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Assessing corporation sustainability performance towards achieving sustainable development goals using a novel trapezoidal fuzzy ITARA-RIM approach

  • S.I. : OR for Sustainability in Supply Chain Management
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Abstract

In order to remain competitive in the market, advance society and culture, and preserve the environment while ensuring continued benefits, corporations are urged to embrace sustainable development (SD). With the growing recognition of corporate sustainability, certain countries have implemented measures aimed at fostering its growth, including counseling and subsidies. However, it is crucial to evaluate the efficacy of these subsidies in transforming the performance of recipient corporations. Hence, the assessment of corporate sustainability performance emerges as a critical undertaking. This paper proposes a corporate sustainability performance (CSP) assessment framework, which incorporates environmental, social, economic, and institutional perspectives. The framework contributes to achieving several sustainable development goals (SDGs). In terms of methodology, a novel multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) model is developed. First of all, fuzzy indifference threshold-based attribute ratio analysis (FITARA) is used to assign weights to the sustainability indicators. Secondly, the fuzzy reference ideal method (FRIM) is applied to aggregate the sustainability performance of corporations and obtain their rankings. The ITARA-RIM approach incorporates trapezoidal fuzzy sets to reflect the uncertainty of information. Furthermore, our defuzzification procedure is different from the general center of gravity defuzzification method, because it uses centroids and the maximizing and minimizing set (CMM) method to obtain more reliable crisp data. An example from the foundry industry in Taiwan is used to demonstrate the suitability and effectiveness of the approach. This study identified 27 assessment indicators to assess the sustainability performance of 14 corporations. The analysis revealed that indicators such as information sharing, green product design and recyclability, pollutant emissions reduction, enterprise size, and project control management are significant factors in determining the CSP. This study can assist decision-makers/managers/investigators in both government and industry to better comprehend how systematic performance assessment can be conducted. Academically, the proposed approach can be applied as a basis for the application of CSP to promote the evolvement of other more forward-looking methodologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing Management, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan

    Wan-Chi Jackie Hsu

  2. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Kuan-Yu Lin

  3. Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, Taiwan

    Huai-Wei Lo

  4. Department of Business Administration, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan

    Jen-Jen Yang

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Hsu, WC.J., Lin, KY., Lo, HW. et al. Assessing corporation sustainability performance towards achieving sustainable development goals using a novel trapezoidal fuzzy ITARA-RIM approach. Ann Oper Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-024-05987-6

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