Contingency Approach to Sustainable Water Cost Management in a South African Brewery

Water is an increasingly expensive resource with rising costs that eventually affects business costs.Although businesses vary widely in their levels of water-use intensiveness, many of them do not always considerthe full costs of their water usage; a factor that determines how far they are willing to reduce water consumption.Using the contingency theory approach, the present research paper provides an understanding to the effect thatthe determination of water costs should encompass sustaining human welfare, economic growth, ecosystems andthe recognition that sustains each of these aspects is dependent on sustaining the others. Findings reveal that theSAB Ltd manages its water resources based on three contingent factors, namely: water recovery for sustainableproduction; water-use efficiency due to use of economic instruments and pricing; and managing water scarcity dueto local nature and water-use licensing and enforcement. The paper recommends the provision of adequate andreliable water-related cost information to enable managers to identify operations with excessive water consumptionand wastages and those that present opportunities to reduce such wastages

Business · Contingency · Economic cost · Economics · Enforcement · Environmental economics · Environmental resource management · Microeconomics · Natural resource economics · Water conservation · Water pricing · Water resources · Water scarcity · Water use · Computer Science · Public-Private Partnership Projects · Water resources management and optimization

• The qualitative research interview

  Open Access•Sandy Q Qu, Sandy Qu et al.•Qualitative Research in…•2011

  Incluir item

• Water is an economic good

  Open Access•Peter Rogers•Water Policy•2002

  Incluir item

• Qualitative Case Study Methodology

  Open Access•Pamela Baxter, Susan Jack et al.•Qualitative Report•2015

  Incluir item

• The Growing Importance of Social Learning in Water Resources Management and Sustainability Science

  Open Access•Claudia Pahl-Wostl, Claudia Pahl‐wostl et al.•Conservation Ecology•2008

  Incluir item

• From Premise to Practice

  Open Access•Wietske Medema, Brian S Mcintosh et al.•Conservation Ecology•2008

  Incluir item