Sustainability Strategies and Achieving SDGs: A Comparative Analysis of Leading Companies in the Automotive Industry

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. Chapter 5 should not been called Conclusion, as it represents results and discussion hence it should be incorporated in Chapter 4 as a subchapter.
2. Last part of the chapter Conclusion (p. 8/15, line 348) should be interpreted as Chapter 5 Conclusion or Concluding remarks
3. Conclusion part should shed some light on the conceptual or methodological shortcomings of the paper (why just five companies and limitation of applied methodology) and relate it to (mentioned) future research perspectives.
4. In notion ‘21^st’, st should be expressed as superscript. In number th should be expressed as superscript. Same as CO2, 2 should be expressed as subscript.
5. 1/15, line 33 – it should be differently not different
6. ‘When the conceptual framework for the application of sustainability in the automo-62 tive industry are concerned, a research gap in this area curiously appears, namely there is 63 no solid research agenda on sustainability in the automotive industry’ (reformulate sentence to be more in line with English language)
7. 8/15, line 343. For this reason, it can be concluded that sustainable development strategies also affect the financial value of the brand, and thus also the value of company shares, but probably with a certain time lag. This thesis is logical and stems from the proven thesis of green brands as an increasingly common choice of customers, but it requires further research to quantify this correlation. The comment of this thesis  (logical and stems…???) should be eliminated as it is not confirmed by this study.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

 

1. Chapter 5 should not been called Conclusion, as it represents results and discussion hence it should be incorporated in Chapter 4 as a subchapter.

 

Thank you for the comment. We have made changes in the paper, so there are now chapters methodology, results, discussion and conclusion.

 

1. Last part of the chapter Conclusion (p. 8/15, line 348) should be interpreted as Chapter 5 Conclusion or Concluding remarks.

 

Thank you for the comment. We now have last chapter named Conclusion.

 

1. Conclusion part should shed some light on the conceptual or methodological shortcomings of the paper (why just five companies and limitation of applied methodology) and relate it to (mentioned) future research perspectives.

 

Thank you for the comment. In the Conclusion we added the required. We hope we have managed to explain the necessary.

 

1. In notion ‘21^st’, st should be expressed as superscript. In number th should be expressed as superscript. Same as CO2, 2 should be expressed as subscript.

 

 

Thank you for the observed omission. We acted in accordance with your instructions and put the necessary in superscript.

 

 

1. 1/15, line 33 – it should be differently not different

 

Change in the paper has been made, thank you for the comment.

 

1. ‘When the conceptual framework for the application of sustainability in the automo-62 tive industry are concerned, a research gap in this area curiously appears, namely there is 63 no solid research agenda on sustainability in the automotive industry’ (reformulate sentence to be more in line with English language)

 

Our English translator made a change in the text. Thank you for the observed omission.

 

 

1. 8/15, line 343. For this reason, it can be concluded that sustainable development strategies also affect the financial value of the brand, and thus also the value of company shares, but probably with a certain time lag. This thesis is logical and stems from the proven thesis of green brands as an increasingly common choice of customers, but it requires further research to quantify this correlation. The comment of this thesis  (logical and stems…???) should be eliminated as it is not confirmed by this study.

 

Thank you for this constructive comment. We have deleted this sentence.

 

 

The authors are grateful to the reviewer because the comments helped us improve the quality of the work.

Reviewer 2 Report

The topic of paper is interesting, however the introduction section is very vague. Authors a little bit mention about general sustainable development situation, circular economy. But in the introduction section authors should highlight the novelty of the paper. What other authors analysed on this topic, even circular, clean, waste reduction industry. So, the introduction section must me related to the analysed topic and reveal the main tendencies. Authors provided the SDG write the same as I can found in every document, wikipedias and etc. It looks like as plagiat. Thus, authors should more orginaly present the SDG in other case to provide the reference. In the paper I missed policy implications, the comparison analysis which should be more expanded.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

The topic of paper is interesting, however the introduction section is very vague. Authors a little bit mention about general sustainable development situation, circular economy. But in the introduction section authors should highlight the novelty of the paper. What other authors analysed on this topic, even circular, clean, waste reduction industry. So, the introduction section must me related to the analysed topic and reveal the main tendencies. Authors provided the SDG write the same as I can found in every document, wikipedias and etc. It looks like as plagiat. Thus, authors should more orginaly present the SDG in other case to provide the reference. In the paper I missed policy implications, the comparison analysis which should be more expanded.

Authors are really grateful for your comments.

• In the Introduction we added more literature and highlight the novelty of the paper.
• We now correctly cited table of SDG which we took from the web site [15] source. Thank you very much for this comment.
• Policy implications have been now added and comparison analysis has been expanded. We hope that we managed to improve the quality of the paper. If anything else needs to be added, please let us know. Thank you once more for your helpful comments.

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear authors,
The paper presents an actual topic.

I suggest using goal programming to show the achievement of the sustainable development goals that companies have set for themselves. 

Please, follow the template to prepare the manuscript: 1.Introduction, 2.Materials and Methods, 3.Results, 4.Discussion, 5. Conclusions.

The literature review needs to be improved.

The conclusion section ends too abruptly. Please consider explaining the limitations of the research, as well as future research avenues, at the end of this section.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

Dear authors,
The paper presents an actual topic.

I suggest using goal programming to show the achievement of the sustainable development goals that companies have set for themselves. 

Please, follow the template to prepare the manuscript: 1.Introduction, 2.Materials and Methods, 3.Results, 4.Discussion, 5. Conclusions.

The literature review needs to be improved.

The conclusion section ends too abruptly. Please consider explaining the limitations of the research, as well as future research avenues, at the end of this section.

 

Dear reviewer,

Thank you very much for your helpful comments. We have now prepared new version of the manuscript according to your comments. The paper is now organized according to the suggested chapters, literature and conclusion are expanded and achievements of the SDG have been better presented. We have also corrected the paper according to the instructions of other reviewers, and for the sake of a major revision we hope that the new version of the paper will be more suitable for publication. Please, let us know if we need to do something more. Thank you once again for your helpful comments.

Best regards,

Authors

Reviewer 4 Report

This is a good paper on an important topic.  The background is well presented. The methodology of selection could be clearer (paper says top brands were selected, but then placed the companies at different ratings.  the limitations should also be addressed prior to the presentation of the findings to situate the reader in how the methodology was carried out.

The discussion is interesting but would be easier to follow by inserting table two (or even a further summarised table) into the main text so that the reader can absorb the findings more easily. Table 3 is fine as an appendix.  The conclusions contain some findings that would be better moved to the prior section and make the conclusion more concise.

Author Response

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

This is a good paper on an important topic.  The background is well presented. The methodology of selection could be clearer (paper says top brands were selected, but then placed the companies at different ratings.  the limitations should also be addressed prior to the presentation of the findings to situate the reader in how the methodology was carried out.

The discussion is interesting but would be easier to follow by inserting table two (or even a further summarised table) into the main text so that the reader can absorb the findings more easily. Table 3 is fine as an appendix.  The conclusions contain some findings that would be better moved to the prior section and make the conclusion more concise.

 

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your helpful comments. We made changes in the paper according to yours and other reviewers comments. Methodology is now clearer, and we addressed limitations prior to the presentation of the findings. Table 2 has been placed in the main text and we now have sections Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusion. Conclusion is now more concise and we hope that we managed to fulfill your comments and suggestions.

If you think something else needs to be done, please let us know.

Thank you once again,

Best regards,

Authors

 

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Accept

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear authors,

Thank you for your research and congratulation!