Development of composite sustainability performance index for steel industry

The steel companies are becoming increasingly aware about the sustainability challenges. In order to become a responsible corporate citizen, the industry has responded to these challenges through adoption of pillars of sustainability. The industry has made the beginning with identification of sustainability indicators. The indicators have been developed specifically for steel industry. Generally, it is quite difficult to evaluate the performance of company on the basis of large number of sustainability indicators. Integration of key sustainability indicators is quite essential for decision-making. Composite indicators are an innovative approach to evaluate sustainable performance. This paper presents a method for development of composite sustainability performance index (CSPI) that addresses the sustainable performance of steel industries along all the three pillars of sustainability—economic, environmental and societal. Organizational governance and technical aspects have also been considered fourth and fifth dimensions of sustainability.The objective of this paper is to introduce sustainability and to present a conceptual decision model, using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to assist in evaluating the impact of an organization's sustainability performance. AHP has been used to determine the weights at various levels. Sub-indices have been evaluated and aggregated to form CSPI. The effectiveness of the proposed model is evaluated in a case study for a major steel company in India.     

Composite indicator for measuring corporate sustainability

Corporate sustainability performance is a multidimensional concept based on the original idea of sustainable development, replacing the traditional understanding of corporate performance only as capital appreciation for owners. The objective of this paper is to present a model for the measurement of corporate sustainability – Complex Performance Indicator (CPI). CPI integrates the environmental, social, economic and corporate governance performance of the company. CPI contains seventeen key performance indicators which were gradually determined from the basic set of performance indicators using statistical methods. CPI sums up the complex corporate performance into a single value but, at the same time, the set of aggregated sub-indicators of individual performance areas enables a detailed analysis and determination of the impact of various performance areas and factors on the complex corporate performance. The introduction of benchmarking is a crucial element in the entire model, as it enables to interpret the aggregated information and to quantify the performance gap. The results including their visualisation are presented in the case study. The complex assessment of corporate performance helps to uncover the weaknesses of the company that could become a threat and to identify strengths which the company might pursue as an opportunity. The results of such an analysis serve as the point of reference for deciding about the future.     

Evaluations of corporate sustainability indicators based on fuzzy similarity graphs

The paper deals with inconsistencies of composite sustainability indicators and their different subsets (economic, environmental, social, and corporate governance). Corporate sustainability performance is usually highly nonlinear, vague, partially inconsistent and multidimensional. The resulting models are often oversimplified. The key reason is an information shortage which eliminates the unsophisticated applications of classical statistical methods. Numbers are accurate and information intensive. Verbal quantifications are less accurate and therefore not that information intensive. Fuzzy sets and fuzzy reasoning are used to make verbal quantifiers suitable for computer applications. A fuzzy similarity graph is defined. A team of experts identified 17 relevant variables (e.g. Environmental costs, Occupational diseases, Number of complaints received from stakeholders) and 12 company data sets are available. Each company is presented as a fuzzy conditional statement. A set of fuzzy pairwise similarities is generated and used to evaluate five similarity graphs: a Total Graph (based on all 17 variables) and graphs based on relevant specific subsets of variables, Economic, Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance graphs. The topologies of these graphs are significantly different. No prior knowledge of fuzzy reasoning is required.     

Corporate Social Responsibility: A Real Options Approach to the Challenge of Financial Sustainability

BackgroundIn contemporary complex societies, social values like ethics, corporate social responsibility, and being respectful with the environment, among others, are becoming social requirements. Corporations are expected to fulfill them and, according to empirical evidence, an overwhelming majority aspires to good social valuation. At the same time, the maximization of market share value in the long run continues to be the central corporate goal. Making environmental and social expenses compatible with value creation is a central challenge for corporations since it implies the financial sustainability of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Methods and Results

The value creation capacity of CSR projects, mainly through innovation, is widely acknowledged in economic literature and corporate practice. This fact arouses the need of having a quantitative framework capable of summarizing the value creation capacity of the variables involved in CSR projects. With this aim we build up a sensitivity analysis of real option ratios that studies and quantifies the value creation capacity of CSR projects connected with innovation. Ratio analysis has the advantage of being scale independent. Hence, it furnishes a homogeneous framework to express the interaction of value creation variables and, thus, supports strategic thinking quantitatively. Often, CSR expenses can be regarded as preliminary projects that create the opportunity to undertake a full future project. For them, we obtain the minimum expectations scenario that makes financially sustainable a preliminary project that can be interpreted as a call option. We propose a classification of CSR projects from the decision analysis perspective following a two-fold approach: Their relationship with value creation and their links with existing corporate activities. This classification of CSR projects aims at contributing to choose the best capital budgeting method to study the financial sustainability of the project and identifying those CSR projects that fulfill the required features to be studied from the real options perspective.     

Helias A. Udo De Haes: A Practical Scientist

Goal, Scope and Background The importance of the social dimension of sustainable development increased significantly during the last decade of the twentieth century. Industry has subsequently experienced a shift in stakeholder pressures from environmental to social-related concerns, where new developments in the form of projects and technologies are undertaken. However, the measurement of social impacts and the calculation of suitable indicators are less well developed compared to environmental indicators in order to assess the potential liabilities associated with undertaken projects and technologies. The aim of this paper is to propose a Social Impact Indicator (SII) calculation procedure based on a previously introduced Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) calculation procedure for environmental Resource Impact Indicators (RIIs), and to demonstrate the practicability of the SII procedure in the context of the process industry in South Africa. Methods A framework of social sustainability criteria has been introduced for the South African process industry. The social sub-criteria of the framework are further analyzed, based on project and technology management expertise in the South African process industry, to determine whether the criteria should be addressed at project or technology management level or whether they should rather form part of an overall corporate governance policy for new projects and technologies. Furthermore, the proposed indicators for criteria that are considered appropriate for project or technology evaluation purposes are constrained by the type of information that is available, i.e. the calculation methodology relies on the availability of regional or national social information where the project will be implemented, as well as the availability of project- or technology-specific social information during the various phases of the project or technology development life cycle. Case studies in the process industry and statistical information for South Africa are subsequently used to establish information availability for the SII calculation procedure, demonstrate the SII method together with the RII method, and determine the practical use of the SII method. Results and Conclusion The case studies establish that social footprint information as well as project- and technology social data are not readily available in the South African process industry. Consequently, the number of mid-point categories that can be evaluated are minimal, which results in an impaired social picture when compared to the environmental dimension. It is concluded that a quantitative social impact assessment method cannot be applied for project and technology life cycle management purposes in industry at present. Recommendation and Perspective Following the outcomes of the case studies in the South African process industry, it is recommended that checklists and guidelines be used during project and technology life cycle management practices. Similar to the environmental dimension, it is envisaged that such checklists and guidelines would improve the availability of quantitative data in time, and would therefore make the SII procedure more practical in the future.     

Evaluating sustainability impacts of critical mineral extractions: Integration of life cycle sustainability assessment and SDGs frameworks

The extraction of critical minerals used in clean technologies has profound impacts on sustainable development goals (SDGs). Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) is used to evaluate the sustainability impacts of products and services, but few frameworks exist to support SDGs assessment for the “green minerals” extraction. Here, we propose a mining-specific framework identifying linkages between LCSA and SDGs, along with a process to integrate methods and data. As a proof of concept, we assess the LCSA performance and local-community level SDG impacts of a nickel mining project in Indonesia. Integrating remote sensing, media sources, stakeholder's data, and expert opinion, we find that LCSA encompasses all 17 goals but only a subset of targets and indicators. The study highlights the need to incorporate indigenous people's perspectives in both LCSA and SDG assessments, and points to priority areas for improving life cycle sustainability and SDG outcomes: fighting corruption, protecting cultural heritage, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We suggest that this framework can inform corporate social responsibility activities, as well as consumer choices for low-carbon technologies.     

Meta-performance evaluation of sustainability indicators

There are many different kinds of frameworks for evaluating environmental and sustainability performance at the organizational level (profit or not-for-profit, private or public), sectoral level (e.g. industry, transport, agriculture and tourism), and local, regional or country levels. Despite the diversity of methods and tools to measure sustainable development, indicators are one of the approaches most used. However, these tools do not usually include evaluation of the performance measurement instrument itself. The main objective of this research is to develop a conceptual framework to design and assess the effectiveness of the sustainability indicators themselves. To put the proposed tool into practice, a set of key good-practice factors and meta-performance evaluation indicators is proposed for adoption in a national case study—the national sustainable development indicators system, SIDS Portugal, and the usefulness of this methodology is demonstrated. This approach aims to evaluate how appropriate a set of sustainability indicators is and allow an evaluation of overall performance-monitoring activities and results. Stakeholder involvement is an essential component of the proposed framework. The tool developed could support continuous improvement in the performance of ongoing sustainability indicator initiatives, allowing greater guidance, objectivity and transparency in sustainability assessment processes.     

