How SMEs can become environmentally sustainable and productive

Insights

Sustainability and net zero

In this episode, Professor Kerrie Unsworth (Leeds University Business School) and John Steel (Cafédirect) discuss the tensions and potential trade-offs between social, environmental, and financial goals. Kerrie asks John about Cafédirect’s take on sustainability and social justice. 
 
This podcast episode was recorded remotely in December 2021. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. 

Kerrie Unsworth is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Leeds University Business School. Her research focuses on how people juggle goals, tasks and identities and the effect this has on motivation and particular behaviours such as leadership, collaboration and pro-environmental behaviour. 
 
John Steel is CEO of Cafédirect. He is a business leader and social entrepreneur with a passion for making business a force for good. Under John’s leadership Cafédirect has returned to growth, become profitable and yet maintained its sustainability commitments to its producers. John is determined that Cafédirect, as one of the UK’s pre-eminent Social Enterprises, plays a pivotal role in leading the change agenda. John is a passionate and genuine believer in the need for real change in the way business contributes to society and the wider world.

A balancing act between sustainability and profitability

Professor Vera Trappmann and Dr Dennis Eversberg launch their new podcast series – “Just Transitions – a global exploration”. Throughout the series, the research team will be discussing the findings of their country-specific case studies. In this introductory episode, Professor Trappmann and Dr Eversberg explain what is meant by Just Transitions, how the team came about selecting the 12 countries, and how they’ll be researching debates and practices surrounding Just Transitions throughout the project. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in February 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.

About the speakers: 

Vera Trappmann is Professor of Comparative Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School. Her research engages with the comparison of labour relations across Europe, focusing on the dynamics of economic and organisational restructuring and its impact on working biographies, and organized labour.  Digitalisation, precarity and climate change are areas of study. 

Dr Dennis Eversberg is a Junior Research Group leader at the University of Vienna, Germany. His research interests include socio-ecological mentalities and modes of living and their role within social-ecological transformations and conflicts, particularly those surrounding the so-called ‘bioeconomy’, the sociology of social-ecological movements, degrowth, and trade unions.

Introducing the “Just Transitions – a global exploration” project

In this episode of the “Just Transitions - a Global Exploration” podcast, Ursula Balderson and Aleksander Szpor – members of the project team – discuss the role of the European Union in Just Transition policymaking and action in Poland. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in May 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. 

 
About the speakers: Ursula Balderson is a postdoctoral research associate on a project on Work, Labour and Climate Change. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist interested in how the transition to a greener economy can improve worker well-being and quality of life. 

Olek (Aleksander) Szpor is a Lead Consultant in Climate and Energy at Ecorys Research Consultancy Poland.

Just Transitions – a global exploration: Poland

In this latest episode of the “Just Transitions - a Global Exploration” series, Professor Vera Trappmann and Dr Felix Schulz discuss German workers’ perception of the climate crisis, and the role of policy in transitioning to a greener economy. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. The Competence Centre mentioned in this episode is also funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in November 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/294/podcast-just-transitions---a-global-exploration

About the speakers:  

Vera Trappmann is Professor of Comparative Employment Relations at Leeds University Business School. Her research engages with the comparison of labour relations across Europe, focussing on the dynamics of economic and organisational restructuring and its impact on working biographies, and organized labour. Currently, climate crisis and just transition are her main focus.  

https://business.leeds.ac.uk/divisions-work-employment-relations/staff/544/dr-vera-trappmann%22%3EProfessor%20Vera%20Trappmann 

Felix Schulz is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Digital Futures at Work (digit) Research centre and on an international Hans-Böckler-Stiftung funded project on the role of labour in the “Just Transition”. His research is interdisciplinary, drawing on labour economics, industrial relations, environmental labour studies and social psychology, with justice and inequality as the overarching focus. 

https://business.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/staff/594/dr-felix-schulz

Just Transitions - a global exploration: Germany

Mattia Dessì speaks to Dr Alexander Beresford about their South African research as part of the project looking at just transitions across the globe. They discuss factors affecting just transition in South Africa, including how international partners fit into the domestic debates, the political sphere, and the role of the ruling elite. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in October 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/294/podcast-just-transitions---a-global-exploration

About the speakers: Mattia Dessì is a Postgraduate Researcher at Leeds University Business School. His PhD research focuses on new technologies and the future of work in the South African mining industry. 

