Indicators and Framework for Measuring Industrial Sustainability in Italian Footwear Small and Medium Enterprises

As small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have limited resources, they need a manageable number of indicators that are simple and easy to use for measuring sustainability performance. However, the lack of suitable indicators tailored to industry needs, particularly for SMEs, has been a major challenge in measuring and managing industrial sustainability. Our study aims to empirically analyze and select the useful and applicable indicators to measure sustainability performance in Italian footwear SMEs. To achieve this objective, we proposed a methodological approach to identify, analyze and select sustainability indicators. First, we carried out a systematic review to identify potential sustainability indicators from the literature. Then, we developed a questionnaire based on the identified indicators and pre-tested it with selected industrial experts, scholars, and researchers to further refine the indicators before collecting data. We applied the fuzzy Delphi method to analyze and select the final indicators. Based on a sample of 48 Italian footwear SMEs, the results of our study show that product quality, material consumption, and customer satisfaction were the top priorities among the selected indicators for measuring the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of industrial sustainability, respectively. The selected indicators stressed the measuring of industrial sustainability performance associated with financial benefits, costs, market competitiveness, resources, customers, employees, and the community. Our study proposed a framework that helps to apply the selected indicators for measuring sustainability performance in SMEs. Finally, our study contributes to the existing theory and knowledge of industrial sustainability performance measurement by providing indicators supported by empirical evidence and a framework to put the indicators into practice in the context of SMEs.