Within the research theme of sustainable management, different methods and tools are investigated and applied in order to stimulate industry to move towards sustainable production and consumption.
Several front-runner companies are reducing their environmental impacts of production processes, through implementation of cleaner technologies and a certified environmental management system ( EMS). Industry is increasingly becoming responsible for pollution prevention in the whole product chain, which put new demands for the development and introduction of life cycle thinking, for innovation of cleaner products and for life cycle management (LCM). Eco-design is an example of a tool to support development of cleaner products and LCM at company level.
Sustainable Management is related to all three pillars of sustainable development - economic social and environmental aspects, which among businesses has been termed the triple bottom line: profit, people and planet. Integrated management systems, sustainability reporting, etc. are viewed as steps in this direction. Especially, front-runner companies are expanding the traditional focus on economics and quality to other areas of concern, such as the environment, occupational health and safety and social accountability. Today, standards exist in these areas (ISO 9001, ISO 14001, EMAS, OHSAS 18001, SA 8000). An integrated management system can streamline the efforts and create synergy for more sustainable choices in manufacturing processes and in the product chain.
A special interest is how ideas travel among enterprises within or across different trades and nations. How are international standards such as ISO 14001 created? How is the understanding of environmental problems and solutions as well as of the intra- and inter-organisational challenges, and how is this changing over time? The change from an international standard to a local management practise can be considered as a translation process involving several intermediaries and brokers such as business associations, consultants, local authorities etc.
The relations between governmental policies and management practises in the enterprise are also investigated. This includes questions such as: To what degree does environmental policy support the implementation of standards such as ISO 14001? What are the experiences of regional and local authorities with this interaction? Focus is on interactions and relations between company driven initiatives and policy instruments applied by public authorities.