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Sustainability strategy and blockchain-enabled life cycle assessment: a focus on materials industry

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Abstract

Sustainable development, especially with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has been a priority of corporations. Nevertheless, processes which are required to deliver both changes and impact to create a sustainable organization have been slow and challenging. The purpose of this research is first to explore the extent and nature of eco-sustainability policy and strategy implementation of Materials Industry Group (MIG) companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The analysis shows that strategy is the core element for organizational sustainable development and strategy needs to be implemented at the enterprise-wide level and aligned with other dimensions within the McKinsey Seven S’s (7S’s) framework. The capabilities of life cycle assessment (LCA) that provides a holistic assessment of environmental impacts of products, from upstream and downstream perspectives, is under-explored. The case companies used in this research find it challenging to implement LCA. This research adds an additional dimension to the existing framework, suggesting the possibilities of adopting blockchain technology in strategizing sustainability strategy. Blockchain in the systems of the framework can be used in LCA to support sustainability and help organizations to achieve their targeted SDGs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    David Teh

  2. School of Accounting, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Tehmina Khan

  3. School of Business IT & Logistics, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Brian Corbitt & Chin Eang Ong

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  1. David Teh
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  2. Tehmina Khan
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  3. Brian Corbitt
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  4. Chin Eang Ong
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Correspondence to David Teh.

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Teh, D., Khan, T., Corbitt, B. et al. Sustainability strategy and blockchain-enabled life cycle assessment: a focus on materials industry. Environ Syst Decis 40, 605–622 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-020-09761-4

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