Walter Wehrmeyer - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Walter Wehrmeyer

World Development, Jun 1, 1998

Over the past decade, Zambia, like several other Southern African countries, has introduced commu... more Over the past decade, Zambia, like several other Southern African countries, has introduced community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) projects in several rural areas. These initiatives attempt to combine both conservation and development initiatives into an integrated approach, aimed at promoting rural development-based on natural resources as well as encouraging conservation awareness. This critical review examines the impact of the Luangwa Integrated Resource Development Project (LIRDP) at the community level. The research suggests that LIRDP has generally failed to achieve its conservation and development objectives and that the program has achieved few community benefits. The underlying causes of the project's shortcomings are discussed and corrective policy is suggested. By placing the survey findings into the wider debate about community-based conservation, the research has implications for rural development as well as community-based natural resource management.

Energy research and social science, Oct 1, 2020

 Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose... more  Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.  You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain  You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Mar 1, 2006

Redevelopment of brownfield land has been identified as an essential component to the achievement... more Redevelopment of brownfield land has been identified as an essential component to the achievement of sustainable urban regeneration. However, in some cases, brownfield redevelopment has been characterised by a lack of long-term consideration of impacts, as well as the failure to holistically examine the environmental, economic and social issues, which form the basis of sustainability. It is therefore important to develop and implement a new approach that can be used to address and monitorcc sustainability throughout the life cycle of land-use, thus addressing the intergenerational principle of sustainable development. This paper describes a new Redevelopment Assessment Framework that will enable the use of sustainability indicators to monitor holistically the long-term sustainability of brownfield redevelopments. The framework's key characteristics are that it is dynamic in nature, allowing for sustainability monitoring through the land-use life cycle of a brownfield project, as well as being participatory and transparent as a process. The framework incorporates consideration of the risk perception and risk communication issues that are typical of brownfield projects. By design, the new framework is aimed at developing site-specific indicators within the overall context of the existing monitoring and planning processes that brownfield redevelopment projects are required to undergo.

EDULEARN proceedings, Jul 1, 2018

Industrial crisis quarterly, Dec 1, 1992

Social Science Research Network, 2014

Previous research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Europe has made few attempts to ide... more Previous research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Europe has made few attempts to identify actual and potential stakeholders and their diverging contributions to this topic. Using stakeholder map methodology, showing power, urgency, legitimacy, and concerns of different actors, the paper investigates the current state of Swiss CSR. To derive this map, publicly available documents were explored, augmented by 27 interviews with key stakeholders (consumers, media, government, trade unions, Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs), banks, certifiers, and consultants) and management of different companies (Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), Small-and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), and large national companies). Using MAXQDA, the quantified codes given for power, legitimacy, and urgency were transferred into stakeholder priorities or, in other words, into positions in the map. Further, the codes given in the interviews for different CSR interests and the results from the document analysis were linked between stakeholders. The identified concerns and priorities were quantitatively analysed in regard to centrality and salience using VennMaker. The paper found SMEs, MNEs, and cooperating NPOs as being the most significant stakeholders. Swiss CSR is therefore not primarily driven by regulators, market pressure, or customers. Further network parameters substantiated the importance of SMEs while following an unconventionally informal, but innovative, vibrant, and practical CSR approach, emerging for reasons alter than conventional agendas are supposed to evolve. In fact, the findings may point at a very different and highly sophisticated role businesses have adopted in Switzerland, manifesting in democratic decisions and abolished hierarchies, handshakes instead of formal contracts, and transparency in all respects (e.g. performance indicators, salaries, and bonuses). Hence, as a new stance and argument within CSR related research, this paper concludes that "informal" does not mean "weak".

Social Responsibility Journal, Oct 5, 2015

Purpose-This paper aims to investigate, using stakeholder map methodology, showing power, urgency... more Purpose-This paper aims to investigate, using stakeholder map methodology, showing power, urgency, legitimacy and concerns of different actors, the current state of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Switzerland. Previous research on CSR in Europe has made few attempts to identify stakeholders and their contribution to this topic. Design/methodology/approach-To derive this map, publicly available documents were explored, augmented by 27 interviews with key stakeholders (consumers, media, government, trade unions, non-profit organisations [NPOs], banks, certifiers and consultants) and management of different companies (multinational enterprises [MNEs], small-and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] and large national companies). Using MAXQDA, the quantified codes given for power, legitimacy and urgency were triangulated between self-reporting, external assessments and statements from publicly available documents and subsequently transferred into stakeholder priorities or, in other words, into positions in the map. Further, the codes given in the interviews for different CSR interests and the results from the document analysis were linked between stakeholders. The identified concerns and priorities were quantitatively analysed in regard to centrality and salience using VennMaker. Findings-The paper identified SMEs, MNEs and cooperating NPOs as being the most significant stakeholders, in that order. CSR is, therefore, not driven primarily by regulators, market pressure or customers. Further network parameters substantiated the importance of SMEs while following an unconventionally informal and idiosyncratic CSR approach. Hence, insights into these ethics-driven, unformalised business models that pursue broader responsibility based on trust, traditional values, regional anchors and the willingness to "give something back" were formed. Examples of this strong CSR habit include democratic decisions and abolished hierarchies, handshake instead of formal contracts and transparency in all respects (e.g. performance indicators, salaries and bonuses). Research limitations/implications-In total, 27 interviews as primary data that supplements publicly available documents are clearly only indicative. Practical implications-The research found an innovative, vibrant and practical CSR model that is emerging for reasons other than conventional CSR agendas that are supposed to evolve. In fact, the stakeholder map and the CSR practices may point at a very different role businesses have adopted in Switzerland. Such models offer a useful, heuristic evaluation of the contribution of formal management systems (e.g. as could be found in MNEs) in comparison to the unformalised SME business conduct. Originality/value-A rarely reported and astonishing feature of many of the very radical SME practices found in this study is that their link to commercial strategies was, in most cases, not seen. However, SMEs are neither the "poor relative" nor the abridged version of CSR, but are manifesting CSR as a Swiss set of values that fits the societal culture and the visionary goals of SME owners/managers and governs how a sustainably responsible company should behave. Hence, as a new stance and argument within CSR-related research, this paper concludes that "informal" does not mean "weak". This paper covers a myriad of management fields, e.g. CSR as strategic tool in business ethics; stakeholder and network management; decision-making; and further theoretical frameworks, such as transaction cost and social capital theory. In other words, this research closes scientific gaps by at once applying quantitative as well as qualitative methods and by merging, for the first time, network methodology with CSR and stakeholder research.

