IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i1p125-d87956.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental Collaboration for Sustainability in the Construction Industry: An Exploratory Study in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Margherita Pero

    (Politecnico di Milano, Department of Management, Economics, and Industrial Engineering, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy)

  • Antonella Moretto

    (Politecnico di Milano, Department of Management, Economics, and Industrial Engineering, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy)

  • Eleonora Bottani

    (Università degli Studi di Parma, Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Architettura, viale delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy)

  • Barbara Bigliardi

    (Università degli Studi di Parma, Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Architettura, viale delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy)

Abstract

The notion of sustainability, in its three-fold meaning (economic, environmental, and social), is being adopted more and more by companies. Today it is widely accepted that sustainability cannot be achieved by firms in isolation, but requires the collaboration of all supply chain players. This issue is particularly relevant in industrial contexts where the supply chains are complex in terms of structure and number of players, such as the construction industry. Thus, the aim of the paper is to explore the sustainability practices adopted in the construction industry, with a particular attention to the role of environmental collaboration of supply chain partners in achieving sustainability. By means of multiple case study-based research, we investigate sustainability practices on a sample of construction companies of Italy, thus identifying three main sustainability approaches, which differ in both the strategic orientation towards sustainability and the level of implementation in design, purchasing, and governance processes, as well as the main variables driving the adoption of these approaches.

