far

asth

esu

rfac

ew

ater

stoc

kis

conc

erne

d,th

equ

alit

yof

the

surf

ace

wat

eris

the

prin

cipa

lis

sue.

-M

aint

aini

ngan

d/or

incr

easi

ngth

ear

eaof

surf

ace

wat

er.

-Im

prov

ing

wat

erqu

alit

y(c

lean

er).

Nat

ural

reso

urce

sT

hena

tura

lre

sour

ces

stoc

kco

ncer

nsth

eno

n-re

new

able

re-

sour

ces

whi

char

elo

cally

pres

ent

inth

eso

il.-R

educ

ing

the

extr

acti

onan

dus

eof

non-

rene

wab

lem

iner

als.

Lan

dsca

peT

hela

ndsc

ape

stoc

kre

late

sto

the

perc

epti

onof

type

sof

agri

cult

ural

land

scap

e.T

his

conc

erns

the

spat

ial

qual

ity

ofar

eas

whi

chis

base

don

the

char

acte

rist

ics

ofth

ebu

ilten

-vi

ronm

ent,

the

stru

ctur

ing

achi

eved

thro

ugh

gree

nel

emen

tsan

dth

ecu

ltur

al-h

isto

rica

lid

enti

ty.

-C

ontr

ibut

ing

toth

eim

prov

emen

tof

the

qual

ity

and

attr

acti

vene

ssof

the

land

scap

e.-P

rote

ctin

gan

dst

reng

then

ing

offi-

cial

natu

rala

ndcu

ltur

alla

ndsc

apes

.-C

aref

ulm

anag

emen

tof

limit

edsp

ace.

46


Eco

nom

icSt

ock

Des

crip

tion

Goa

lsL

abou

rL

abou

rw

ithi

nth

eec

onom

icca

pita

lref

ers

toth

ehu

man

abil-

ity

tom

ake

aco

ntri

buti

onto

the

prod

ucti

onpr

oces

sof

good

san

dse

rvic

es.

The

qual

ity

ofla

bour

(kno

wle

dge,

expe

rien

ce,

crea

tivi

ty)

and

the

quan

tita

tive

avai

labi

lity

ofla

bour

isth

usa

cruc

ial

econ

omic

fact

or.

The

func

tion

ing

ofth

ela

bour

mar

ket

isof

grea

tim

port

ance

inbr

ingi

ngto

geth

ersu

pply

and

dem

and.

-In

crea

sing

empl

oym

ent.

-R

educ

ing

unem

ploy

men

t.-

Rai

sing

the

leve

lof

educ

atio

nan

dtr

aini

ngof

the

labo

urfo

rce.

-Im

prov

ing

wor

king

cond

itio

ns.

Cap

ital

good

sC

apit

algo

ods

incl

udes

ever

ythi

ngth

atis

used

for

the

pro-

duct

ion

ofgo

ods

orpr

ovis

ion

ofse

rvic

es.

For

exam

ple,

ma-

chin

es,

mac

hine

ry,

mod

esof

tran

spor

t,la

ndan

dbu

ildin

gs;

insh

ort,

prod

ucti

veca

pita

l.Fr

oman

econ

omic

view

poin

tit

isof

cons

ider

able

impo

rtan

ceth

atsu

ffici

ent

capi

tal

good

ssh

ould

beav

aila

ble,

that

thes

ear

eof

good

qual

ity

and

that

stoc

kssh

ould

bem

aint

aine

dor

incr

ease

dvi

ain

vest

men

ts.

-P

rom

otin

gth

ein

vest

men

tle

vel

ofth

ebu

sine

ssse

ctor

.

Kno

wle

dge

The

know

ledg

est

ock

prim

arily

conc

erns

the

know

ledg

ew

hich

isus

edin

the

prod

ucti

onpr

oces

s.W

ithi

nth

isw

eca

ndi

stin

guis

hbe

twee

nw

hat

iste

rmed

embo

died

know

ledg

ean

ddi

sem

bodi

edkn

owle

dge.

Kno

wle

dge

whi

chis

cont

aine

din

capi

talg

oods

isca

lled

dise

mbo

died

know

ledg

e.E

mbo

died

know

ledg

e,on

the

othe

rha

nd,

isre

late

dto

know

ledg

epo

s-se

ssed

byth

ew

orkf

orce

.In

orde

rto

mai

ntai

nth

ekn

owle

dge

leve

lof

com

pani

esan

dth

ela

bour

forc

e,a

good

know

ledg

ein

fras

truc

ture

ises

sent

ial.

-St

reng

then

ing

the

inno

vati

vean

dcr

eati

veca

pabi

litie

sof

busi

ness

es,

orga

niza

tion

san

dpe

ople

.-

Pro

mot

ing

coop

erat

ion

betw

een

the

know

ledg

ein

stit

utio

nsan

dth

ebu

sine

ssse

ctor

.