Dr Alexander Beresford is an Associate Professor in African Politics, and Director of Research and Innovation for the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds. His research provides a multi-layered insight into how global normative order is mediated and contested within and between two interwoven spaces - political struggles over inequality, power and corruption from everyday sites of politics through to the highest tables of power in South Africa; and the global diplomatic contestation of vaccine access, conflict resolution and climate change led by South Africa as an emerging power.

Just Transitions – a global exploration: South Africa

Dr Olga Ustyuzhantseva speaks to Mattia Dessì about Russia’s energy situation and the state's views on it; the ecological impact of coal in Russia; and the role of the labour movement in Russia's coal industry. 

This project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2. 

Visit the project webpage. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/dir-record/research-projects/1990/just-transition-action-concepts-debates-and-strategies-an-international-comparison-across-11-countries

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in May 2023. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/294/podcast-just-transitions---a-global-exploration
 
About the speakers: Mattia Dessì is a Postgraduate Researcher at Leeds University Business School. His PhD research focuses on new technologies and the future of work in the South African mining industry. 

Dr Olga Ustyuzhantseva is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa). Her recent research focus is on the sociotechnical transition to the sustainable development of coal-mining countries (South Africa and Russia), particularly climate, energy, and just transition policies and their impact on the coal phase-out trajectory.

Just Transitions – a global exploration: Russia

Drs Gabriella Alberti and Jo Cutter are joined by Caroline Keohane and Tanya Barringer from the Food and Drink Federation to discuss how the workforce in the UK food and drink sector has been affected since the end of the free movement of labour from the EU, and other subsequent crises. 

This episode has been recorded as part of the Labour Mobility in Transition (LIMITS) project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Visit the project webpage (https://business.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/dir-record/research-projects/1870/labour-mobility-in-transition-a-multi-actor-study-of-the-re-regulation-of-migrant-work-in-low-skilled-sectors-limits).

You can read the manifesto discussed in the episode here (https://www.fdf.org.uk/globalassets/about-fdf/powers-our-nation/fdf-2024-manifesto.pdf), and the LIMITS project Employer Survey report here (https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/332/employers-post-brexit-workforce-strategies-and-their-use-of-migrant-workers). 

This episode was recorded on 11 June 2024. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/333/podcast-transcript---labour-shortages

About the speakers: 

Dr Gabriella Alberti is an Associate Professor in Work and Employment Relations. Her research interests revolve around the conditions of workers at the bottom end of the labour market, whether on non-standard contracts, engaged in gig/platform work, excluded from social protections, migrants and minorities workers facing multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination and exclusion. 

Dr Jo Cutter is a lecturer in Work and Employment Relations. Her research focuses on employment relations, social dialogue and the regulation of work with a core focus on skills formation and training. She is currently researching these themes in relation to two contexts: workers and the just transition and labour mobility. 

Caroline Keohane is Head of Industry Growth at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) which is the voice of the UK’s largest manufacturing sector. Caroline leads FDF’s policy work on growth, productivity and investment and works closely with senior government officials within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). She is also a Non-Executive Board member of the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink. 

Tanya Barringer is a Senior Industry Growth Policy Executive at the Food and Drink Federation.  Her areas of focus include skills (apprenticeships and skill shortages), employment and migration, the uptake of automation and digitalisation and supply chain fairness.

Labour shortages, automation, and upskilling in UK food and drink manufacturing

Professor Aristeidis Theotokis speaks to special guest, Rashik Parmar MBE, about AI and the implications it could have on both business and society as a whole. In the episode, they discuss AI’s potential and limitations; people’s perceptions of AI; who the winners and losers are when it comes to creating value from AI; and what the biggest risks are when it comes to AI. 

