Evaluation of sustainable strategies adoption for competitiveness within the Qatar oil and gas sector
Authors
SARRAKH, RedouaneAdvisors
Renukappa, SureshIssue Date
2021-11
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
With the increasing importance given to sustainable development, now-a-days countries around the world are shifting their focus and efforts to changing the previous unsustainable growth framework that has been ineffective. Qatar seems to be following the rest of the world and has decided to introduce a sustainability plan to ensure prosperity through its national vision and strategy plans. However, despite Qatar’s National Vision 2030 implementation, several organisations within the oil and gas sector still have difficulties in embedding sustainability agenda in their systems and processes. There is, also, a paucity of empirical research on the implementation of sustainability strategies within the Qatar oil and gas sector to improve competitiveness. Therefore, the aim of this research is to evaluate the Qatar oil and gas sector implementation of sustainability strategies so as to improve its competitiveness. A qualitative approach was adopted to collect and analyse data based on 24 interviewees from eight Qatar oil and gas organizations. The research started with a purposive sampling method that was later adapted to snowball. Semi-structured interview was selected as the data collection tool, and thematic analysis was chosen to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the interviews. Systematics approaches, such as the Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM), Fuzzy Matrice d’Impacts Croises-Multiplication Applique an Classment (FuzzyMICMAC), maturity model and Graph Theoretic and matrix Approach (GTMA), were selected appropriately in order to achieve the research objectives. A framework and readiness tool were developed as the output of the research findings. The results of the study revealed that the Qatar oil and gas sector identified six main areas of interest to evaluate the performance of the sector and its organisations: workforce, health and safety, society, environment, climate change, and economy. Overall, the Qatar oil and gas sector is operating within or above governmental laws and regulations, which is evident in some organisations’ adapted policies and strategies. It is found that international standards and governmental regulations and laws are amongst the main drivers that fuelled for the implementation of sustainability initiatives within the sector. While strategic issues were highlighted as the main inhibitor to sustainability implementation within the sector. The findings of this research provide valuable insights that would help the Qatar oil and gas industry’s decision makers to implement sustainability initiatives to improves the sector’s competitiveness.Publisher
University of WolverhamptonType
Thesis or dissertationLanguage
enDescription
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.Collections
The following licence applies to the copyright and re-use of this item:
- Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
The impact of sustainability committee characteristics on corporate sustainability performance: Evidence from the FTSE 150 non-financial companiesYamak, Sibel; Korzhenitskaya, Anna; Rahimi, Roya; Abdullah, Aso; University of Wolverhampton Business School, Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences (University of Wolverhampton, 2022-06)Following considerable business and academic interest in sustainability over the last two decades, this study’s aim was to extend previous research by examining through the lens of stakeholder theory, Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) and legitimacy theory: through (1) the impact of sustainability committee characteristics (SCC) on Corporate Sustainability Performance (CSP) and (2) any significant differences between findings when focused and non-focused sustainability committees are compared. This thesis applied positivist methodology and adopted fixed effects regression models on a sample of 112 non-financial companies from FTSE 150 for the period 2010-2018. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data was gathered from the Refinitiv database along with data on sustainability committee characteristics collected from Fame database, companies’ annual reports and London Stock Exchange (LSE). The main findings show a positive and significant relationship between organisational factors including firm size, profitability and firm age with Environmental and ESG scores. There is also a positive and significant association between frequency of committee meeting and age diversity with Governance scores only. The empirical finding shows these positively significant relationships under the presence of focused and non-focused committees equally. Additionally, the results show that only social and governance sustainability performance significantly improved from 2016 following the Paris Agreement of 2015 and the publication of the 2030 SDGs. Furthermore, the findings revealed the frequency of committee meetings is negatively and statistically significantly related to the Environmental dimension. The finding shows that firms focused/non-focused committees with greater independent members tend to have a statistically negative relationship to Governance Sustainability Performance. Importantly this research study also provides empirical evidence of the insignificant relationship of independent variables on the sub-dimension of Social Performance, thus, this finding supports the argument that firms act by greenwashing. This study has evidenced that no single theory provides a rationale for how SCCs influence CSP and its conclusions include suggestions for academics as well as businesses in terms of ongoing development and research.