47


Infr

astr

uctu

reT

his

stoc

kde

als

wit

hm

atte

rssu

chas

the

infr

astr

uctu

rein

alli

tsfo

rms

(roa

d,ra

il,w

ater

,air

,pip

elin

es,b

road

band

),th

eav

aila

bilit

y,se

gmen

tati

onan

dqu

alit

yof

indu

stri

alsi

tes,

and

the

avai

labi

lity

and

qual

ity

ofbu

sine

sspr

emis

esan

doffi

cebu

ildin

gs.

Alt

houg

hin

fras

truc

ture

,ind

ustr

ials

ites

,bus

ines

spr

emis

esan

doffi

cebu

ildin

gsca

nal

sobe

seen

asa

form

ofca

pita

lgo

ods,

they

are

cons

ider

edhe

reas

anin

divi

dual

stoc

k.A

fter

all,

they

dono

tfu

ncti

onas

adi

rect

inpu

tin

the

prod

ucti

onpr

oces

sbu

tas

alim

itin

gco

ndit

ion

for

the

effec

tive

func

tion

ing

ofth

ere

gion

alec

onom

y.

-Im

prov

ing

the

acce

ssib

ility

(by

road

,wat

er,r

ail,

air

and

IT)

ofbu

si-

ness

es,

faci

litie

san

dec

onom

icce

n-tr

es.

-E

nsur

ing

that

ther

eis

adeq

uate

spac

eav

aila

ble

for

ente

rpri

se.

-E

nsur

ing

that

the

avai

labl

ebu

si-

ness

park

sar

ew

ell

run.

-C

omba

ting

dila

pida

tion

,pr

omot

-in

gm

ulti

-use

and

mul

tifu

ncti

onal

use

ofsp

ace.

Res

ourc

esan

dm

ater

ials

Inad

diti

onto

labo

ur,

capi

tal

and

know

ledg

e,ra

wan

dau

x-ili

ary

mat

eria

lsco

nsti

tute

impo

rtan

tin

puts

for

prod

ucti

on.

As

far

asra

wan

dau

xilia

rym

ater

ials

are

conc

erne

d(f

orth

esa

keof

conv

enie

nce

we

also

incl

ude

ener

gyhe

re)

itm

aybe

spec

ified

that

ala

rge

prop

orti

onof

thes

edo

not

com

efr

omth

efir

mlo

cals

urro

undi

ngs

but

from

abro

ad.

Raw

mat

eria

lsco

stm

oney

and

was

ting

them

puts

abu

rden

onth

een

viro

n-m

ent.

Thi

sis

why

incr

easi

ngat

tent

ion

isbe

ing

devo

ted

tom

ore

ener

gy-e

ffici

ent

use,

the

deve

lopm

ent

ofne

wm

ater

ials

,m

ore

effici

ent

use

ofth

eex

isti

ngst

ocks

and

the

recy

clin

gof

mat

eria

ls.

-Red

ucin

gth

eex

trac

tion

and

use

ofno

n-re

new

able

min

eral

s.-

Pro

mot

ing

the

recy

clin

gof

raw

mat

eria

ls.

-R

educ

ing

ener

gyco

nsum

ptio

nby

busi

ness

esan

din

divi

dual

s.-

Pro

mot

ing

the

prod

ucti

onan

dco

nsum

ptio

nof

sust

aina

ble

ener

gy.

Sour

ce:

Tel

os(H

erm

ans

etal

.,20

06).

48


Sust

ain

abil

ity

score

card

for

small

desi

gn

firm

s

Sm

all

Stoc

kV

alue

chai

nas

pect

Que

stio

nR

esou

rces

and

mat

eria

lsIn

boun

dlo

gist

ics

S1A

reth

eim

port

edre

sour

ces

and

mat

eria

lsfo

rpr

o-du

ctio

nco

ntin

uous

lyqu

esti

oned

onth

eir

sust

aina

ble

valu

e?R

esou

rces

and

mat

eria

lsT

echn

olog

yde

velo

pmen

tS2

Isre

sear

chpe

rfor

med

onth

eus

age

ofdi

ffere

ntm

ater

ials

?K

now

ledg

eT

echn

olog

yde

velo

pmen

tS3

Isre

sear

chpe

rfor

med

onpr

oduc

tdi

ffere

ntia

tion

?K

now

ledg

eT

echn

olog

yde

velo

pmen

tS4

Isth

ere

rese

arch

ondi

ffere

ntki

ndof

proc

esse

s?K

now

ledg

eT

echn

olog

yde

velo

pmen

tS5

Isth

efir

min

volv

edin

sust

aina

bilit

yen

hanc

ing

proj

ects

?K

now

ledg

eH

uman

reso

urce

man

agem

ent

S6D

oes

the

firm

faci

litat

ekn

owle

dge

shar

ing

amon

git

sem

ploy

ees?

