Development of a Generic Industrial
Symbiosis Framework
Master Thesis, Msc Technology & Operations Management
University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
December 2012
Author:
P.J.J. Spronken
Sneppenlaan 40
3630 Maasmechelen
+31 (0) 619750916
paul.spronken@gmail.com
Student number:
s2000849
Ma
st
er
T
he
si
s
Pa
ul
S
pr
on
ke
n
Fi
na
l
De
ve
lo
p
m
en
t
of
a
G
en
er
ic
In
d
u
st
ri
al
Sy
m
b
io
si
s
Fr
am
ew
or
k
Master thesis, Msc Technology Management
University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business Author: P.J.J. Spronken Date: 10-‐01-‐2013 Student number: s2000849 Address: Sneppenlaan 40 3630 Maasmechelen, BE Telephone: +31 (0) 619750916 E-‐mail: paul.spronken@gmail.com 1 st supervisor: dhr. T. Smit
Address: Handelskade Oost 1 P.O. Box 20004 9930 PA Delfzijl Telephone: +31(0) 596640400
1 st supervisor: drs. ing. H.L. Faber
2 st supervisor: prof. dr. I.F.A. Vis
Address: Nettelbosje 2 9747 AE Groningen
Preface
I’ve started this research in June 2012, in order to finalize my Master Technology Management and to graduate at the University of Groningen. I have conducted this research at Groningen Seaports in Delfzijl, supported by the ‘Samenwerkende Bedrijven Eemshaven’. The development of this Thesis was a challenging process, I’ve experienced personal and professional growth during this seven month period. Working on this Thesis gained me new insights, was interesting and most of the time a lot of fun.
First, I would like to thank Groningen Seaports for the opportunity to write my Master Thesis within their organization. A special word of thank is for my supervisor Theo Smit, who supported me during this research and provided well-‐appreciated feedback. The pleasant atmosphere and willingness to support in the research by the colleagues of Groningen Seaports was a big enabler for me while writing my Thesis.
From the university I would like to thank my supervisor drs . ing. H.L. Faber, for the pleasant cooperation and valuable feedback on my work. I also appreciated the feedback from prof. dr. I.F.A. Vis, who significantly more contributed than may be excepted from a second supervisor.
During my research I have visited and interviewed a lot of interesting people for a wide range of organizations and companies. Without their hospitality and pleasant cooperation I wasn’t able to gather and validate my research data, next to this I experienced a lot of fun while talking to this variety of people. A special word of thank is for Jos Leuveld from to ‘Samenwerkende Bedrijven Eemshaven’ is in place, for his support and feedback.
Management Summary
This Thesis presents a generic Industrial Symbiosis framework which visualizes the influence of stakeholders, factors and strategic consequences within the decision making process towards a situation of Industrial Symbiosis.
The generic Industrial Symbiosis framework is developed by performing a literature study supported with field interviews, which resulted in a preliminary framework. This preliminary framework is improved and validated using a gap analyses on two IS cases at the Oosterhorn Industrial Area (Delfzijl, NL) and field expert knowledge, this resulted in the validated generic Industrial Symbiosis framework. The generic IS framework is validated and applicable within the process industry, due to the high level of abstraction, it might be applicable within other sectors.
Industrial Symbiosis (IS) engages traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water and/or by-‐products (Chertow, 2000). Different classifications of Industrial Symbiosis can be found within literature, in order to evaluate synergic exchanges, classification is required to make a fair comparison. Chertow (2000) makes a distinction based on the materials exchange, the type and geographical scale of the exchange define the classification. Van Berkel (2006) classifies synergic exchanges on the topics by-‐ product, utilities and supply synergy.
The decision making process towards a situation of IS requires a different focus within a brown-‐ or greenfield development process. The greenfield approach consists of the linking of new business, the technological aspect is dominant within this approach. Brownfield development should focus on the creation of bi-‐lateral linkages and local networks of current business.
