Sustainability Benefits and Challenges of Inter-Organizational Collaboration in Bio-Based Business: A Systematic Literature Review
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Results
3.1. Overview of Inter-Organisational Collaborations
3.2. Sustainability Benefits
“A new private company ... captures CO2 emissions from the Shell plant, and distributes the waste emissions to 500 greenhouse companies to the North of Rotterdam. ... In 2007, the greenhouse companies achieved a reduction of 170,000 tonnes CO2 emissions by avoiding the burning of 95 million m3 natural gas.”([24], pp. 432–433)
“The energy generated from the system not only meets the company’s own demand but is also sold to other companies. This green energy is estimated to be an equivalent of 58,000 tonne of CO2, an environmental benefit.”([10], p. 368)
“... the biogas technology facilitates ... an improvement of the residual product’s fertilizer value, which leads to an increased uptake by plants, reduced runoff of nutrients to surface water, and reduced leaching to groundwater as well as reduced costs for purchase of mineral fertilizers.”([32]; p. 139)
“Greenhouses in particular can also use waste heat from the ethanol and biogas industry.”([21]; p. 1751)
“Waste heat from the pulp mill, the sawmill and the biofuel upgrading plant is used as a resource base to cover the base load of the heat demand in the district heating system.”([34]; p. 1541)
“Synergies between the biofuel industry and food industry are primarily of two different types: using biofuel by-products for human and animal food and feed; and using food industry by-products for biofuel production.”([26]; p. 54)
“Slaughterhouse wastes in the city of Linköping are sent to the local biogas facilities as a method for disposal. This greatly benefits the meat processing industry, with reduced waste handling costs and produces biogas used for vehicle fuel in the community.”([21]; p. 1753)
“Given the growing interest in the valorisation of bio-waste it is posited that entrepreneurial firms develop interorganisational relationships to generate competitive advantages.”([33]; p. 261)
“Many of the new alliances reveal the growing economic and political strength of some developing countries, such as Brazil and Indonesia.”([7]; p. 639)
“Bio-energy production company in Maniwa cluster has created employment opportunities of 110 man/months.”([10]; p. 369)
“Hosahalli village biomass gasifier in an agricultural community provided 20 kW electricity in 1997. The benefits of the project included cutting the walking distance of women to fetch water as water would be pumped to households whilst farmers were able to get irrigation water. A total of 20.2 acres was irrigated in 2002 enabling production of a variety of crops benefiting 17 farmers. Availability of evening lighting was also reported to benefit studying school children and the elimination of kerosene use.”([6]; p. 1288)
3.3. Sustainability Challenges
“It was calculated that such a pipeline system would cost €112,700,000 and would require government funding for new infrastructure.”([24]; p. 431)
4. Discussions and Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
BioB | bio-based business |
CHP | combined heat and power plant |
GHG | greenhouse gas |
IOC | inter-organisational collaboration |
SME | small- and medium-sized enterprise |
Appendix A: Keywords and Search Strings
Keywords/Search Subsets | Search Strings | |
Inter-organizational collaboration | Alliance*, Coalition*, Collaborati*, Cooperati*, Eco-industrial park*, Supply chain, Industrial symbiosis, Inter$firm, In-ter$organi?ational, Inter$sector* relation*, Joint-venture*, Network*, Partnership*, Relation* | |
Sustainability outcome | Social | Community, Corporate social responsibility, Education, Employee health, Employment, Human right*, Labo$r condition*, Poverty, Social, Wellbeing, Working condition* |
Environmental | Eco-efficien*, Biodiversity, Carbon, Climate change, Cradle-to-cradle, Ecological, Emission*, Global warming, Life cycle assessment, Pollution, Resource use, Waste | |
Economic | Company performance, Competitive advantage, Corporate performance, Cost*, Economic, Financial, Innovation, Profit*, Revenue* Sustainab*, Triple-bottom-line | |
Bio-based domain | Alga*, Bio$based, Bio$diesel, Bio$economy, Bio$electricity, Bio$energy, Bio$ethanol, Bio$fuel*, Bio$gas, Bio$heat, Bio$mass, Bio$material*, Bio$park*, Bio$plastic*, Bio$refin*, Bio$region*, Bio$resource*, Bio$tech* |
