Sustainability in the raw materials industry: Rethinking market strategies and market relationships

The actual manufacturing environment is characterized by an increasing complexity: pandemic, lack of raw materials and intermediary goods and expensive cost of energy are only some of the main constrains. In particular, raw materials’ sectors are facing innovation challenges focused on the necessity to be able to respond quickly and efficiently to the growing sustainability need and, consequently, to nowadays problems of shortage of materials, increase of prices and sustainability issue with new products and offering solutions. This study is focused on the comprehension of the goals that energy-intensive companies involved in the production and processing of raw materials have set for sustainable innovation development and how that affect their market strategies. In developing our research we have focused on shared as well as different practices between businesses to shed light on how they are approaching sustainability awareness initiatives, understand how they set priorities for long-term success, and consider the adjustment to their market strategies. Thus, the research questions are: Given the 2030 Agenda, which are the key issues faced by energy-intensive companies involved in the production and processing of raw materials? and, in particular, as far as concern market strategies, how are these companies facing the interplay between strategies of sustainable innovation development and companies’ main business relationships? We leverage on the ARA model to understand and interpret the results of our research. This research wants to improve the knowledge about the level of sustainability implementation and awareness among major energy-intensive companies in Italy that produce and process raw materials through a marketing perspective.