The developed generic Industrial Symbiosis framework (Figure 1) indicates 3 major influencing stakeholders and 4 categories of strategic consequences. The participating companies, an enabling public private body and the government are identified as the major influencing stakeholders. A strong cooperation and trust between these parties is essential within the decision making process. The enabling public private body can stimulate this cooperation, furthermore it can create (local) knowledge and introduce potential symbionts in order to stimulate the development of Industrial Symbiosis. Cooperation between NGO’s, cooperative public private bodies and participating companies is a recent trend indicated, which reduces the coercive pressure from NGO’s, which also indirectly may be exerted by the public opinion.
The government can enable companies to participate in a situation of Industrial Symbiosis, this can be done indirectly via funding of the cooperative public private body. Direct measures can exist of subsidy or of other financial means towards the participating companies, new regulation by the government can also enable companies to develop a situation of IS.
Figure 1 Validated generic IS framework
Four categories of strategic consequences that influence the decision making process are identified, these are financial, business, environmental and social.
The research performed indicates that the financial consequences are perceived as most important by a majority of the stakeholders. In order to create a fair distribution of costs and benefits regarding the synergic exchange, the involvement of an independent body might be valuable. A situation of IS results in reduced operating costs or reduced investment costs for new business. Raw materials pricing per unit might increase when the amount of raw materials purchased significantly is reduced when the synergic exchange is realized. At last, the required pay-‐back period is an essential influencing factor within the Go or No-‐Go decision.
The business related consequences are important within the decision making process, the way in which backup is provided contributes significantly to the robustness of the business case. A consequence of IS might be that companies comply to governmental permits, this is indicated as a strong driver. Economic stability and growth is import for a variety of stakeholders, among others the local Site Management, Development Agencies and participating companies.
The social benefits of Industrial Symbiosis are significant, the economic stability and growth is correlated with the employment within the social environment. Together with the environmental benefits, this application of IS contributes to the Corporate Social Responsibility of the parties involved.
These research findings result in a number of managerial implications; The generic Industrial Symbiosis framework can add a valuable contribution to the decision making process towards a situation of Industrial Symbiosis for parties which are involved in this process, or have the ambition to realize a situation of Industrial Symbiosis. The total overview , presented within the generic IS framework should be taken into account by all the different parties involved in the process. By using this generic overview, participants might discover parties or consequences which are not relevant for the focal company, but influence the decision making process at other participants. With the discovery of these parties or consequences, the focal company can early anticipate on these aspects, which should result in a higher success rate for potential projects.
The development and involvement of a cooperative public private body is identified as a an important enabler within the decision making process towards a situation of IS. The bird-‐eye perspective of this body makes it possible to continuously identify inter-‐frim exchanges. When identified, this body can monitor and stimulate the development process, this because the enabling of IS is core business for the cooperative public private body, in contrast with the participating companies. As independent party, the body can facilitate within providing transparency regarding the financial aspects for the companies involved. This transparency is required for satisfaction of all the participating companies involved.
Table of content
Preface ... 3
Management Summary ... 4
List of Figures ... 9
List of Tables ... 9
1. Introduction ... 10 1.1. General introduction ... 10 1.2. Research context ... 12 1.3. Research objective ... 14 1.4. Research questions ... 15 1.5. Research Methodology ... 16
1.6. Definition of concepts used ... 19
1.7. Validity and reliability ... 21
1.8. Thesis outline ... 22
2. Introduction on Industrial Symbiosis ... 23
2.1. Introduction ... 23
2.2. Types of Industrial Symbiosis ... 25
2.3. Examples of Industrial Symbiosis ... 28
2.4. Conceptual Model ... 30
Part One: Decision making process towards Industrial Symbiosis ... 32
3. Stakeholders and factors involved in the decision making process towards Industrial Symbiosis. ... 33
3.1. Participating Companies ... 33
3.2. Matching of material flows ... 34
3.3. Coordination Bodies ... 35
3.4. Governmental influence ... 37
3.5. Geographic proximity ... 38
3.6. Public opinion ... 39
3.7. Conclusion ... 41
4. Strategic consequences when applying the concept of Industrial Symbiosis ... 43
4.2. Financial consequences ... 44
4.3. Business consequences ... 45
4.4. Social consequences ... 46
4.5. Conclusion ... 47
5. Development of a preliminary generic IS framework ... 48
Part Two: Improvement and Validation ... 54
6. Industrial Symbiosis at the Oosterhorn Area ... 55
6.1. General Introduction to the cases ... 56
6.2. Factors and parties involved regarding the cases identified ... 57
6.3. Strategic consequences regarding the cases identified ... 61
6.4. Conclusion ... 66
7. Improvement and validation of the framework ... 67
7.1. Gap analysis between the Oosterhorn cases and the preliminary IS framework ... 67
7.2. Field expert evaluation ... 72
7.3. Round table results ... 73
7.4. Improvement and validation ... 75
7.5. Conclusion ... 78
8. Conclusion ... 79
8.1. General conclusion ... 79
8.2. Contribution to the academic literature ... 81
8.3. Managerial implications ... 82
8.4. Limitations and suggestions for further research ... 83
List of Figures
Figure 1 Validated generic IS framework ... 5
Figure 2. Decision making process towards IS ... 11
Figure 3. Research methodology ... 16
Figure 4. Evolution of the framework ... 17
Figure 5. Industrial ecology operated at three levels (Chertow, 2000) ... 23
Figure 6. Visualization of classification (Lowe 2001) ... 26
Figure 7. IS at Kalundborg, Denmark (Chertow, 2000) ... 29
Figure 8. Conceptual model ... 30
Figure 9. Research and Development framework Ulsan EIP Centre (Behera et al., 2012) ... 36
Figure 10. Institutional Framework (Delmas and Toffel, 2004) ... 40
Figure 11. Framework towards a situation of IS ... 48
Figure 12 Framework of Stakeholders and factors regarding the decision making towards a situation of IS ... 50
Figure 13 Strategic consequences regarding the process towards a situation of IS ... 52
Figure 14. Preliminary generic IS framework ... 53
Figure 15. Utilities synergies at the Oosterhorn Area ... 55
Figure 16. Framework towards a situation of IS ... 67
Figure 17 Stakeholders and Factors preliminary IS framework ... 68
Figure 18 Strategic Consequences preliminary IS framework ... 70
Figure 19 Validated generic IS framework ... 77
List of Tables
Table 1. Gap related literature overview ... 13Table 2. Innitiatives to classify IS exchanges and interactions (Martin et al., n.d.) ... 25
Table 3 Stakeholders and roles within the steam-‐grid case ... 59
Table 4 Relevant factors within the steam-‐grid case ... 59
Table 5 Stakeholders and roles within the industrial water-‐grid ... 59
Table 6 Relevant factors within the industrial water-‐grid ... 60
Table 7 Strategic consequences within the steam-‐grid case ... 63
Table 8 Strategic consequences within the water-‐grid case ... 65
1. Introduction
This chapter provides an introduction on the Thesis, at the relevance and research context will be presented. The research objective and corresponding questions are revealed, furthermore the research methodology and validity is described. This chapter will be finished with a definition of concepts used and an outline for the entire Thesis.
1.1. General introduction
The process industry is a large contributor to the Dutch economy, only few countries in the world house as many leading multinational process industry players as the Netherlands. In order to stay competitive, companies strive for continuous improvement of their business processes. Driven by this need to stay competitive and a continuous pressure for cost reduction, sharing of non-‐core business activities is common within this industry (NAP, 2010). Inter-‐firm cooperation is encouraged in this sector, mainly in order to handle current and future issues. One of these issues is the growing importance of sustainability.
