A novel approach to assessing manufacturer progress toward sustainability

A new means of considering the progress of a manufacturer towards sustainability is presented as a tool for strategic decision makers such as top level management. All three of the sustainability dimensions are considered simultaneously. Initially, the current state in each of the three sustainability dimensions is determined and fitted into the proposed hierarchy. In the next step, stakeholders are considered to identify the sustainability dimension that represents the most impact for progress up the hierarchy. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability report data is used to rank a sample of manufacturers on the proposed hierarchy. Results are compared to those given by the GRI materiality matrices of the selected manufacturers.