国外旅游生态效率优化与管理

旅游生态效率概念采用定量化方法对旅游业经济、环境影响进行分析,成为旅游业可持续发展评价的重要工具。基于可持续理论的旅游生态效率优化管理方案不断涌现,相关利益主体应用较多的有环境管理系统、旅游生态标签、清洁生产理念、旅游生态效率中心、21世纪地方议程等。在旅游企业日常运营中积极推动生态效率优化管理,是贯彻绿色发展理念,提高目的地旅游经济、环境绩效的一种新思路。从可持续背景下旅游生态效率优化模型入手,系统化分析了国外旅游生态效率优化管理方案的内容与特征。其中,环境管理系统在目的地层面为旅游生态效率优化设计了一套评估管理流程,旅游生态标签为目的地生态效率水平提供了可视化标志符号,21世纪地方议程为旅游可持续发展提供一致性整合方案,清洁生产理念是一种基于生态效率优化的长期战略,旅游生态效率中心作为非营利性机构有利于中小企业获得较好的环境绩效表现。国外旅游生态效率优化管理方案特征明显、设计合理、管理科学,对我国目的地旅游生态效率优化提升具有重要的借鉴作用。     

Indicators for an expanded business operations model to evaluate eco-smart corporate communities

Major real-estate developers of business parks around the world have made environmental responsibility a priority in building design, construction, and operation. We review the green real-estate development movement occurring globally, and synthesize applicable concepts into a framework called the expanded business operations model (EBOM) to help companies gauge their goal of environmental stewardship. In contrast to the typical flow diagram of a typical business operations model, the EBOM indicates cycling behavior that synergistically enhances each of the four identified categories—Environment, Facilities, Business Synergism, and Green Image. The ultimate goal of these Eco-smart Corporate Communities is to positively impact the local and larger community, while increasing the economic success of property developers and their tenants. We review governmental policies that drive developers toward environmentally friendly techniques, outline tools and programs that assist in the implementation and evaluation of green design plans, and summarize other drivers (i.e., environmental and social issues) that encourage green building and synthesize them into an indicator system for practitioners’ reference. Using four independently operated eco-smart corporate communities as case studies, we identify the measures taken to enhance each of the four categories within the framework, and analyze the cascade of impacts. With this framework, it will be possible to set achievable goals that mark reasonable progress in corporate environmental policies.     

Introducing Templates for Sustainable Product Development

We have previously developed a method for sustainable product development (MSPD) based on backcasting from basic sustainability principles. The MSPD informs investigations of product‐related social and ecological sustainability aspects throughout a concurrent engineering product development process. We here introduce “templates” for sustainable product development (TSPDs) as a complement. The idea is to help product development teams to arrive faster and more easily at an overview of the major sustainability challenges and opportunities of a product category in the early development phases. The idea is also to inform creative communication between top management, stakeholders, and product developers. We present this approach through an evaluation case study, in which the TSPDs were used for a sustainability assessment of televisions (TVs) at the Matsushita Electric Group. We study whether the TSPD approach has the ability to (1) help shift focus from gradual improvements of a selection of aspects in relation to past environmental performance of a product category to a focus on the remaining gap to a sustainable situation, (2) facilitate consensus among organizational levels about major sustainability challenges and potential solutions for a product category, and (3) facilitate continued dialogue with external sustainability experts, identifying improvements that are relevant for strategic sustainable development. Our findings indicate that the TSPD approach captures overall sustainability aspects of the life cycle of product categories and that it has the above abilities.     