Industrial Symbiosis is one of the developing concepts used within the process industry in order to achieve a more sustainable and cost-‐efficient production environment. In order to create a situation of Industrial Symbiosis, firms cooperate on the field of utilities sharing, by-‐product or waste exchange. By re-‐using or sharing material flows, the overall efficiency on resources usage increases and economies of scale can be created.
The development of a situation of Industrial Symbiosis is a complex process, many stakeholders and interests are involved. The importance of strategic consequences related to a situation of industrial symbioses differs per party.
In this Master Thesis, which will be written in order to finalize my Master in Technology Management at the University of Groningen, a validated framework will be developed which presents the influences of stakeholders, factors and strategic consequences regarding the decision making process towards a situation of Industrial Symbiosis.
In order to prevent misunderstandings in this thesis, some key concepts are defined below.
• Industrial Symbiosis (IS), as part of the emerging field of industrial ecology, demands resolute attention to the flow of materials and energy through local and regional economies. Industrial Symbiosis engages traditionally separate industries in a collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water and/or by-‐ products. The keys to Industrial Symbiosis are inter-‐firm collaboration and the synergistic possibilities offered by geographic proximity (Chertow, 2000).
market on terms which are advantageous to it, in a subsequent process, without any further processing (Palin Granit).
• Wastes are materials that are not prime products (that is products produced for the market) for which the initial user has no further use in terms of his/her own purposes of production, transformation or consumption, and of which he/she wants to dispose. Wastes may be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the processing of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final products, and other human activities. Residuals recycled or reused at the place of generation are excluded (Wikipedia) . • The decision making process towards Industrial Symbiosis is defined using the ‘Research
and development into business’ framework (Behera et al., 2012). 3 Steps are identified, these are exploring new networks, a feasibility study of the opportunity explored and commercialization of the opportunity after a Go at the Go / no Go point. When a situation of Industrial Symbiosis is realized, new synergic opportunities might be explored, then the process starts over.
The decision making process towards Industrial Symbiosis will incorporate the first two steps, the decision making process ends at the Go / no Go point, before the commercialization. According Behere et al. (2012) the second step within the research and development framework should be finished with an advisory report for the potential symbionts, consisting of the following key elements:
i. A clear indication of a network to recycle resources among companies .
ii. An initiative to start business between companies that supply, demand and recycle by-‐products.
iii. An overview of companies with potential demand. iv. The implementation of the technology.
Figure 2 presents the development process of a situation of Industrial Symbiosis. The tree steps as defined above follow up on each other. The research will focus on the entire development process, the framework will be applicable for the decision making process towards a situation of Industrial Symbiosis. This decision making process ends with the a Go or NoGo decision, based on the elements mentioned in the advisory report (Behera et al., 2012) regarding the potential case of IS.
• Stakeholders are a person, group, organization, member or system who affects or can be affected by an organization's action. Within the generic IS framework, the term stakeholders is used to classify organisations with common characteristics and or stakes.
• The strategic consequences are the results for stakeholders when they decide to participate in a synergic cooperation. Strategic consequences can be related to environmental, financial,
business and social aspects. The strategic consequences present both the benefits and disadvanantages identified.
• Groningen Seaports (GSP) is the Port Authority for the ports and industrial areas in Delfzijl and Eemshaven. The organisation is responsible for the development of the ports and industrial areas, furthermore they facilitate infrastructure for the current and future companies on these areas .
• Potential cases towards Industrial Symbiosis are two cases in the industrial areas managed by Groningen Seaports, which are developpling towards a situation of Industrial Symbiois. The two cases described will be a public steam grid and public industrial water utilities grid. • Generic framework is a framework which is applicable for all the stakeholders involved within a process by presenting a complete overview. Not all aspect presented will be relevant for a particular stakeholder using the framework.
Other important concepts such as industry, companies and government as used in this thesis will be defined and or operationalized in paragraph 1.6.