Kno

wle

dge

Hum

anre

sour

cem

anag

emen

tS7

Doe

sth

efir

men

cour

age

know

ledg

esh

arin

gam

ong

its

empl

oyee

s?D

esig

n

Stoc

kV

alue

chai

nas

pect

Que

stio

nN

atur

e,so

il,gr

ounw

ater

,ai

r,su

rfac

ew

ater

,na

tura

lre

-so

urce

s

Ope

rati

ons

D1

Do

you

keep

trac

kof

the

emis

sion

sth

efir

mpr

oduc

es?

Res

ourc

esan

dm

ater

ials

Inbo

und

logi

stic

sD

2A

reth

epr

oduc

tsde

sign

edto

bepr

oduc

edw

ith

am

in-

imal

ofen

viro

nmen

tally

favo

red

mat

eria

ls?

Nat

ural

reso

urce

sO

pera

tion

sD

3A

reth

epr

oduc

tsde

sign

edto

bedu

rabl

e?D

4A

reth

epr

oduc

tsde

sign

edto

beea

sily

repa

irab

le?

49


D5

Are

the

prod

ucts

desi

gned

tobe

easi

lyre

cycl

ed,c

om-

post

edor

biod

egra

ded?

D6

Are

the

prod

ucts

desi

gned

tobe

prod

uced

wit

ha

min

-im

alam

ount

ofen

ergy

?L

ands

cape

Ope

rati

ons,

afte

r-Sa

les

Ser-

vice

D7

Isth

eim

pact

ofth

ede

sign

san

dpr

oduc

tson

the

loca

lla

ndsc

ape

take

nin

toac

coun

t?D

8Is

the

impa

ctof

the

desi

gns

and

prod

ucts

onth

eur

ban

land

scap

eta

ken

into

acco

unt?

Art

and

cult

ural

heri

tage

Ope

rati

ons

D9

Doe

sth

efir

mst

rive

toad

dne

wor

save

exis

ting

cul-

tura

lhe

rita

gein

the

proc

ess

ofde

sign

?H

CR

SC

A

Stoc

kV

alue

chai

nas

pect

Que

stio

nH

ealt

hH

uman

reso

urce

man

agem

ent

H1

Are

nati

onal

stan

dard

sco

ncer

ning

heal

thre

gula

tion

met

inth

ew

ork

envi

ronm

ent?

Hea

lth

Hum

anre

sour

cem

anag

emen

tH

2D

oes

the

firm

have

addi

tion

alab

ove

stan

dard

heal

thre

gula

tion

?So

lidar

ity

Hum

anre

sour

cem

anag

emen

tH

3D

oem

ploy

ees

have

enou

ghpo

ssib

iliti

esto

deve

lop

and

expr

ess

them

selv

esin

divi

dual

ly?

Solid

arit

yH

uman

reso

urce

man

agem

ent

H4

Doe

sth

efir

mac

tive

lyen

cour

age

soci

alco

hesi

onof

its

wor

kfor

ce?

Edu

cati

on,

know

ledg

eH

uman

reso

urce

man

agem

ent

H5

Doe

sth

efir

men

able

empl

oyee

sto

lear

nad

diti

onal

skill

san

dtr

ain

curr

ent

skill

s?E

duca

tion

Hum

anre

sour

cem

anag

emen

tH

6D

oes

the

firm

inve

stin

the

trai

ning

orat

trac

tion

offu

ture

crea

tive

”sta

r”em

ploy

ees?

Lab

our

Hum

anre

sour

cem

anag

emen

tH

7D

oes

the

firm

try

toke

epcu

rren

tcr

eati

veem

ploy

ees

from

leav

ing

the

com

pany

?L

abou

r(fl

owfa

ctor

s)H

uman

reso

urce

man

agem

ent

H8

Doe

sth

ew

ork

envi

ronm

ent

prov

ide

aso

lidba

sis

for

crea

tivi

tyin

rela

tion

toth

eflo

wfa

ctor

s?

50


H8.

1A

reth

eir

clea

rgo

als

for

each

proj

ect?

H8.

2A

reem

ploy

ees

reta

ined

from

cont

inuo

usex

tern

alfe

edba

ck?

H8.

3D

oem

ploy

ees

see

the

resu

ltof

thei

rw

ork

wit

hin

ash

ort

tim

esp

an?

H8.

4A

reem

ploy

ees

able

tofo

cus

onon

epr

ojec

tw

itho

utbe

ing

dist

ract

ed?

H8.

5A

reem

ploy

ees

allo

wed

tofa

ilw

itho

utco

nseq

uenc

es?

51


Corp

ora

teso

cial

resp

onsi

bil

ity

mapp

ed

toth

evalu

ech

ain

Fig

ure

8:C

orpo

rate

soci

alre

spon

sibi

lity

aspe

cts

map

ped

onth

eva

lue

chai

n

Sour

ce:

Por

ter

(Por

ter

and

Kra

mer

,20

06)

52


Sust

ain

abil

ity

score

card

answ

ers

Sm

all

Que

stio

nA

nsw

erS1

Are

the

impo

rted

reso

urce

san

dm

ater

ials

for

prod

ucti

onco

ntin

uous

lyqu

esti

oned

onth

eir

sust

aina

ble

valu

e?N

oS2

Isre

sear

chpe

rfor

med

onth

eus

age

ofdi

ffere

ntm

ater

ials

?Y

esS3

Isre

sear

chpe

rfor

med

onpr

oduc

tdi

ffere

ntia

tion

?Y

esS4

Isth

ere

rese

arch

ondi

ffere

ntki

ndof

proc

esse

s?Y

esS5

Isth

efir

min

volv

edin

sust

aina

bilit

yen

hanc

ing

proj

ects

?Y

esS6

Doe

sth

efir

mfa

cilit

ate

know

ledg

esh

arin

gam

ong

its

empl

oyee

s?Y

esS7

Doe

sth

efir

men

cour

age

know

ledg

esh

arin

gam

ong

its

empl

oyee

s?Y

esD

esig

n

Que

stio

nA

nsw

erD

1D

oyo

uke

eptr

ack

ofth

eem

issi

ons

the

firm

prod

uces

?N

oD

2A

reth

epr

oduc

tsde

sign

edto

bepr

oduc

edw

ith

am

inim

alof

envi

ronm

enta

llyfa

vore

dm

ater

ials

?Y

esD

3A

reth

epr

oduc

tsde

sign

edto

bedu

rabl

e?Y

esD

4A

reth

epr

oduc

tsde

sign

edto

beea

sily

repa

irab

le?

Yes

D5

Are

the

prod

ucts

desi

gned

tobe

easi

lyre

cycl

ed,

com

post

edor

biod

egra

ded?

No

D6

Are

the

prod

ucts

desi

gned

tobe

prod

uced

wit

ha

min

imal

amou

ntof

ener

gy?

No

D7

Isth

eim

pact

ofth

ede

sign

san

dpr

oduc

tson

the

loca

lla

ndsc

ape

take

nin

toac

coun

t?N

oD

8Is

the

impa

ctof

the

desi

gns

and

prod

ucts

onth

eur

ban

land

scap

eta

ken

into

acco

unt?

No

D9

Doe

sth

efir

mst

rive

toad

dne

wor

save

exis

ting

cult

ural

heri

tage

inth

epr

oces

sof

desi

gn?

Yes

HC

RS

CA Que

stio

nA

nsw

erH

1A

rena

tion

alst

anda

rds

conc

erni

nghe

alth

regu

lati

onm

etin

the

wor

ken

viro

nmen

t?Y

es

53


H2

Doe

sth

efir

mha

vead

diti

onal

abov

est

anda

rdhe

alth

regu

lati

on?

No

H3

Do

empl

oyee

sha

veen

ough

poss

ibili

ties

tode

velo

pan

dex

pres

sth

emse

lves

indi

vidu

ally

?Y

esH

4D

oes

the

firm

acti

vely

enco

urag

eso

cial

cohe

sion

ofit

sw

orkf

orce

?Y

esH

5D

oes

the

firm

enab

leem

ploy

ees

tole

arn

addi

tion

alsk

ills

and

trai

ncu

rren

tsk

ills?

No

H6

Doe

sth

efir

min

vest

inth

etr

aini

ngor

attr

acti

onof

futu

recr

eati

ve”s

tar”

empl

oyee

s?Y

esH

7D

oes

the

firm

try

toke

epcu

rren

tcr

eati

veem

ploy

ees

from

leav

ing

the

com

pany

?N

oH

8D

oes

the

wor

ken

viro

nmen

tpr

ovid

ea

solid

basi

sfo

rcr

eati

vity

inre

lati

onto

the

flow

fact

ors?

Yes

H8.

1A

reth

eir

clea

rgo

als

for

each

proj

ect?

Yes

H8.

2A

reem

ploy

ees

reta

ined

from

cont

inuo

usex

tern

alfe

edba

ck?

Yes

H8.

3D

oem

ploy

ees

see

the

resu

ltof

thei

rw

ork

wit

hin

ash

ort

tim

esp

an?

Yes

H8.

4A

reem

ploy

ees

able

tofo

cus

onon

epr

ojec

tw

itho

utbe

ing

dist

ract

ed?

Yes

H8.

5A

reem

ploy

ees

allo

wed

tofa

ilw

itho

utco

nseq

uenc

es?

Yes

54

strategic management and sustainability in small design rms

Documents