Life cycle management: UNEP-workshop

On August 30, 2001, the first in a series of planned global workshops on Life Cycle Management was organized in Copenhagen by UNEP in cooperation with dk-TEKNIK. The workshop provided an international forum to share experiences on LCM. The specific purpose of the workshop was to define the focus of a possible UNEP programme on Life Cycle Management under the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative. Life Cycle Management has been defined by the SETAC Europe Working Group on LCM as an integrated framework of concepts, techniques and procedures to address environmental, economic, technological and social aspects of products and organizations to achieve continuous environmental improvement from a life cycle perspective. Life Cycle Management has been requested as an additional component for the Life Cycle Initiative by business organizations as well as governments in order to provide practical approaches for management systems in this area. The breakout groups of the workshop focussed on the role of integrating environmental management practices, concepts and tools in a life cycle perspective, on the integration of socio-economic aspects of sustainability in life cycle approaches, including the definition of adequate indicators for these aspects, on the communication strategies to promote life cycle thinking, and on the demand side of LCA. The workshop closed with a consensus that the UNEP/ SETAC Life Cycle Initiative should really include a programme on Life Cycle Management with the proposed areas of work. UNEP in cooperation with SETAC should function as a global catalyser of knowledge transfer and cooperation on life cycle approaches. The key issue behind all activities would be the promotion of Life Cycle Thinking since all break-out groups mentioned the importance of well-prepared communication strategies. Another interesting outcome of the workshop is the clear interest of different stakeholders in the consideration of social and institutional effects of products, in addition to environmental and economic impacts, i.e. a sustainable development perspective.     

可持续生态学

可持续生态学系用生态学原理和方法解决自然与社会经济协调发展问题,或者说生态学不断将人类及其社会经济活动纳入研究范畴而形成的自然科学与社会科学的交叉学科。40年来,我国在可持续生态学研究和实践领域取得了丰硕的成果,一是提出了"社会-经济-自然"复合生态系统理论;二是构建了适应中国国情的可持续发展评价指标体系;三是推进实施了国家可持续发展战略,并在不同时空尺度进行了试点示范;四是将可持续发展的区域生态安全格局和生态风险管理理论与方法应用于城市与区域发展规划中,并利用生态补偿机制推进跨域的生态安全格局建设;五是为国家生态文明建设规划纲要的出台提供了重要的科学支撑,有力地推进了生态文明建设战略的实施;六是系统地研究了全球气候变化对中国生态系统的影响,科学评估了气候变化的现状、趋势及其影响,提出了气候变化的生态适应对策;七是不断推进国家和地方层面的生态省、生态市、生态县建设,创建了不同层次和规模的可持续发展实验区、国家可持续发展议程创新示范区、生态农业试点示范县、生态工业示范园区等。本文从宏观生态学与可持续发展、生态城市与可持续发展、生态产业与可持续发展三个方面评述可持续性生态学的研究进展。可持续生态学的重点研究内容随着时代发展而不断更新,生态文明建设、生态安全格局构建、落实联合国2030可持续发展目标、应对全球环境变化、新型城市化和工业化对生态系统的影响等是当前和未来一段时间的研究热点。     

Assessing regional sustainable development through an integration of nonlinear principal component analysis and Gram Schmidt orthogonalization

The regional sustainable development level (SDL), sustainability of regional development (SRD) and system coordination (SC) make up the triangular truss of regional sustainable development assessment, but it is debated how should traditional practice best weight and calculate the whole sustainable development system level. The Bohai Rim, covering three provinces and two municipalities in China, lies in a region that is sensitive to profound conflict between socioeconomic development and environment pollution in the process of sustainable development. Considering the defects of traditional models and the multidimensionality of regional sustainability issues, we proposed an integrated model of nonlinear principal component analysis and Gram Schmidt orthogonalization and presented a novel regional sustainable development assessment method and framework from three perspectives for the society–economy–environment system of the Bohai Rim region. The results show that: (a) the integration of nonlinear principal component analysis and Gram Schmidt orthogonalization can well remedy the defects of traditional methods and provide a more objective conceptual framework; (b) the sustainability of regional development and system coordination models graphically demonstrate the essence and connotation of a dynamic sustainable development system; (c) the empirical study demonstrated that the Bohai Rim region has experienced a distinct development period in which the SRD experienced a steady decline and the SDL and SC generally increased; (d) the coordination ability can be improved by a decline in the environmental sustainability, which reveals the importance of environment subsystem optimization; and (e) the weight distribution of variables demonstrates that the most significant factors affecting sustainable development are the indicators from the dimensions of people's standard of living, economic structure and environmental pollution. This study enriches the sustainable development assessment theory and methodology, and lays the foundation for further sustainable development research in the Bohai Rim region.     