Suggested Citation

  • Margherita Pero & Antonella Moretto & Eleonora Bottani & Barbara Bigliardi, 2017. "Environmental Collaboration for Sustainability in the Construction Industry: An Exploratory Study in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-25, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:1:p:125-:d:87956
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/1/125/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/1/125/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bohringer, Christoph & Jochem, Patrick E.P., 2007. "Measuring the immeasurable -- A survey of sustainability indices," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 1-8, June.
    2. Charlotte Leire & Oksana Mont, 2010. "The implementation of socially responsible purchasing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 27-39, January.
    3. S Swami & J Shah, 2013. "Channel coordination in green supply chain management," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 64(3), pages 336-351, March.
    4. Min-Ren Yan & Kuo-Ming Chien & Tai-Ning Yang, 2016. "Green Component Procurement Collaboration for Improving Supply Chain Management in the High Technology Industries: A Case Study from the Systems Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-16, January.
    5. Ageron, Blandine & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Spalanzani, Alain, 2012. "Sustainable supply management: An empirical study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 168-182.
    6. Ness, Barry & Urbel-Piirsalu, Evelin & Anderberg, Stefan & Olsson, Lennart, 2007. "Categorising tools for sustainability assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 498-508, January.
    7. Goldman, Todd & Gorham, Roger, 2006. "Sustainable urban transport: Four innovative directions," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 261-273.
    8. B. Ageron & A. Gunasekaran & A. Spalanzani, 2012. "Sustainable supply management : an empirical study," Post-Print halshs-00740499, HAL.
    9. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    10. Hassini, Elkafi & Surti, Chirag & Searcy, Cory, 2012. "A literature review and a case study of sustainable supply chains with a focus on metrics," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 69-82.
    11. Sarkis, Joseph & Zhu, Qinghua & Lai, Kee-hung, 2011. "An organizational theoretic review of green supply chain management literature," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 1-15, March.
    12. Harris, Jonathan M. & Kennedy, Scott, 1999. "Carrying capacity in agriculture: global and regional issues," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 443-461, June.
    13. Richard Hill & Paul Bowen, 1997. "Sustainable construction: principles and a framework for attainment," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 223-239.
    14. Vachon, Stephan & Klassen, Robert D., 2008. "Environmental management and manufacturing performance: The role of collaboration in the supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 299-315, February.
    15. Thomas Dyllick & Kai Hockerts, 2002. "Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 130-141, March.
    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. Francesco Calza & Adele Parmentola & Ilaria Tutore, 2021. "For green or not for green? The effect of cooperation goals and type on environmental performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 267-281, January.
    2. Pisarska Aleksandra, 2019. "Cooperative relations between public higher education institutions: the contextual nature of the process of their creation," Management, Sciendo, vol. 23(2), pages 205-222, December.
    3. Larissa A. R. U. Freitas & Alessandra Magrini, 2017. "Waste Management in Industrial Construction: Investigating Contributions from Industrial Ecology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Yujia Huo & Jiali Wang & Xiangyu Guo & Yang Xu, 2022. "The Collaboration Mechanism of Agricultural Product Supply Chain Dominated by Farmer Cooperatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-21, May.
    5. Verónica León-Bravo & Federico Caniato & Maria Caridi & Thomas Johnsen, 2017. "Collaboration for Sustainability in the Food Supply Chain: A Multi-Stage Study in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-21, July.
    6. Roope Husgafvel & Daishi Sakaguchi, 2023. "Circular Economy Development in the Wood Construction Sector in Finland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-36, May.
    7. Korapin Jirapong & Karina Cagarman & Laura von Arnim, 2021. "Road to Sustainability: University–Start-Up Collaboration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-19, May.
    8. Johan Larsson & Lisa Larsson, 2020. "Integration, Application and Importance of Collaboration in Sustainable Project Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, January.
    9. Terence Fell & Johanna Mattsson, 2021. "The Role of Public-Private Partnerships in Housing as a Potential Contributor to Sustainable Cities and Communities: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-25, July.
    10. da Cunha, Richard Alex & Rangel, Luís Alberto Duncan & Rudolf, Christian A. & Santos, Luiza dos, 2022. "A decision support approach employing the PROMETHEE method and risk factors for critical supply assessment in large-scale projects," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 9(C).
    11. Letizia Tebaldi & Barbara Bigliardi & Eleonora Bottani, 2018. "Sustainable Supply Chain and Innovation: A Review of the Recent Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-29, October.
    12. Sehrish Atif, 2023. "Mapping circular economy principles and servitisation approach in business model canvas: an integrated literature review," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, December.
    13. Rogério Moreno Perlingeiro & Mayra Soares Pereira Lima Perlingeiro & Carlos Alberto Pereira Soares, 2021. "Criteria for the assessment of sustainability of public constructions," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(10), pages 15450-15493, October.
    14. Rogério Moreno Perlingeiro & Mayra Soares Pereira Lima Perlingeiro & Christine Kowal Chinelli & Elaine Garrido Vazquez & Eduardo Linhares Qualharini & Assed N. Haddad & Ahmed W. A. Hammad & Carlos Alb, 2020. "Sustainable Assessment of Public Works through a Multi-Criteria Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-28, August.
    15. Pietrosemoli, Licia & Rodríguez-Monroy, Carlos, 2019. "The Venezuelan energy crisis: Renewable energies in the transition towards sustainability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 415-426.
    16. Sehrish Atif & Shehzad Ahmed & Muhammad Wasim & Bassam Zeb & Zeeshan Pervez & Lorraine Quinn, 2021. "Towards a Conceptual Development of Industry 4.0, Servitisation, and Circular Economy: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-27, June.
    17. Liping Fu & Huajun Sun & Yuan Meng & Jiaxin Li, 2022. "The Role of Public–Private Partnerships in Local Government Debt Is a Potential Threat to Sustainable Cities: A Case from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, October.
    18. Shuvo Dip Datta & Bassam A. Tayeh & Ibrahim Y. Hakeem & Yazan I. Abu Aisheh, 2023. "Benefits and Barriers of Implementing Building Information Modeling Techniques for Sustainable Practices in the Construction Industry—A Comprehensive Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-28, August.

    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. Eleonora Bottani & Maria Carmen Gentilotti & Marta Rinaldi, 2017. "A Fuzzy Logic-Based Tool for the Assessment of Corporate Sustainability: A Case Study in the Food Machinery Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-29, April.
    2. Dongwook Kim & Sungbum Kim, 2017. "Sustainable Supply Chain Based on News Articles and Sustainability Reports: Text Mining with Leximancer and DICTION," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-44, June.
    3. Pero, Margherita & Bottani, Eleonora & Bigliardi, Barbara, 2014. "Exploring Sustainability in Construction Supply Chains," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Kersten, Wolfgang & Blecker, Thorsten & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Next Generation Supply Chains: Trends and Opportunities. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), Vol. 18, volume 18, pages 161-182, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    4. Giang N. T. Nguyen & Tapan Sarker, 2018. "Sustainable coffee supply chain management: a case study in Buon Me Thuot City, Daklak, Vietnam," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Ruifeng Gong & Jian Xue & Laijun Zhao & Oleksandra Zolotova & Xiaoqing Ji & Yan Xu, 2019. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Green Supply Chain Management Based on the Web of Science (WOS) Platform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-18, June.
    6. Bikram Jit Singh Mann & Harmeet Kaur, 2020. "Sustainable Supply Chain Activities and Financial Performance: An Indian Experience," Vision, , vol. 24(1), pages 60-69, March.
    7. K. T. Shibin & Rameshwar Dubey & Angappa Gunasekaran & Benjamin Hazen & David Roubaud & Shivam Gupta & Cyril Foropon, 2020. "Examining sustainable supply chain management of SMEs using resource based view and institutional theory," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 290(1), pages 301-326, July.
    8. Yusuf, Yahaya Y. & Gunasekaran, A. & Musa, Ahmed & El-Berishy, Nagham M. & Abubakar, Tijjani & Ambursa, Hafsat M., 2013. "The UK oil and gas supply chains: An empirical analysis of adoption of sustainable measures and performance outcomes," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 501-514.
    9. Jadhav, Akshay & Orr, Stuart & Malik, Mohsin, 2019. "The role of supply chain orientation in achieving supply chain sustainability," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 112-125.
    10. Zhifeng Wu & Senjing Zhai & Jiangtao Hong & Yibin Zhang & Keren Shi, 2018. "Building Sustainable Supply Chains for Organizations Based on QFD: A Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-12, December.
    11. Luthra, Sunil & Garg, Dixit & Haleem, Abid, 2015. "An analysis of interactions among critical success factors to implement green supply chain management towards sustainability: An Indian perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P1), pages 37-50.
    12. Helene Seidel-Sterzik & Sarah McLaren & Elena Garnevska, 2018. "Effective Life Cycle Management in SMEs: Use of a Sector-Based Approach to Overcome Barriers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Samuel Adomako, 2020. "Environmental collaboration, sustainable innovation, and small and medium‐sized enterprise growth in sub‐Saharan Africa: Evidence from Ghana," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1609-1619, November.
    14. Jesús Morcillo-Bellido & Luis Isasi-Sanchez & Isabel Garcia-Gutierrez & Alfonso Duran-Heras, 2021. "Model Based Analysis of Innovation in Sustainable Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-20, April.
    15. Tan Yigitcanlar & Md. Kamruzzaman, 2015. "Planning, Development and Management of Sustainable Cities: A Commentary from the Guest Editors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-12, November.
    16. Schöll, Michaela, 2017. "Three Essays on Sustainable Supply Chain Management – Towards Sustainable Supplier Selection and Sustainable Sourcing," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 172463, July.
    17. Alireza Karimi & Saeed Jafarzadeh-Ghoushchi & M. A. Mohtadi-Bonab, 2020. "Presenting a new model for performance measurement of the sustainable supply chain of Shoa Panjereh Company in different provinces of Iran (case study)," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 11(1), pages 140-154, February.
    18. Beske, Philip & Land, Anna & Seuring, Stefan, 2014. "Sustainable supply chain management practices and dynamic capabilities in the food industry: A critical analysis of the literature," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 131-143.
    19. Mangla, Sachin Kumar & Luthra, Sunil & Rich, Nick & Kumar, Divesh & Rana, Nripendra P. & Dwivedi, Yogesh K., 2018. "Enablers to implement sustainable initiatives in agri-food supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 379-393.
    20. Glover, J.L. & Champion, D. & Daniels, K.J. & Dainty, A.J.D., 2014. "An Institutional Theory perspective on sustainable practices across the dairy supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 102-111.

    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:9:y:2017:i:1:p:125-:d:87956. 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.