Abstract
A.M. Viera Romero, Exploring Sustainability and Industrial Activity: The Case of Ecuador, 220 pages,
10 tables, 2 figures, 2022. APA 7
th edition style guide used.
In recent years, the role of firms in relation to environmental sustainability has ignited fierce
debate about their extended responsibility in a finite world, especially regarding their choices
of raw materials, land use, manufacturing processes and waste management, financial
arrangements, lobbying, etc. As a consequence, business managers and policy decision makers
are compelled to respond to these challenges, as firms integrate sustainability into their core
business strategies and governments enforce policies and regulations that minimize the
environmental impact of industrial activity. In line with these concerns, this dissertation
examines how industrial activity works to address sustainability concerns in Ecuador,
specifically from the electricity generation, metallic mining and shrimp aquaculture industries.
Building on existing literature in the fields of sustainability transitions, ecological
modernization theory and emergy evaluation, this research proposes a multi-level and
interdisciplinary approach to examine the implementation of sustainability at the industrial
level in Ecuador within the broader context of Buen Vivir -a paradigm based on the indigenous
cosmovision of the Andes that recognizes the close interconnection between humans and
Nature, emphasizing a way of life that is community-centric, ecologically-balanced, and
culturally-sensitive- and long-term national goals towards becoming a post-oil society. The
research uses a mixed methods approach to investigate how these three industries address
sustainability goals. At the firm level, through interviews with key stakeholders, I study current
corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies (e.g. efficient resource use, community
relations programs, sustainability standards or certifications, etc.). Next, the interviews with
different stakeholders complement the sustainable business practices at the firm level to unfold
the tensions and synergies that occur at the industry level. Finally, this research includes a
sustainability assessment of one specific industry, specifically shrimp aquaculture. This
assessment includes biophysical indicators based on emergy that recognizes nature´s
contribution to the human economy when delivering a product or service and therefore reveals
the areas where further action is required to deliver significant changes in production patterns.
It is expected that the results generate important insights for strategic planning at the corporate
level as well as long-term planning at the country level. By highlighting the biophysical limits
of these economic activities, my intention is to illustrate how public policy evaluation can
benefit from biophysical indicators to help broaden the discussion about business responsibiliy
to the planet and society.