Realities in breed improvement programmes for dairy goats in East and Central Africa

Increasing population pressure, land scarcity and diminishing production resources are promoting goat production in the tropics. Dairy goat breeding (DGB) projects have been implemented by development agencies, governments and the private sector with the objective of improving the dairy merits genetically through crossbreeding with exotic genotypes. The performance of these projects is still a cause for concern. Therefore, sustainable dairy goat breeding forces various stakeholders to re-orient their breeding goals, strategies and design of breeding programmes towards a sustainability perspective. This paper highlights a set of key requirements for establishing sustainable dairy goat breeding programmes. Conclusions are drawn based on the lessons learnt from numerous examples of DGB projects in East and Central Africa keeping sustainability concerns insight to inform on-going and future projects.     

生态产业共生网络形成机理及其系统解析框架

生态产业共生网络是由各种类型的企业通过经济、社会和环境方面的密切合作而形成的企业及企业间关系的复杂系统,其基本出发点是企业间必须具备环境合作,根本目的是提高资源生产力和生态效率。从形成生态产业共生网络的微观要素——企业环境责任入手,从环境伦理的角度阐释生态产业共生网络中企业的五类环境责任,并探讨其形成和运作机制——企业环境责任的市场化运作模式及约束机制。在此基础上,提出了基于技术可行性分析、经济可行性分析和社会环境可行性分析的生态产业共生网络三级解析框架,并对其解析方法做了探讨。     

中国不同规模城市可持续发展综合评价

城市是一类社会-经济-自然复合生态系统,城市的可持续发展指标体系和评价方法是衡量城市经济、社会、环境状况及可持续发展能力的重要手段。采用全排列多边形综合图示法,以中国277个地级及地级以上城市为研究对象,建立了不同规模城市的可持续发展指标体系,包括经济发展、社会进步、生态环境3类24项指标,对其2000—2010年的可持续发展能力进行了综合评价。研究结果表明:从不同城市规模类型间横向对比分析来看,随着城市规模的增大,经济发展、社会进步和可持续发展综合指数相应提高,生态环境指数却随之下降。从不同规模城市类型内的时间序列分析对比来看,2000—2010年不同规模城市的经济发展、社会进步、生态环境指数各个方面均有显著提高,可持续发展综合指数也伴随着提升。并且,巨大特大型城市在生态环境保护方面提高幅度最大;大型城市在社会进步方面提高幅度最大;中小型城市在经济发展和可持续发展综合能力方面提高幅度最大。但截止到2010年,不同规模城市的可持续发展综合指数均为Ⅲ级,可持续发展能力仅处于一般水平。探究了中国不同规模的城市可持续发展过程中面临的诸多问题,然后提出相应的对策建议,为今后的新型城市化建设提供参考。     

Sustainability governance service providers: the role of third-party product certification in facilitating corporate life cycle management

Purpose

This article aims to analyze the role that third-party product sustainability certifications play in supply chain sustainability governance and hence the impact that they may have on facilitating corporate life cycle management (LCM). Particular emphasis is given to exploring the extent to which such schemes allow firms to outsource the work of communication, motivation, enablement, and control of sustainability-related information and performance upstream in the supply chain.

Methods

The research design is based on a comparative case study methodology. The corporate practices of sourcing the sustainability certified products in the food retailing and textile sectors are compared, to explain when third-party product sustainability certification reduces the corporate need to engage in collaborative relationships with suppliers, thereby reducing efforts associated with implementation of corporate life cycle management.

Results and discussion

In our study, we found evidence that affirms the role of third-party product sustainability certification in reducing corporate necessity to actively engage with coordination of sustainability issues upstream in the supply chain. However, we also identified a range of factors—the intention of the buying company, the supply chain context, and the design of the certification scheme—that influence the extent, to which third-party product sustainability certification replaces the corporate need for additional work to facilitate supplier compliance. Some of these factors, e.g., the design of the certification scheme, are new and have been underexplored in the supply chain management and value chain governance literature yet.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that corporate LCM practitioners should consider third-party sustainability certification as an instrument for the transfer of significant life cycle information along the supply chain and as a tool to facilitate corporate life cycle management. The extent to which third-party product sustainability certification would be able to facilitate corporate life cycle management depends not only on whether certification requirements are based on the LCA studies but also on the market scope of the certification schemes, the scope of the certification requirements, and the architecture of the certification management services. If these parameters are aligned with corporate ambitions and allow buyers to fully outsource the work associated with communication, motivation, enablement, and control of sustainability-related information and supplier performance, the life cycle management can be exercised by companies by simply choosing to procure sustainability certified products.

