IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i19p8282-d1484089.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Business Models: An Empirical Analysis of Environmental Sustainability in Leading Manufacturing Companies

Author

Listed:
  • Patrizia Gazzola

    (Department of Economics, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy)

  • Carlo Drago

    (Department of Economics, Psychology and Communication Sciences, “Niccolò Cusano” University, 00166 Roma, Italy)

  • Enrica Pavione

    (Department of Economics, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy)

  • Noemi Pignoni

    (Department of Economics, University of Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy)

Abstract

This study thoroughly investigates the role of sustainable business models in enhancing environmental sustainability in leading manufacturing companies. Guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we empirically analyse the integration of sustainability goals into corporate strategies. This study identifies sustainable business models based on an analysis of the sustainability reports published on the website, examining the strategies and action plans declared by 30 companies that are leaders in the sustainability industry, according to their Dow Jones Sustainability Index World (DJSI World) and S&P Global ESG Scores. The strategies considered are aligned with the following specific sustainability development goals: 6 (water security); 7 (renewable energy); 12 (responsible consumption and production); and 13 (climate action). The dataset contains several variables, each reflecting a particular facet of a company’s environmental sustainability, as follows: energy consumption; greenhouse gas emissions; waste management strategies; and water conservation initiatives. We use a multidimensional data analysis technique called multiple correspondence analysis (MCA). After using MCA, we use a hierarchical clustering algorithm with the aim of classifying the different companies. Our findings underscore the presence of seven clusters of companies. Compared to the well-established literature on the topic of sustainable business, the innovative contribution of this study is linked to the identification of reaction time as a strategic variable explaining the different sustainable business models. The study makes it clear that the different business models are linked to reaction time to strategic alignment with environmental objectives. The country in which the company is based is also important. This study provides practical insights for companies aiming to align their practices with SDGs. In fact, the time variable provides important information in this regard and makes it possible to identify different approaches to sustainability as well as strong and weak sustainable business models; the former are characterised by a medium long-term strategic orientation towards environmental sustainability, which can be interpreted as the desire to undertake more solid and structured environmental sustainability strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrizia Gazzola & Carlo Drago & Enrica Pavione & Noemi Pignoni, 2024. "Sustainable Business Models: An Empirical Analysis of Environmental Sustainability in Leading Manufacturing Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:19:p:8282-:d:1484089
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8282/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8282/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Drago, Carlo & Gatto, Andrea & Ruggeri, Matteo, 2023. "Telemedicine as technoinnovation to tackle COVID-19: A bibliometric analysis," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    2. Chiara Mio & Silvia Panfilo & Benedetta Blundo, 2020. "Sustainable development goals and the strategic role of business: A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3220-3245, December.
    3. Michael Greenacre, 2005. "From correspondence analysis to multiple and joint correspondence analysis," Economics Working Papers 883, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    4. Brock, Guy & Pihur, Vasyl & Datta, Susmita & Datta, Somnath, 2008. "clValid: An R Package for Cluster Validation," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 25(i04).
    5. Magazzino, Cosimo & Drago, Carlo & Schneider, Nicolas, 2023. "Evidence of supply security and sustainability challenges in Nigeria’s power sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Mark G. Edwards, 2021. "The growth paradox, sustainable development, and business strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3079-3094, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Patrizia Gazzola & Enrica Pavione & Stefano Amelio & Martina Mauri, 2024. "Sustainable Strategies and Value Creation in the Food and Beverage Sector: The Case of Large Listed European Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-16, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roland Somlai, 2022. "Integrating decision support tools into businesses for sustainable development: A paradoxical approach to address the food waste challenge," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1607-1622, May.
    2. Patrick Zschech & Kai Heinrich & Raphael Bink & Janis S. Neufeld, 2019. "Prognostic Model Development with Missing Labels," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 61(3), pages 327-343, June.
    3. Veland Ramadani & Sucheta Agarwal & Andrea Caputo & Vivek Agrawal & Jitendra Kumar Dixit, 2022. "Sustainable competencies of social entrepreneurship for sustainable development: Exploratory analysis from a developing economy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3437-3453, November.
    4. Gainbi Park & Zengwang Xu, 2022. "The constituent components and local indicator variables of social vulnerability index," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 110(1), pages 95-120, January.
    5. Xin Huang & Xianling Jiang & Wei Liu & Qian Chen, 2021. "Business Group-Affiliation and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Listed Companies in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, February.
    6. Tantawy Moussa & Amir Allam & Mahmoud Elmarzouky, 2022. "Global modern slavery and sustainable development goals: Does institutional environment quality matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 2230-2244, July.
    7. Ibrahim Mutambik & Abdullah Almuqrin, 2024. "The Best of Both Worlds: How Financial Growth Can Engender Improved Sustainability for Businesses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-23, June.
    8. Simone Lazzini & Zeila Occhipinti & Angela Parenti & Roberto Verona, 2021. "Disentangling economic crisis effects from environmental regulation effects: Implications for sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 2332-2353, July.
    9. Borke, Lukas & Härdle, Wolfgang Karl, 2016. "Q3-D3-Lsa," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2016-049, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    10. Ana Alina Tudoran, 2022. "A machine learning approach to identifying decision-making styles for managing customer relationships," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(1), pages 351-374, March.
    11. Lopez, Belen & Rangel, Celia & Fernández, Manuel, 2022. "The impact of corporate social responsibility strategy on the management and governance axis for sustainable growth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 690-698.
    12. Wu, Han-Ming, 2011. "On biological validity indices for soft clustering algorithms for gene expression data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 1969-1979, May.
    13. Reyes-Menendez, Ana & Clemente-Mediavilla, Jorge & Villagra, Nuria, 2023. "Understanding STI and SDG with artificial intelligence: A review and research agenda for entrepreneurial action," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    14. Jyh-Rong Chou, 2021. "A Scoping Review of Ontologies Relevant to Design Strategies in Response to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-27, September.
    15. Drago, Carlo & Fortuna, Fabio, 2023. "Investigating the Corporate Governance and Sustainability Relationship: A Bibliometric Analysis Using Keyword-Ensemble Community Detection," FEEM Working Papers 336985, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    16. Wu, Tong & Rocha, Juan C. & Berry, Kevin & Chaigneau, Tomas & Hamann, Maike & Lindkvist, Emilie & Qiu, Jiangxiao & Schill, Caroline & Shepon, Alon & Crépin, Anne-Sophie & Folke, Carl, 2024. "Triple Bottom Line or Trilemma? Global Tradeoffs Between Prosperity, Inequality, and the Environment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    17. Titov Sergei & Trachuk Arkady & Linder Natalya & RD Pathak & Danny Samson & Zafar Husain & S Sushil, 2023. "Digital transformation enablers in high-tech and low-tech companies: A comparative analysis," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 48(4), pages 801-843, November.
    18. Valery Chistov & Nekane Aramburu & María Eugenia Fabra Florit & Iñaki Peña‐Legazkue & Pauline Weritz, 2023. "Sustainability orientation and firm growth as ventures mature," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5314-5331, December.
    19. Qi, Ruijuan & Khan, Ali Junaid & Basheer, Muhammad Farhan & Ul Hameed, Waseem & Chaudhry, Iffat Sabir, 2023. "Handling the mishandling: Resolving the resource curse through effective utilization of available natural resources and claiming sustainable development," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 87(PA).
    20. Isabela Caroline de Sousa & Tiago F. A. C. Sigahi & Izabela Simon Rampasso & Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes & Walter Leal Filho & João Henrique Paulino Pires Eustachio & Rosley Anholon, 2024. "A Delphi–Fuzzy Delphi Study on SDGs 9 and 12 after COVID-19: Case Study in Brazil," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-18, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:19:p:8282-:d:1484089. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.