Author(s)

M. Pajones, T. Steiner, N. Hackner-Jaklin

Abstract

Modern company strategies show that the issue of sustainability, for example in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, became a significant aspect. However, related to the process of location planning, companies do not take sustainability into consideration. In consolidation of strategies in business economics, key objectives in spatial development and traffic planning, a sustainable business location should be generated. As no definition of the term “sustainable business area” exists so far, an inevitable step for further development is to create one, which is presented in this paper. Another aim is to identify essential location factors, which have an impact on the economic-, ecological- and social sustainability of business locations. A qualitative analysis of interdependencies demonstrates the substantial connections between these factors. In the course of an organized workshop, experts in freight logistics, spatial planning, traffic planning and sustainability discussed the essential location factors and their impact on sustainability. The output was a so called location-factor-matrix for business locations. In a next step, the interdependencies among the defined location factors and their roles in the system have been indicated with the help of the impact matrix by Vester. Another substantial step further along the line will be the development of sustainability criteria or indices, which allow a classification of the business location. These findings will be an essential input for a location-factors-based evaluation and planning system.

Keywords

sustainability, location factors, sustainable business location, sustainable development, sustainability dimensions, impact matrix