Both Aristeidis and Rashik presented at Leeds University Business School’s “The Business of AI” event as part of Leeds Digital Festival in September. 

The HBR article Rashik referenced in this episode is “What is responsible computing?” 

This episode was recorded on 11th October 2024. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.

About the speakers:

Aristeidis Theotokis is Professor of Marketing at Leeds University Business School. He conducts research in the areas of shopper psychology, retail technology and prosocial behavior. He examines theories and phenomena in the areas of consumer psychology, behavioural economics and social psychology. His current research includes exploring how consumers understand and interact with AI. 

Rashik Parmar, MBE is a member of Leeds University Business School’s Research International Advisory Board. Rashik is Group CEO of British Computer Society (BCS) where he is responsible for realising the BCS mission to make IT good for society. He is focused on inspiring the programmes that the BCS colleagues, members and partners that help us deliver the BCS strategy. Previously he was the IBM Fellow and Vice President responsible for creating and driving IBM’s European technical strategy. Rashik is a member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Council and also chairs the Employment and Skills Panel at the Leeds City Region LEP and the Board of Trustees for We are IVE.

The limitations and potential of AI - and the role humans have to play in its success

Dr Ziko Konwar is joined by Dr Christopher Hassall and Professor Ulf Andersson to discuss the intricate linkages between biodiversity and business strategies, with an emphasis on operations of multinational enterprises. As part of the conversation, they explore questions such as how can businesses co-create value when it comes to preserving biological resources and mitigating the pace of biodiversity loss. And what are some of the major challenges for multinational companies integrating nature-based solutions into their business models? 

This episode was recorded on 3rd October 2024. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. 

About the speakers: 

Dr Ziko Konwar is an Assistant Professor of International Business at Leeds University Business School, and is the Director of Internationalization for the International Business Department. His research interests are in global strategy of multinational enterprises, with an emphasis on cross-national institutional and systemic challenges. He is the Leeds University Business School Research Lead for the 24-26 Cheney Fellowship project (see below), University of Leeds.   

Dr Christopher Hassall is an Associate Professor of Animal Biology in the School of Biology at the University of Leeds. He co-directs the Leverhulme Extinction Studies Doctoral Training Programme and co-leads the Aeroecology Research Group, which focuses on using radar for biodiversity monitoring. His research interests span fundamental ecology and biodiversity conservation, with a particular emphasis on interdisciplinary solutions to biodiversity challenges. 

Professor Ulf Andersson is a Professor of Business Studies in Mälardalen University, Sweden. Ulf is a research leader and expert on subsidiary management strategy of multinational enterprises, and is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and European International Business Academy. Ulf is the first Cheney Fellow to be hosted at Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds. 

About the project:

The Cheney fellowship project will utilize inter-disciplinary research expertise to address the role of global strategy of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in biodiversity loss (e.g. species/habitat extinction and MNE global innovation). The research team comprises Professor Ulf Andersson (incoming Cheney Fellow), Dr Ziko Konwar, Professor Yingqi (Annie) Wei and Professor Frank McDonald (Leeds University Business School), Dr Christopher Hassall (Faculty of Biological Sciences,) and Professor George Holmes (School of Earth and Environment). Over the past ten years, the Cheney Fellowship programme has established fruitful and high-impact research partnerships in areas such as water security, molecular biology, medicine and materials science. This programme has been made possible through a $4 million gift from Bacteriology and Biochemistry graduate Peter Cheney and his wife Susan.   

All quiet on the biodiversity strategy front: multinational enterprises, value creation and sustainable ecosystems

David Loseby, Visiting Professor of Research Impact at Leeds University Business School, interviews Frank Lee, Chief Executive Officer at the Institute for Collaborative Working, asking what makes a great partner, and how value can be created through collaboration. 

