Improved sustainability of industrial activities and measurement of its performance are becoming prime topics of discussion among policy-makers and industrial decision-makers. The current literature proposes a number of performance measurement systems and related indicators, but mainly lacks a real capability to address all sustainability pillars and their intersections, as well as scalability to firms of different sizes, availability of internal resources, and maturity over sustainability issues, suggesting that further research is needed in this area. Building on the literature, our work develops a new framework for the evaluation of industrial sustainability performance, proposing three different Industrial Sustainability Performance Measurement Systems (ISPMSs), with a decreasing number of indicators suitable in different contexts of application. In the framework, selection mechanisms have been conceived and used to reduce the number of indicators considered, while still guaranteeing complete and adequate coverage of all sustainability pillars, as well as their intersections. The framework has been tested through semi-structured case studies in heterogeneous Northern Italian manufacturing firms. The preliminary results are sound as the different ISPMSs proved to be complete, useful, and easy to use. The proposed ISPMSs provide industrial decision-makers with a scalable framework applicable in different contexts, allowing benchmarking and development of specific implementation strategies for increased sustainability, and provide policy-makers with a framework to develop a more effective regulatory policy, better understanding how sustainability performance can be addressed in an integrated manner across industrial firms.

Measuring industrial sustainability performance in manufacturing firms is still a major challenge for both policy and industrial decision makers, with many firms, particularly small and medium enterprises, struggling to properly engage with them. Hence, to understand the level of adoption of industrial sustainability indicators and the issues preventing their effective measurement, and stimulate further research in this area, a multiple case analysis of 26 small and medium manufacturing enterprises across Germany and Italy operating in the chemical and metalworking sectors was conducted. The findings show that only 18 indicators are in place on average. Furthermore, too many firms still focus almost exclusively on the economic pillar of sustainability, while social and environmental pillars are addressed almost exclusively for compliance with legislation. Moreover, the research suggests that contextual factors may influence the firms' perspective on sustainability and the way it is managed, as well as the certifications held by firms, influencing, in turn, the number and types of indicators considered. An exploratory investigation allowed identification of several important open issues, leading to future research avenues, and in particular towards the development of a novel model to gauge sustainability in industrial activities, as well as adoption of policy-making measures for further emphasis on environmental and social pillars when promoting the adoption of sustainability indicators.

Sustainability is constantly gaining relevance among industrial decision makers, policy makers and scholars. In order to be sustainable, firms need to implement industrial sustainability measures, however there are many barriers to doing this. This work is based on a review of literature on barriers to the areas of occupational health and safety, eco efficiency, energy efficiency and to sustainability, and contributes to industrial sustainability research by presenting a novel, integrated theoretical model of barriers to the implementation of sustainability measures. The model encompasses previous literature review contributions and is intended to characterize and evaluate barriers to the adoption of industrial sustainability measures in all its areas. We have conducted a preliminary validation of the model investigating eight northern Italian manufacturing firms, looking at its ability to represent barriers to sustainability, usefulness and ease of use. We conducted semi-structured interviews to people responsible of the different areas of industrial sustainability, complemented by questionnaires and secondary materials. Results show a positive overall judgment of the model by all the interviewees. Moreover, the model was able to be applied to issues deriving from different perspectives and different areas of industrial sustainability. The findings can help firms and policy makers overcome barriers and they also provide insight into the different perspectives on the adoption of industrial sustainability measures than can be used to promote their adoption

No abstract

Sustainability's relevance is constantly increasing among industrial decision makers, policy-makers and scholars. To improve sustainability performance, firms must adopt industrial sustainability measures. These have been proven to positively impact on overall firm's performance, but their rate of adoption is still low, and barriers to their adoption need to be properly tackled by drivers. This work is based on a review of literature on drivers to sustainability and to the areas of occupational health and safety, eco efficiency, and energy efficiency, and contributes to industrial sustainability research presenting a novel framework of drivers. The framework comprehends a model of drivers and a model of mechanisms: the former encompasses previous literature contributions and aims to characterize drivers for the adoption of measures in all areas of industrial sustainability; the latter aims to evaluate if a driver may tackle specific barrier or boost the action of another driver. We conducted a preliminary validation of the framework in nine Italian manufacturing firms. Regarding model of drivers, capacity to represent, usefulness and ease of use were evaluated; concerning model of mechanisms usefulness and ease of use were evaluated. Results seem to be sound with an overall positive evaluation of the framework by all the interviewees. Model of drivers was appreciated for its structure and completeness, and for its ability to enhance knowledge and awareness; model of mechanisms was considered useful for properly foster the adoption of a measure within the firm. The framework could be useful for industrial decision makers and policy-makers to better direct resources and efforts to foster the adoption of industrial sustainability measures.

The enabling role of Digital Technologies towards the Circular Economy transition has been recognized. Nonetheless, to support the transition, the operationalization of the discourse is still needed. The present study performs a systematic literature review, deepening the knowledge on the role of Digital Technologies in operationalizing the Circular Economy transition. The analysis is shaped according to the ReSOLVE framework, as it has been recognized as able to operationally guide industrial firms towards the Circular Economy transition. Despite the broad focus on the topic by the extant literature, the results of the analysis show limited Circular Economy aspects addressed and specific technologies considered, making it difficult to have a complete overview on the implementation of Digital Technologies in the Circular Economy transition, operatively addressing it. Shortcomings are identified regarding the lack of an integrated and holistic analysis of the relationships, the need for investigating the decision-making process and specific Circular Economy practices, all from an empirical perspective. The paper eventually suggests streams for further research while offering theoretical and practical implications.

Industry should take further efforts towards increased energy efficiency, that is a major contributor to improve industrial sustainability performance, by implementing energy efficiency measures (EEMs). However, the rate of adoption of these measures is still quite low. Hitherto, EEMs and barriers to their adoption have been evaluated almost exclusively from the viewpoint of energy efficiency decision makers, not accounting for the broader sustainability perspective. This work aims at understanding whether an industrial sustainability perspective can better address issues related to EEMs adoption, analysing the question through different viewpoints and insights offered by industrial decision makers of different industrial sustainability areas within a firm. By doing this, we aim at offering a contribution in the understanding of the low rate of adoption of EEMs. As case studies, we investigated twelve firms from Northern Italy. In comparison to previous literature, results show that an industrial sustainability perspective can better explain the real decision-making process of adopting an EEM. Indeed, people knowledgeable about different industrial sustainability areas may perceive different barriers about the same EEM. EEMs may be negatively affected by reasons related to other areas of industrial sustainability, whilst positive reciprocal impacts may exist among areas of industrial sustainability; thus, EEMs may have effects on areas other than energy efficiency, and these effects may be perceived only by such areas. The study concludes with some remarks for policy and industrial decision-makers and advice for further research.

No abstract