     

《昆明-蒙特利尔全球生物多样性框架》指引下中国生物多样性主流化实施路径探析

《昆明-蒙特利尔全球生物多样性框架》制定了未来一段时期全球范围内生物多样性保护的重要行动,包括将生物多样性及其多重价值纳入经济和社会活动的主流。中国作为联合国《生物多样性公约》(CBD)缔约方之一,在持续推进生物多样性主流化方面作出了不懈努力且成效显著。该文通过探讨解析生物多样性主流化的概念内涵,梳理总结我国生物多样性主流化的具体实践和阶段成效,对标《昆明-蒙特利尔全球生物多样性框架》目标,围绕政府、企业、公众不同行为主体,提出新时期我国全方位推进生物多样性主流化的4个主要实施路径:(1)引入统一的行动框架;(2)发挥政府治理的主导作用;(3)联动企业采取共同行动;(4)提高公众意识以促进其广泛参与,致力于将生物多样性融入各级政府部门政策机制及社会生产生活实践活动中,为完善生物多样性治理决策提供参考。     

Development of social sustainability assessment method and a comparative case study on assessing recycled construction materials

Purpose

Sustainability analysis should include the assessment of the environmental, social, and economic impacts throughout the life cycle of a product. However, the social sustainability performance assessment is seldom carried out during materials selection due to its complex nature and the lack of a social life cycle assessment tool. This study presents a single score-based social life cycle assessment methodology, namely social sustainability grading model, for assessing and comparing the social sustainability performance of construction materials using a case study on recycled and natural construction materials.

Methods

The proposed method is developed based on the methodological framework provided by the United Nations Environment Programme/Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry guidelines published in 2009 and the methodological sheets published in 2013, the indicators and sustainability reporting guidelines provided by the Global Reporting Initiatives and ISO 26000 for social responsibility of products, and the indicators provided by the Hong Kong Business Environment Council Limited for construction sustainability. A twofold research approach is proposed in this model: the first one is the qualitative research based on expert interviews to identify, select, and prioritize the relevant subcategories and indicators, and the second one is the operational research based on the case-specific survey to collect the required data. A social sustainability index was proposed for the interpretation of the results effectively. A case study on construction materials was conducted to illustrate the implementation of the method using case-specific first-hand data.

Results and discussion

The major outcome of this study is the systematic development of a social sustainability assessment tool based on the established standards and guidelines. The case study showed that four subcategories are crucial social concerns for construction materials (i.e., health and safety issues of the materials, health and safety of workers, company’s commitment to sustainability, and company’s policies on energy and water consumption). Based on the sustainability index proposed, using recycled aggregates from locally generated waste materials scored higher (about 31–34%) social sustainability than using imported natural aggregates. In addition, recycled aggregates and natural aggregates achieved “sustainable” and “neutral” rating sustainability levels, respectively. However, several subcategories (e.g., health and safety, working hour, forced work, training and social benefits of workers, and quality of the materials and information disclosing to public) are still needed to improve the social sustainability performance of recycled aggregates.

Conclusions

An integrated social life cycle assessment method is presented in this study for assessing the social sustainability of construction materials. In addition, the reported case study in this paper is one of the first attempts for social sustainability assessment of recycled construction materials, and the method can be applied to other recycled materials/products for comparative analysis. However, several critical factors, such as integration in other life cycle methods and software, sensitivity analysis, and more case studies, are still needed for further improvement of the developed method.

     

中国绿色食品产业化发展的理论与实践

对天津蓟县国家级绿色食品生产示范区和国家级龙头企业草原兴发集团进行案例研究,得出绿色食品产业化经营的基本框架结构及其理论依据。绿色食品产业化的基本框架是由农产品生产、加工企业、农户、市场销售部门等组成,各部分之间存在特定的、相互依存的经济技术关系,共同构成统一的产业结构体系。在农业产业化、农业可持续发展、绿色经济、绿色营销、市场经济、以及农业生态学等理论与原理的指导下,该体系以市场为导向,以提高经济效益为中心,按照“市场牵龙头,龙头带基地、基地联农户”的形式,优化组合各生产要素,实行区域化布局、专业化生产、一体化经营、社会化服务、企业化管理。实现了资源持续利用和生态环境优化,从而获得最佳的社会、经济、生态综合效益,有利于提高中国农业的综合生产能力和出口能力。