Sustainable tourism can be the motivation to manage resources to satisfy environmental, social and economic needs through cultural integrity, biological diversity, ecological processes, social and economic equity, and general enrichment. Based on a systematic literature review conducted on research papers published between 2015 and 2020, and on the case studies contained within them (19 papers), this analysis focuses on the innovation drivers and sustainability drivers identified within family businesses in tourism. This desk-based research has made it possible to highlight how variable sustainability is present, albeit in a limited fashion, within family businesses in tourism; at the same time, it also shows how innovative strategies contribute to sustainable development. From the analysis, the correlations between family businesses, family dynamics, sustainability practices, innovation drivers and case studies were analyzed. The results show the poor implementation of innovative strategies, and at the same time, the presence of other variables that guarantee the adoption of sustainable practices. Important research gaps are identified, and future research priorities are suggested. Furthermore, the article is based on a collection of non-exhaustive literary sources. The implications for both family businesses and sustainable development are discussed.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to verify whether, in the tourism sector, the “family business model” is an important development opportunity and, in particular, if it is an innovation driver for this industry development. In the literature, there is no conclusive evidence of this for the tourism sector. In this context, the authors investigate personal and family needs and preferences alongside the relationship between family business model, growth and profit maximization and the development of tourism businesses through innovation drivers.Design/methodology/approach: To develop this topic, the authors conducted an extensive literature review considering the scientific papers published and contained mainly in database in the last 10 years (2010–2020) and focused the attention on the last five years. The authors ran content and structural analysis on the collected sources by main scientific databases (EBSCO, Scopus, Thomson Reuter, etc.). Based on a systematic literature review, the analysis was conducted using statistical criteria and bibliometric indicators. In detail, the authors used systematic literature review, bibliometric analysis and automatic text analysis (ATA) tools for identified lexicon analysis and strategic keywords and used statistical correlation to classify the different approaches in the literature and to outline the orientations of the various research groups.Findings: From this analysis, the correlation between tourism, hospitality, entrepreneurship, life cycle and innovation dynamics was analysed. Important research gaps are identified, and future research priorities are suggested. Implications for both family business and tourism theory are discussed.Originality/value: While the intersection between tourism management and family business model has been established in the literature, the number of related publications is still limited. Against this background, a literature review as a total analysis was an adequate and practicable research methodology. This paper proposes a comprehensive literature review and a reflection on the potential developments and applications for family business in the tourism sector. Authors also suggest several research directions that have not been adequately investigated yet. In particular, scholars do not seem to have caught all the implications of innovation adoption, especially for SMEs and family ownerships in tourism.

The purpose of this work is to carry out an accurate and extensive environmental analysis of the steel production occurring in in the largest integrated EU steel mill, located in the city of Taranto in southern Italy. The end goal is that of highlighting the steelworks’ main hot spots and identifying potential options for environmental improvement. The development for such an analysis is based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of steel production with a cradle to casting plant gate approach that covers the stages from raw material extraction to solid steel slab production. The inventory results have highlighted the large solid waste production, especially in terms of slag, which could be reused in other industries as secondary raw materials. Other reuses, in accordance with the circular economy paradigm, could encompass the energy waste involved in the steelmaking process. The most burdening lifecycle phases are the ones linked to blast furnace and coke oven operations. Specifically, the impact categories are influenced by the energy consumption and also by the toxicity of the emissions associated with the lifecycle of steel production. A detailed analysis of the toxicity impacts indicates that LCA is still not perfectly suitable for toxicity assessments and should be coupled with other more site specific studies in order to understand such aspects fully. Overall, the results represent a first step to understanding the current levels of sustainability of the steelworks, which should be used as a starting point for the development both of pollution control measures and of symbiotic waste reutilization scenarios needed to maintain the competitiveness of the industrial plant.

The adoption of an “open sustainability innovation” approach in business could be a strategic advantage to reach both industry objectives and sustainability goals. The food sector is facing a constant increase in competition. In order to address the high competition that involves the food industry, sustainability and innovation practices can be strategically effective, especially with an open sustainability innovation approach. In the literature, we found many examples of open innovation applications and their implications for sustainable strategy. These applications are important for reducing cost and time to market, as well as for a company’s impact on the environment and food security. In this paper, the authors show the evidence of these implications. In particular, starting from the state of the art of the food sector, we highlight the empirical results of ten case studies. By analyzing these cases, we can gain a better awareness on how and why these approaches are currently being applied by food sector companies.

As is widely known, sustainability is an important factor in competition, increasing the added value of a company in terms of image and credibility. However, it is important that sustainability assessments are effectively addressed in a global perspective. Therefore, life cycle tools are adopted to evaluate environmental and social impacts. Among these, and of particular significance, appears the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA), which, although in its early stage of development, seems to have extremely promising methodological features. For this reason, it seemed interesting to propose a first application to the tourism sector, which could be better than other methods, studied in terms of social sustainability data. The particular characteristics of service delivery lend themselves more to the development of data related to social sustainability than other sectors. In this paper the results of a case study carried out using social accounting and business management tools are shown.