Identification of Sustainability Key Factors Based on Capturing Dominant Feedbacks of Behavioural Stereotypes in Socio-Economic Systems

Dynamic modelling of Australian rooftop solar photovoltaic product stewardship transition

As rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption in Australia is exponentially growing in the past decade, there is a need to promote effective product stewardship for PV panels reaching their end-of-life (EoL). This paper presents the development of a System Dynamics (SD) model for managing EoL rooftop PV panels based on the circular economy concept. Four stages of the SD modelling process include problem scoping and variable identification, model conceptualisation, SD model development, and scenario analysis. Stakeholder engagement is central to this research as the system under study is underpinned by high uncertainties and limited data availability. Four socio-technical transition pathways examined in this study include market-driven growth, conservative development, shared responsibility, and disruptive change. The simulation results indicated an improvement of collection and recovery performance when a stringent product stewardship scheme is enabled and improvement of installers' participation in the collection program. This study argued that a system of shared responsibility will be capable of balancing techno-economic motivations of stakeholders across the supply chain to participate in the recovery scheme, while being less disruptive to PV adoption. Under this scenario, a gradual change in regulatory requirements (e.g. recovery target and material recovery rate requirements) is introduced to allow a period of industry and market development.

Environment, Business, and Health Care Prevail: A Comprehensive, Systematic Review of System Dynamics Application Domains

System dynamics, as a methodology for analyzing and understanding various types of systems, has been applied in research for several decades. We undertook a review to identify the latest application domains and map the realm of system dynamics. The systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA methodology. We analyzed and categorized 212 articles and found that the vast majority of studies belong to the fields of business administration, health, and environmental research. Altogether, 20 groups of modeling and simulation topics can be recognized. System dynamics is occasionally supported by other modeling methodologies such as the agent-based modeling approach. There are issues related to published studies mostly associated with testing of validity and reasonability of models, leading to the development of predictions that are not grounded in verified models. This study contributes to the development of system dynamics as a methodology that can offer new ideas, highlight limitations, or provide analogies for further research in various research disciplines.

Traps and Opportunities of Czech Small-Scale Beef Cattle Farming

Small farmers represent a majority of the European Union (EU) farming sector and are considered the cornerstone of both the current and future sustainable EU agriculture. The dynamic complexity of livestock systems hinders the understanding of its behaviour, as well as recognizing the causes of problems and sources of resistance to applied policies and strategies. Livestock system behaviour needs to be understood in order to find leverage points and identify efficient solutions. The presented study depicts issues of small-scale beef cattle farmers in the market environment from a systemic perspective. The common complexity of managing a company increases with biological processes characterized by very long time periods, especially in the case of beef cattle farming. The scenarios analysed by the computer simulation model presented in the study evaluate the benefits of basic diversification into meat processing and a farm-to-table approach. The direct contact of the farmer with the final consumers represents increased demand and requirements on farmers’ entrepreneurship; nevertheless, such a strategy is a significant growth driver that allows faster maximisation of the farm’s output, accelerates the return of the investments, strengthens the market position of the farmer, and increases the farm’s sustainability.

Testing and Verification of a New Corporate Sustainability Assessment Method for Manufacturing: A Multiple Case Research Study

This paper aims at answering the question of how to design a theoretically sound corporate sustainability assessment (CSA) method that can strengthen the ability of manufacturing companies to contribute to global sustainable development (SD). In our effort to answer this question, we conduct a case study to test a newly designed CSA method to develop assessment tools for each of four different case companies. The method combines criteria-based indicators development with qualitative system dynamics modeling based on mental models of decision-makers. This strategy ensures a holistic approach to what corporate sustainability and sustainable manufacturing are. The paper is intended to serve, first of all, as a practical guide to the development of CSA tools. The scientific value of the method is discussed in terms of how it assists in the development of a tool that provides the potential to overcome shortcomings of existing approaches to sustainability assessment and to embrace the complexity of the sustainability concept. From the case study results, we demonstrate the capability of the new method by showing how it satisfies scientific requirements to sustainability assessment and fulfills functions of CSA. We also show how it may overcome some of the observed limitations of existing CSA tools.