An integrative approach improves sustainability impacts of innovation. An empirical study

A review of recent literature in the field indicates there is an increasing interest in improving sustainability performances of manufacturing. The integrated innovation of product, process and supply chain can be a promising way to improve economic, social and environmental performances of manufacturing enterprises, but there is still a lack of empirical evidence on the topic. This paper compares the sustainability-related performances of three different states, which a unique business context went through. The final state, a small-sized mini-factory for the local transformation of sheep wool, outperforms the other (more traditional) configurations in terms of social end economic impacts, with just partial advantages in terms of environmental performances.