دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی سازمان پارک های اکو صنعتی و عملیات پایدارشان - الزویر 2017

Abstract

Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs) are defined as a community of firms located in the same area and linked in a network of collaborative relationships mainly aimed at enhancing sustainability. A number of EIPs have recently spread in both developed and developing countries through diverse formation processes, resulting in different configurations. The topic has received a growing attention by the literature, even though to our knowledge the available studies lack to characterize the EIPs’ organizational models and analyse how models reflect on the EIP’s sustainability. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap, proposing a framework that characterizes EIPs along two dimensions related to organization and sustainability, which are further described through specific variables. We apply the framework on 28 EIPs and conduct cluster analysis to group them according to the organizational dimension. We then identify different organizational models of EIPs and discuss the possible linkages between such models and the adopted sustainability practices. The research findings have practical implications concerning policies and strategies to enhance EIPs sustainability.

Conclusions

This paper has investigated Eco-Industrial Parks (EIPs), namely a community of firms located in the same geographic area and linked in a network of collaborative relationships, which leverage on the synergistic effect to reduce the environmental impact and create benefits for the local community, as well as exploit new business opportunities. Even though this topic has been extensively addressed in the literature, to our knowledge there is a lack of studies that aim at identifying possible patterns in terms of both organizational structure and sustainability practices. Our paper fills this gap by proposing a framework that characterizes EIPs along two dimensions of analysis, namely organizational and sustainability dimensions. Every dimension has in turn been decomposed into several variables, and each variable associated with a binary value. We have then applied our framework to 28 EIPs located in diverse geographic areas. A cluster analysis has been carried out based on the value assigned to all variables characterizing any EIP: for each dimension, three clusters have been obtained and described according to the identified features. The analysis shows that certain organizational features as well as environmental practices seem almost necessary for the existence itself of the EIP. The other variables, namely those associated with organizational features and sustainability practices that less frequently occur, could then be used to differentiate among EIPs. This has allowed different models of EIPs to be defined. Furthermore, by comparing the clusters resulting for the organizational dimension with those resulting for the sustainability dimension, we have investigated whether a correspondence exists between the organizational model and the adopted sustainability practices. Results suggest that EIPs promoted or supported by governmental initiatives, with a high heterogeneity, and characterized by the presence of collaborative networks among firms and with governmental agencies, anchor tenants, and shared support services, are more likely to adopt a wider range of sustainability practices. Differently, sustainability practices are less adopted in EIPs developed through a bottom-up process, with a low heterogeneity, and characterized by a weak governmental support and scarce collaboration with governmental agencies.