Appendix B: Inclusion Criteria
Inclusion Criteria | Argumentation for Inclusion |
Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) only | To limit the scope of the research to relevant social mechanisms at play. |
English language | To make the process universally replicable. |
As of year 1990 | The first publication containing word “bio-based” is from year 1990. |
Peer-review articles, review papers | To get a comprehensive overview of all relevant mechanisms that could play a role. |
Qualitative and quantitative empirical studies, case studies | To get a comprehensive overview of all relevant mechanisms that could play a role. |
Search “collaboration” in title and “bio-based” in topics | To collect the studies on inter-organisational collaboration in the bio-based domain, assuming that articles dealing with these topics may report on the sustainability outcomes of collaboration efforts. |
Appendix C: Exclusion Criteria
Terms | _cell*, mobile, *oxid*, acid*, ad hoc network*, antenna, bandwidth, cataly*, DNA, equilibri*, ester, gene_, quantum, queu*, information system*, infra*, internet, IT, modif*, molecul*,multimedia, nano*, neural network*, neuro*, optic*, phone, polymer network*, polyurethane*, psych*, radio, react*, resist*, road network*, robotics, satellite, sensi*, senso*, software, switch*, television, transmi*, transport* network, video, wave, weight*, wireless. |
Categories | public environmental occupational health, political science, anthropology, area studies, history philosophy of science, women’s studies, psychology experimental, history of social sciences, psychology educational, history, agricultural economics policy, ethnic studies, cultural studies, philosophy, humanities multidisciplinary, agronomy. |
Themes | Intra-organisational collaborations instead of inter-organisational collaborations, models without any empirical example, e.g., mixed-integer linear programming of supply chain optimisation, bilateral relations of science and commercial R&D, roles of academics and policy makers, and career network dynamics, red bio-technology. |
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Processes | In | Out | Reason |
---|---|---|---|
Merging, among which | 1980 | 362,451 | Irrelevant |
WoS | 148 | 34,163 | |
Scopus | 1560 | 68,390 | |
EconLit | 272 | 259,898 | |
Cleaning for duplicates—automatic function | 1867 | 113 | Duplicates |
Cleaning for duplicates—manually | 1827 | 40 | Duplicates |
Screening titles and abstracts | 99 | 1728 | Irrelevant + 1 duplicate * |
Synthesis | 24 | 75 | Quality |
Rater 2 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Rater 1 | Include | Exclude | Total | |
Include | 24 | 12 | 36 | |
Exclude | 3 | 60 | 63 | |
Total | 27 | 72 | 99 | |
Kappa | 0.63 |
Reference | Type of Collaboration | Means of Collaboration |
---|---|---|
Industrialized | ||
[6]* | Bioenergy clusters in Australia, Sweden, Austria, Finland and Denmark | Exchange material and energy, (bio-)waste, waste heat. Integration of production systems, of bio-based with other industries. |
[7]* | Bio-fuel alliances in the USA and Europe | Exchange (bio-)waste. Share property rights. Integration of production system. |
[10] | Wood biomass industrial cluster in Japan | Exchange material and energy, waste heat, knowledge. Sharing resources, personnel, facilities and infrastructure. Integration of production system, integration of bio-based with other industries. |
[21] | Industrial symbiosis in Sweden | Exchange material and energy, waste heat, industrial waste. Share utilities. Integration of bio-based with other industries, of CHP with bio-gas/bio-fuel plant, of CHP with district heating system. |
[22] | Biotechnology alliances in the USA | Exchange knowledge and R&D. Share personnel. |
[23] | Biotechnology cluster in Canada | Exchange knowledge and R&D. Share resources, personnel. |
[24] | Industrial symbioses in the Netherlands and in Sweden | Exchange material and energy, waste heat, CO2, knowledge, bio-waste, waste water. Sharing buildings, facilities, resources, personnel, social network, and other utilities. Integration of CHP with bio-gas/bio-fuel plant, of CHP with district heating system. |
[25] | Industrial symbiosis in Sweden | Exchange waste heat, steam. Integration of processes, of CHP with district heating system. |
[26] | Bio-fuel clusters in Sweden | Exchange material and energy, by-product. Share utilities. |
[27] | Biotechnology partnerships in Germany, Canada and France | Exchange knowledge and R&D. Share resources, physical goods and services, and social network. |
[28] | Wood biomass cluster in Norway | Exchange material and energy, wood waste, waste heat, knowledge, and other resources. Share social network. |
[29] | Biotechnology clusters in the USA | Exchange knowledge. Share innovation and social network. |
[30] | Biotechnology alliances in the USA | Exchange knowledge and innovation. Share partner-specific experience. |
[31] | Integrated supply chain bio-gas plants in Germany | Exchange (bio-)waste, energy, waste heat. Integration of supply chain. |
[32] | Closed-loop supply chain in Denmark | Exchange material and energy, (bio-)waste, energy. Integration of processes, of CHP with district heating system, of supply chain. |
[33] | Biomass collaboration in the Netherlands | Exchange (bio-)waste, knowledge. Share resources. |
[34] | Wood biomass industrial symbiosis in Sweden | Exchange material and energy, waste heat, (bio-)waste. Integration of processes, of bio-fuel and sawdust plant productions, of CHP with district heating system. |
[35] | Agricultural knowledge and innovation system in Belgium | Exchange knowledge and R&D. Share personnel. |
Emerging | ||
[7]* | Bio-fuel alliances in Asian, South American and African countries | Exchange (bio-)waste. Share property rights. Integration of production system. |
[6]* | Bioenergy clusters in India and Uganda | Exchange material and energy, (bio-)waste, waste heat. Integration of production systems, of bio-based with other industries. |
[5] | Integrated biodiesel supply chain in Brazil | Exchange (bio-)waste, knowledge. |
[36] | Industrial symbiosis in Chile | Exchange material and energy, waste heat, (bio-)waste. Integration of water system, of processes. |
[37] | Integrated production system in Slovenia | Exchange material and energy, waste heat, (bio-)waste. Integration of processes, of CHP with bio-gas/bio-fuel plant, of CHP with district heating system. |
[38] | Biotechnology cluster in South Korea | Exchange knowledge and learning. Share social network. |
[39] | Eco-industrial park in China | Exchange material and energy, waste heat, (bio-) waste. Share utilities. Integration of water system. |
[40] | Industrial park in China | Share facilities and infrastructure. Integration of waste water system. |
Industrialised Economies (31 Cases) | ||
---|---|---|
Benefit | Challenge | |
Environ-mental | CO2 reduction GHG reduction Waste reduction Less mineral fertiliser use | Ecological and human health risks |
Economic | Synergies Cost reduction Competitive advantage Enhanced innovation Enhanced reputation | Capital intensive Interdependency Transactional uncertainty |
Social | Enhances socio-economic life Local employment Generate income Social-responsibility programmes Secure energy supply Supports small-scale farmers | Aggregated conflict of land-use Traffic congestion Odour Adverse visual appearance Decreasing recreational value Exceeding local ecological capacity |
Emerging Economies (14 Cases) | ||
Benefit | Challenge | |
Environ-mental | CO2 reduction GHG reduction Waste reduction Less mineral fertiliser use | Ecological and human health risks |
Economic | Synergies Cost reduction Competitive advantage Enhanced innovation Enhanced reputation Enhancement of local economy | Capital intensive Interdependency Transactional uncertainty |
Social | Enhances socio-economic life Generate jobs Generate income Social-responsibility programmes Secure energy supply Supports small-scale farmers Poverty reduction Energy availability | Aggregated conflict of land-use |
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Nuhoff-Isakhanyan, G.; Wubben, E.F.M.; Omta, S.W.F. Sustainability Benefits and Challenges of Inter-Organizational Collaboration in Bio-Based Business: A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability 2016, 8, 307. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8040307
Nuhoff-Isakhanyan G, Wubben EFM, Omta SWF. Sustainability Benefits and Challenges of Inter-Organizational Collaboration in Bio-Based Business: A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability. 2016; 8(4):307. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8040307
Chicago/Turabian StyleNuhoff-Isakhanyan, Gohar, Emiel F.M. Wubben, and S.W.F. Omta. 2016. "Sustainability Benefits and Challenges of Inter-Organizational Collaboration in Bio-Based Business: A Systematic Literature Review" Sustainability 8, no. 4: 307. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8040307