1.2. Research context
This chapter will describe the context in which the research takes place. A small overview of relevant literature will be presented, furthermore a gap within the current literature will be identified. The relevance of the Master Thesis for Groningen Seaports as principal and facilitator will also be explained.
Industrial Symbiosis is a relative small, but upcoming topic within academic literature. The first article in literature discussing the concept of Industrial Symbiosis is by Frosch and Gallapoulos in 1989 (Heeres et al., 2004). Within the literature on Industrial Symbiosis different classifications are presented (Chertow, 1999; Lowe, 2001 and Van Berkel, 2006), these all serve other purposes. The literature available on Industrial Symbiosis mainly consists of case study’s, describing one or more projects, resulting in Industrial Symbiosis (Maes et al, 2005; Van Berkel et al., 2006; Taddeo et al, 2012; Baas and Huisingh, 2008; Baas, 2011; Heeres et al., 2004).
One direction within the literature available focusses on the development of Industrial Symbiosis. A distinction is made between the development of new parks (greenfield), structural development of existing parks (brownfield) and the spontaneous development through time of existing parks. The main contributors in this direction are listed below.
• Behera et al. (2012) • Chertow (2000)
• Lambert and Boons (2002) • Mirata and Emtairah (2005)
middle-‐out approach is brought by Costa and Ferrão (2010). This approach describes the combination of deploying strong environmental regulations and supporting company initiatives by the government, which resulted in motivated companies towards the concept of IS. This motivation and success motivated other companies to apply the concept.
Within the current literature on Industrial Symbiosis a gap can be found regarding a complete overview of factors, stakeholders and strategic consequences, which influence the decision making process towards Industrial Symbiosis. Literature mainly presents the pathway which is used in order
to achieve a situation of IS, describes factors influencing the process or only presents the results. Furthermore different case studies are present which describe in detail IS projects realized. An overview of literature related to this gap is created in Table 1.
Author Subject
Behera et al. (2012) Pathway towards IS; Outcome
Mirata and Emtairah (2005) Pathway towards IS; Case study
Van Beers et al. (2007) Case study; Drivers, barriers, triggers.
Lombardi and Laybourn (2012) Influencing factors; Definition
Mirata (n.d.) Influencing factors; Case study
Boons et al. (2011) Dynamics, Outcome
Geng and Doberstein (2008) Pathway towards IS; Barriers
Chertow (2000) Definition
Costa and Ferrão (2010) Pathway towards IS Table 1. Gap related literature overview
The literature presented does not present a total overview of stakeholders and their influence, influencing factors or the consequences. The matrix presented by Boons et al. (2011) highlights al the aspect mentioned, but is far by complete when studying the relevant literature available.
By developing a generic overview framework of the factors, stakeholders and strategic consequences regarding the process towards IS, this gap in literature should be filled in.
Groningen Seaports (GSP) is the Port Authority for the ports and industrial areas in Delfzijl and Eemshaven. The organisation is responsible for the development of the ports and industrial areas, furthermore they facilitate infrastructure for the current and future companies on these areas . In their role as Port Authority , they participate in different platforms which stimulate utilities synergy between different companies. The Samenwerkende Bedrijven Eemshaven (SBE) is a cooperative organization in which most of the industrial companies at the GSP areas participate. The SBE is directly involved within on-‐going utility synergy projects, and generates ideas for new ones.
stakeholders in the process could bring opportunities for anticipation on consequences, which should lead to a more sound business case.
Filling in the gap in literature mentioned is valuable for GSP, SBE and it’s participating companies involved in the mentioned projects; it supports in their decision making and optimising organizational structure. This should lead to the realization of more successful synergic projects, which results in competitive advantages for the industry.
1.3. Research objective
In order to fill in the gap in literature as discovered before, two research objectives will be established. By fulfilling these research objectives, new knowledge is created and the gap will be filled in.
