School of Earth and Environment
Untitled Document

Kendra Wasiluk Kendra Wasiluk

Postgraduate Student

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 37966
Email address: eeklw@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 9.123

Biography

Project Details

Project title: Sustainable wealth creation in practice: A framework to manage firms' intangibles

Supervisors: William Young and Louise Ellis

Funding: ORSAS and Tetley & Lupton Scholarship

Start date: October 2008

Brief description: A key issue facing business today is how to reconcile the belief that sustainable development is a worthwhile goal and how to achieve this. When interpreted into a business context, sustainable development requires an organisation to manage not only its financial performance, but also its non-financial performance - often dubbed the 'triple bottom line'. The 'business case for sustainability' often presents business with the 'win-win' of taking a sustainable approach, however, many of the benefits or drivers of value, beyond simple eco-efficiency, often accrue or relate to an organisation's intangibles. However, as pressures mount for business to move beyond eco-efficiency, sustainable business models based upon wealth creation through the production of natural, human, social, institutional and cultural capital - so-called intangible assets - need to be developed and scaled-up.

This coupled with growing demands for transparency in performance reporting and corporate social and environmental responsibility means that businesses now more than ever are being called upon to identify, assess, and report on their intangibles.

The scope of this PhD research project is specifically focused on understanding the challenge of managing the non-financial aspects - or intangibles - of organisations in the Australian property and construction sector. The research seeks to answer the following primary questions - What are they? Why and how do organisations assess them? And how do organisations use this information to inform decision-making and learning?

In a business context, the term 'intangibles' is defined in a number of ways, often based on the discipline (i.e. accounting, strategy, management) and often terms such as intangible asset, intellectual capital, goodwill and intellectual property are used interchangeably even though all these terms have different meanings. For the purpose of this research an organisation's intangibles has been defined as its' intellectual capital and categorisation rather than a single definition approach has been adopted. The most agreed categorisation approach to intellectual capital is:

  • human capital (knowledge resources);
  • structural capital (internal process & management resources); and
  • relational capital (external resources).

These along with additional categories such as social citizenship and environmental health - which expand the frame beyond the more traditional business organisation boundaries presented in the categories above - and are the main empirical focus of this research.

Biography

Prior to joining the University of Leeds, Kendra worked as a Research Associate at RMIT University's Centre for Design, Melbourne where her project work has concentrated on a number of consulting and research projects in the Centre dealing with building materials, indoor environment quality, product environmental labelling, sustainability rating tools, sustainable design strategies and the business case for sustainability. Kendra has completed an Honours Bachelor of Environmental Studies degree from the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Canada and a Design Arts Diploma from Durham College in Oshawa, Canada. Kendra also has over 7 years experience as an Interior Designer, working for commercial firms in Canada (Mayhew + Associates) and Australia (Graham Nicholas Pty Ltd) as well as running her own freelance design consultancy firm.

Areas of interest

  • Built Environment
  • Property and Construction
  • Sustainable Development
  • Strategic Management
  • Intellectual Capital
  • Intangibles

Publications

Book Chapters

  • Wasiluk, K.L. and Horne, R.E., (2009) 'Business Case for Sustainable Buildings', Chapter 27 in Technology, Design and Process Innovation in the Built Environment, eds: Newton, P., Hampson, K, and Drogemuller, R., Taylor and Francis, London, pp 493-513.
  • Iyer-Raniga, U. and Wasiluk, K.L., (2007) 'Sustainability and the built environment', Chapter 29 in Australian Master OHS & Environment Guide, 3rd edition, ed: CCH Australia, pp.507-528

Refereed international conference papers

  • Wasiluk, K.L.. in progress. Wealth creation in a sustainable world - from conceptual idea to operational reality: A framework to manage firm's intangibles. Presented to 3rd World Knowledge Cities World Summit, Melbourne Australia, Nov 2010.
  • Wasiluk, K.L.. 2009. Intangibles - the missing link in business strategies for sustainable development: case study of the Australian commercial building sector. Presented to 5th Workshop on Visualising, Measuring and Managing Intangibles & Intellectual Capital, Dresden, Germany, Sept 2009.
  • Wasiluk, K.L. and J.K. Lynes. 2007. Deepening shades of green: Fostering environmental education through an experience-based professional development course. Presented to Walking and Talking Sustainability, NZSSES, Auckland NZ, Feb 2007.
  • Iyer-Raniga, U., Stanley H. and Wasiluk K.L. 2007 Liveable Homes: A vehicle for facilitating the uptake of sustainability measures in new homes. Presented to IAHS World Congress on Housing Science, Melbourne AU, Sept 2007.
  • Horne, R.E., Wasiluk K.L and Gertsakis, J. 2007 Rapid life cycle assessment design tools and their role in DfE transitions in Australia. Presented to The 5th International Conference on Design and Manufacture for Sustainble Development, Loughborough UK, July 2007.

Refereed articles in professional publications

  • Iyer-Raniga, U, and Wasiluk, K.L., 2007. 'Sustainability Rating Tools: A snapshot study' Building Environment Design Professionals (BEDP) Environment Design Guide: Practice Note DES 70, Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA).