SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Environmental issues, together with growing debates about aviation impacts on climate change, have been playing a central role in the aviation industry in the past several years. More recently, a much wider focus on sustainable development, including the social impacts of aviation, has started becoming a key aspect in aviation industry. Aircraft manufacturers have responded to this situation and realized the importance of focusing their efforts to incorporate sustainable development policies into their core business strategies. However, the effectiveness and the efficiency of such efforts have been in question because systematic approaches to support such activities are scarce. Aircraft manufacturers need to be able to formulate and implement sustainable development strategies in a systematic and traceable manner. Today, stakeholder analysis, dialogue, and engagement are widely recognized in the aviation sector. Such stakeholder analysis should be conducted in a more structured and integrated way to offer improved support to the ever-globalizing aircraft manufacturers to define and implement sustainable development strategies effectively. Under the rapidly changing business environment in which aircraft manufacturers are operating, the need for a holistic approach to develop sustainable development strategies, such as a systems approach, appears to be well justified. Opportunities created by such an integrated and holistic conceptual framework can enable aircraft manufacturers to manage their business strategically and deal with increasingly demanding business challenges.