Both David and Frank spoke at the “Ideas in Practice: Supply Chain Summit 2024”, which was co-hosted by Leeds University Business School and the Institute for Collaborative Working. The event, held in November 2024, explored how managing complex supply chains is increasingly vital to all organisations. 

Additional note: In the episode, David and Frank mention ISO 44000 and ISO 44001. These are standards created by the International Organization for Standardization, that provide frameworks for successful collaborative business relationship management. 

This episode was recorded on 3rd February 2025. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available. (https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/354/podcast-transcript---collaboration-done-right)

About the speakers: 

David Loseby is Professor of Research Impact in Supply Chain Management at Leeds University Business School. He is a modern day “pracademic” that has spent over three decades in procurement and supply chain roles internationally across a diverse set of sectors from pharmaceuticals, banking, retail, manufacturing, and public sector (NHS and Westminster City Council) and more recently as the Group CPO for Rolls Royce. He is also a visiting scholar at the University of East Anglia involved in Executive MBA and MSc programmes, as well as his own active research portfolio in Behavioural Science.  

Frank Lee is the Chief Executive Officer at the Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW), a role he has held since early 2023. He joined ICW after more than 30 years with the British Standards Institution (BSI), where he held various leadership roles. Frank has been instrumental in establishing a new vision and purpose for ICW, transforming it into a modern, agile, and outward-focused institution. 

Collaborative working

There is a consensus that companies need to adopt a low-carbon economy. Manufacturing Small to Medium Enterprises (mSMEs) are pulled by pressure for productivity growth whilst also being high carbon emitters. In this episode of the Research and Innovation Podcast, Dr Matthew Davis and Naomi Booth Wade discuss the tensions and challenges of productivity and environmental sustainability. 

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in September 2020. If you would like to get in touch regarding the project discussed in this podcast, visit bit.ly/productivesustainable or email n.s.boothwade@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available at: https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/196/podcast_episode_13_-_transcript

About the speakers:  

Matthew Davis is an Associate Professor at Leeds University Business School, a Chartered Psychologist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. His research centres on how people interact with their environments, the impact of different office designs and how businesses engage in CSR, particularly to address sustainability and modern slavery. 

Naomi Booth Wade is a Research Assistant on the project “Sustainable and productive?! Helping manufacturing SMEs to manage multiple goals”. Naomi has an educational background in Psychology and Organisational Psychology. She is a budding business psychologist with a demonstrated history of working in the research and consultancy fields.

The project discussed in this episode is funded by the ESRC Productivity Insights Network. Grant number 154166.

Can manufacturing SMEs be both productive and environmentally sustainable?

Professor Kerrie Unsworth and Mark Goldstone discuss the benefits of manufacturing SMEs becoming more environmentally sustainable and what Yorkshire businesses are doing to achieve their sustainability goals. 

This podcast episode was recorded remotely in December 2020. If you would like to get in touch regarding this podcast, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available at:  https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/204/podcast_episode_15_-_transcript. 
This project - “Sustainable and productive?! Helping manufacturing SMEs to manage multiple goals” - is funded by the ESRC Productivity Insights Network. Grant number 154166.

Kerrie Unsworth is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Leeds University Business School. Her research focuses on how people juggle goals, tasks and identities and the effect this has on motivation and particular behaviours such as leadership, collaboration and pro-environmental behaviour. 

Mark Goldstone is Head of Business Representation & Policy at the West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce helps businesses grow by sharing opportunities, knowledge and expertise, with a strong business voice influencing decision-makers at all levels.

How manufacturing SMEs are becoming more environmentally sustainable in the Yorkshire region

Leeds University Business School’s Research and Innovation podcast brings you insights from our expert researchers. From the future of work, to disruptive technologies; green behaviours to emerging markets, we’ll be covering a wide-range of topical issues and novel ideas. 

Listen to the podcast to find out more about our research and how it’s inspiring business managers, informing policymakers and influencing society.

If you have any comments regarding any of these episodes, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk.