**6. Implications and Limitations**

#### *6.1. Implications for Theory and Practice*

The current study's results suggest several implications for both researchers and practitioners in the field of energy efficiency management. First of all, EE-enhancement ventures can all too often be brought down to a direct transposition of success stories advertised across other industries by the boards of implementing companies or capitalizing on to-date experiences of operational departments of energy service providers in the shortest timeframe possible. As multinational companies stretch their dispersed networks of facilities across locations with diametrically different local media tariffs, weather conditions, construction-related laws and practices, facility work schedules, or even cultural habits, such approach often fails to deliver [17,47]. The current study's findings strongly imply that a multiple-stakeholder perspective must be employed while implementing EEM. Various stakeholders' needs, expectations, and constraints must be carefully estimated, managed, and reconciled. Managing such a diverse set of considerations requires time, which illustrates the second major implication stemming from our study: time-related complexity. In this respect, our findings suggest that in order to manage EEM-related endeavors effectively, an approach phased in time ought to be adopted. Such an approach should allow practitioners to reasonably estimate and mitigate risks associated with the full-scope EEM implementation projects and make an informed decision about the project launching. Empirical data obtained thanks to the implementation of the artifact can also be a valuable argument while obtaining external financing, as both escalating the telemetry onto the entire facility network and overhauling individual facilities go in line with discernible investments. The phased approach to managing IT adoption projects is especially advised in changeable economic settings that result in a volatile nature of project requirements [48].

We extended the list of activities that usually cover the energy management process [2] by pinpointing the areas within which actions should be taken to manage energy efficiency. While fully acknowledging prior conclusions that energy audits allow us to determine what affects electricity losses [17], we demonstrated that pilot actions enable establishing why these losses occur—which in turn paves the way for a long-term organizational EE strategy. The framework proposed and discussed in the study may be applied in organizations of similar characteristics to those researched in the current paper. In particular, adopting an implementation approach phased in time and the use of suggested IT solutions such as sensors, data gathering, and analytical tools should help managers to better capture and manage multi-faceted considerations experienced by EEM projects. As a result, a fuller insight into the energy-related considerations might impact strategic decisions such as those related to a company's business model or business process reengineering.

#### *6.2. Limitations and Potential Future Research Directions*

The primary limitations of the current study are associated with the research setting, which features business units (petrol stations) of a global company operating on the Polish petroleum market. First of all, although facilities of this type might appear similar to other businesses—such as retail or grocery stores—when energy-related considerations are taken into account, it should be born in mind that a petrol station has its intricacies which might impact the generalization of findings to other industries. Secondly, the country of investigation within the current study, Poland, is an example of a transition economy and, as compared to the most industrialized economies, reveals a number of specific considerations such as the lack of a strategic ICT role, insufficient customer orientation, and the critical role of people-related issues [49]. Therefore, the generalization of the current study's results to other economic settings should be done with caution.

It would appear that a cross-industry and cross-country investigation into EEM is an important direction of future research. A promising focus for potential studies is mapping energy consumption carriers per industry and per specific field that are either rigid or susceptible to intensive optimization without entertaining risk factors. Researchers and practitioners alike are also interested in how extensively the increased EE of retail facilities translates into the total carbon footprint of the products or services provided.
