A Step-by-Step Process towards an Evolutionary Policy Encouraging the Adoption of Sustainable Business Models

The increasing awareness on environmental issues and their implications for society and economy, has led policymakers to rethink the legislative and financial measures supporting companies to innovate their business. As a result, companies are encouraged to integrate corporate sustainability (CS) into their value creation. Different from the past approaches, the current policy making process has been inspired by a multi-value creation system, aimed to deeply analyze the present situation, and identify the bottlenecks to design further steps to be taken. In this context, regional authorities cover a pivotal role in financing the pre-competitive phase of innovative and sustainable business models (SBMs). A survey was launched in the Emilia Romagna Region (ERR), analyzing the main factors contributing to maximizing CS. This paper investigates supply chain, welfare, environmental management as well as planning, control and communication strategy together with ecological footprints such as materials, energy, water, plastics, and waste ecological footprints. It gives a twofold contribution: first, it sets the stage for the construction of a theoretical model representing an SBM, and second, it gives a practical contribution by supporting the public administration decision-making in adopting a breakthrough roadmap facilitating the value transfer from industry to society.