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The governmentality of corporate (un)sustainability: the case of the ILVA steel plant in Taranto (Italy)

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandro Lai

    (University of Verona)

  • Silvia Panfilo

    (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

  • Riccardo Stacchezzini

    (University of Verona)

Abstract

The present research aims to investigate the role of states in governing the sustainability trajectories and decisions of companies and their local communities. Drawing on Dean’s (Governmentality: power and rule in modern society, SAGE, London, 2009) “analytics of government” as the theoretical framework, the paper focuses on detecting how the Italian Government “problematised” the sustainability-related risks associated with the ILVA steel plant in Taranto, whose levels of pollution have worried both the Italian authorities and the European Union Commission. The analysis also considers the “regimes of governance” under which the risks have been addressed and then explains the “utopian ideal” that the Italian Government tried to achieve by allowing the company to continue its activity, contrary to the Italian Judiciary’s provision to halt the hot working area of the steel plant in July 2012. Patterns related to Dean’s framework were identified through an iterative process of manual elaborative coding of the official documents ascribable to the main actors involved in governing the sustainability-related risks at ILVA. The findings show that the Italian Government took its decisions on ILVA in the name of relevant risks of unemployment, economic development and territorial competitiveness. The Italian Government adopted several practices of governance to make these risks more “visible” and to silence the environmental and health risks that, otherwise, would have emphasised the unsustainability of the business activities. The paper extends the growing body of research that investigates corporate (un)sustainability practices by showing how states may directly influence sustainability-related corporate risks in the name of a higher public interest.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Lai & Silvia Panfilo & Riccardo Stacchezzini, 2019. "The governmentality of corporate (un)sustainability: the case of the ILVA steel plant in Taranto (Italy)," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 23(1), pages 67-109, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:23:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s10997-019-09457-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10997-019-09457-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Simone Pizzi & Francesco Rosati & Andrea Venturelli, 2021. "The determinants of business contribution to the 2030 Agenda: Introducing the SDG Reporting Score," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 404-421, January.
    2. Mario Turco & Rossella Leopizzi, 2020. "The Role of Public Governance in the Pursuit of Sustainable Development of the ILVA Steel Plant: An Interpretative Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-15, October.
    3. Simone Pizzi & Fabio Caputo & Andrea Venturelli, 2020. "Does it pay to be an honest entrepreneur? Addressing the relationship between sustainable development and bankruptcy risk," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3), pages 1478-1486, May.
    4. Maria Riegler & Anna M. Burton & Markus Scholz & Katharina de Melo, 2023. "Why companies team up for sustainable development: Antecedents of company engagement in business partnerships for sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4767-4781, November.

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