UmweltWirtschaftsForum, Aug 14, 2015

of mission and value-set and the sociological tradition of the stewardship concept. This contrast... more of mission and value-set and the sociological tradition of the stewardship concept. This contrasts the extrinsically motivated approach of the large companies under research. In sum, this study showed that CSR is meaningful and justifiable even if it is not profitable in the first place. Zusammenfassung Verschiedentlich wurde aufgezeigt, dass punkto gesellschaftlicher Verantwortung von Unternehmen (Corporate Social Responsibility-CSR) intrinsischer Motivation eine nachhaltigere Wirkung attestiert werden kann als dies für die entsprechenden extrinsischen Anreize zu postulieren ist. Begründet wird dies vor allem dadurch, dass letztere, die von einer Profitmaximierung durch CSR ausgehen, als unlauter und irreführend eingeschätzt werden. Dies verdeutlicht, welche Bedeutung den Motiven im Zusammenhang mit gesellschaftlicher Verantwortung beigemessen werden muss-nicht nur im Hinblick auf die Gestaltung der organisationalen Gegebenheiten von CSR ganz allgemein mehr noch bezüglich der Effektivität der entsprechenden Aktivitäten. Die vorliegende Studie diskutiert diese Motive in vier Fokusgruppen mit je sieben Grosskonzernen und sieben SchweizerKlein-und mittelgrossen Unternehmungen (KMU). Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass grosse Firmen vornehmlich extrinsisch motiviert sind und CSR als Managementfunktion ansehen. In KMU herrschen hingegen intrinsische Motive vor, die auf ein soziales Werte-Set des Unternehmers und einen Zusammenschluss von Tugenden und Mission im Unternehmen zurückzuführen sind. Dies beweist, dass CSR auch ohne direkten Bezug zu Gewinnmaximierung oder dem Profitmotiv bedeutsam, gerechtfertigt und insbesondere vertretbar ist.

Business Strategy and The Environment, 2003

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly attempt to use the capital markets to further ... more Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly attempt to use the capital markets to further their aims. This paper proposes a taxonomy for such intervention that is based on two distinct strategies: a macro capital redistribution strategy and a micro investor influence strategy, both of which can be undertaken either directly or indirectly. The paper reviews empirical evidence of the success of each strategy through four case studies. It concludes by suggesting that there is some empirical evidence that the typology can be successfully applied and that there is some initial evidence that NGO capital market engagement strategies have, in certain circumstances, successfully changed business strategy.

Springer eBooks, Sep 15, 2019

Many Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland have highly sophisticated Corporate... more Many Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland have highly sophisticated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) agendas. In many cases, they are unintended, informal as they are coming from corporate cultures that nurture a “raison d’etre” and a noble business purpose beyond profit-maximisation. Previous research aggregated this core logic to an overarching SME business model, L’EPOQuE, making Swiss SMEs, arguably, hidden CSR champions about social, economic, and environmental responsibilities. This model is borne by a set of key features: i.e., the process of work socialisation, soft assets, proximity and informality, agility, the nexus of company ownership and government, the focus on education, and long-range planning. By the methods of focus group discussion with seven SME owner-managers combined with case studies located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, this research looked at the impact of different financial crisis on the Swiss CSR business model. The results show surprisingly strongly, that there is no substantial leverage. The psychological and sociological tradition of stewardship and the SMEs’ emphasis on excellent craftsmanship help sustain morale and ethics despite economic downturns. As their business model evolves from CSR as “moral activity” it prevents the potential sacrifice of ethics due to financial scarcity. At the same time, it mirrors a highly competitive business approach that can be generalised to other unconventional, “non-standard” milieus where money might be short (e.g., in start-up companies). Considering the economic, political, and social competitiveness of Swiss SMEs and their relevance within CSR, this study demonstrates the power of the small business approach as it works detached from economic situations.

Business Strategy and The Environment, 2014