-
Embedding sustainable strategies for competitive advantage in the UAE sports sectorRenukappa, Suresh; Almenhali, Ali Abdulqader Abdulrahman (University of Wolverhampton, 2019)Sports industry is receiving an imperious call to reduce their negative influences associated with their events, operations and facilities on the natural environment. Hence, it has developed numerous initiatives to address pertinent issues, bearing in mind two significant initiatives; reducing their ecological footprint and using the power and popularity of sport as a means to promote and raise environmental awareness and to inspire positive social change amongst fans and spectators. Despite the growing popularity given to sports industry lags behind other forms of facilities with reference to sustainability strategies. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sports sector is embedding sustainability for competitive advantage. A mixed methodology of research was adopted to collect and analyse data. Descriptive analysis was used to analyse quantitative data obtained from 124 completed online survey questionnaires. The results were further augmented by qualitative results derived from semi-structured interviews with 30 professionals from 20 sports organisations. As part of the analysis of the interviews, content analysis was employed. The unit of analysis adopted for this study is the ‘sports sector’ and the embedded unit is ‘individual employee’. The study concluded that the UAE sports sector is still in the developing stage. The implementation of initiatives related to sustainability is relatively low in the UAE sports sector organisations. Therefore, there is a need to reshape the UAE sports sector organisations existing sustainability strategy in order to gain sustainable competitive advantage. To improve the UAE sports sectors sustainability performance, decision makers have to recognise and understand the concept of sustainability. The lack of leadership skills for successful deployment of sustainability initiatives is one of the most important challenges for the UAE sports organisation. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop and deliver a bespoke leadership training programs to address, improve and measure the effectiveness of leadership skills for driving change towards sustainability. A sustainable assessment framework was developed and evaluated. This study has made significant contributions to knowledge since there is no previous research explored on embedding sustainability strategies in the context of UAE sports sector. Findings of this research are limited to the UAE sports sector context only, as such, the level of generalisability outside this context may be very limited.
-
A roadmap for net-zero energy buildings in emerging economies: a study of residential new-buildings in NigeriaGyoh, Louis; Emmanuel, Chieloka; School of Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Science and Engineering (University of Wolverhampton, 2024-07)The building industry is widely believed to be a major contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and consequently, climate change worldwide. Buildings contribute approximately 40% of global energy consumption and over 30% of total CO2 emissions. Over the past three decades, there has been progressive research interest in low-energy buildings in emerging economies. However, the issue of Net-Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) is less discussed and less represented in literature in the context of emerging economies. The aim of this research is to develop a strategic roadmap to achieve NZEBs in Nigeria within the residential sector. Data was obtained using survey questionnaires, and expert interviews. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and Inferential statistics, while the qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. Based on the research findings, a strategic roadmap with timelines and milestones was developed to achieve NZEBs within the residential sector in Nigeria. The nature of this roadmap involves policy creation and implementation, regulatory frameworks, investments, and partnerships. Research findings indicate potential future research on lifecycle analysis of buildings and circular economy in Nigeria, NZEB retrofit, and NZEB technological Interventions. This study makes novel theoretical contributions by addressing the issue, context, and level of analysis gap in literature on NZEBs in emerging economies. From a practical standpoint, it provides researchers, industry professionals, policymakers, funding bodies, and the third sector with a strategic roadmap with short-term, medium-term, and long-term strategies tailored to Nigeria's development needs and priorities. The implementation of the proposed roadmap can catalyse the scalable adoption of net-zero energy residential buildings, thereby reducing Nigeria's carbon footprint and supporting its sustainable development goals.