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A Fuzzy Logic-Based Tool for the Assessment of Corporate Sustainability: A Case Study in the Food Machinery Industry

Author

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  • Eleonora Bottani

    (Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, viale delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy)

  • Maria Carmen Gentilotti

    (Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, viale delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy)

  • Marta Rinaldi

    (Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, viale delle Scienze 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy)

Abstract

This paper develops a quantitative tool for the assessment of sustainability at the company’s level, taking into account its three key perspectives, i.e., economic, environmental and social. The proposed framework is grounded on fuzzy logic and in particular on a monotonic hierarchical fuzzy inference tool, as an effective means to gather the judgements and scores against the key performance indicators (KPIs) of each sustainability perspective into an aggregated index. In developing the fuzzy inference tool, we also solve some typical issues related to the assessment of sustainability, e.g., the identification of benchmark values to rate the company’s performance against each sustainability KPI. The architecture of the fuzzy inference tool was embodied in an ad hoc software developed in Microsoft Excel TM (Microsoft Corporation, Albuquerque, NM, USA), which makes it easy to use the proposed framework in practical situations. The potential of the software tool developed is illustrated by means of a case study, targeting a food machinery company, for which the overall evaluation of sustainability is carried out.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:4:p:583-:d:95519
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    3. Chiuhsiang Joe Lin & Tariku Tamiru Belis & Dino Caesaron & Bernard C. Jiang & Tsai Chi Kuo, 2020. "Development of Sustainability Indicators for Employee-Activity Based Production Process Using Fuzzy Delphi Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-31, August.
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