The first research objective is to develop a generic Industrial Symbiosis framework which maps
major stakeholders, factors and strategic consequences which influence the decision making process towards a situation of Industrial Symbiosis. The framework is applicable in the time frame in
which the possibilities towards Industrial Symbiosis will be explored, from the initial start till the point that the cooperative parties might decide to realize a situation of Industrial Symbiosis, the so called Go / No-‐Go point. An iterative process of using literature and explorative interviews will result in the development of a preliminary generic IS framework
The second research objective will be to improve and validate the developed preliminary generic
Industrial Symbiosis framework by performing a gap analysis on potential cases towards IS in the industrial areas managed by GSP and using field expert knowledge. The gap analysis will focus on
1.4. Research questions
The research objectives as presented before result in the formulation of the following central research question:
Which stakeholders, factors and strategic consequences influence the decision making process towards a situation of Industrial Symbiosis, and how can these influences be validated and presented in a generic framework?
In order to answer the central research question, a number of sub questions is defined.
These sub questions are answered into 2 different parts of the Thesis, the first part results in the development of a preliminary generic IS framework. In the second part, this preliminary developed framework will be validated and improved by applying a gap analysis with 2 potential cases regarding Industrial Symbiosis at the industrial areas managed by GSP. The sum of the following sub questions will result in an answer to the central research question.
Part one: Decision making process towards Industrial Symbiosis
1: Which stakeholders and factors are involved in the decision making process towards Industrial Symbiosis?
2: Which strategic consequences for stakeholders can be identified when applying the concept of Industrial Symbiosis?
3: How can a framework be developed, which visualizes the influences of stakeholders, factors and consequences identified on the decision making process towards a situation of Industrial Symbiosis ?
Part two: Validation and Improvement
The potential IS projects are selected from knowledge already available, no specific research is performed regarding the flow of goods and demand or supply characteristics. Two cases are chosen for the evaluation of the framework, these are the exchange of steam between different firms on a public grid and the exchange of industrial water on a public grid. The following sub questions are defined:
4: Which specific factors and parties involved as stakeholder, are present in the decision making process at the defined cases?
5: What are the strategic consequences for the stakeholders involved within the cases identified towards Industrial Symbiosis?
6: While using practical field data, how can the preliminary generic Industrial Symbiosis framework be improved, which results in a validated framework?
1.5. Research Methodology
The research starts with an introduction on the concept of industrial symbiosis. This introduction is useful to contextualize the further research. This introduction will be finished with a conceptual model, which will be used as guideline for the actual research. This actual research consists of two parts. The first part is a theoretical study on Industrial Symbiosis, this subject will be elaborated on by answering the sub-‐questions defined, using academic literature and interviews. The usage of interviews and literature will be an iterative process. Academic literature will stimulate elaboration on topics within interviews, the interviews will stimulate elaboration on topics in literature. This combination of interviews and literature study should provide a complete and up-‐to-‐date input.
The sub-‐questions 1 and 2, presented in paragraph 1.3 will be answered by applying an iterative process using literature and interviews
with people involved in the development of Industrial Symbiosis. An overview of interview methodology can be found in paragraph 1.5.1. The answers on these sub-‐questions are used for the design of a preliminary generic IS framework which maps all involved stakeholders, factors and strategic consequences regarding the process towards Industrial Symbiosis, this leads to the answer on sub question 3. The method for the development of the framework will be derived from literature. This preliminary generic IS framework developed will be evaluated and elaborated on with a field expert.
In the second part of the Thesis, the developed IS framework will be validated by means of a gap analysis with two cases towards a situation of IS within the areas managed by GSP. At first two cases for Industrial Symbiosis at the industrial areas are analysed. This is done by interviewing company and organization decision making units on the industrial areas managed by GSP. Sub-‐question 4 and 5 will be answered by using a new round of interviews, guided by the preliminary generic IS framework. A survey will be part of this interview round to determine the importance of the different aspects within the preliminary framework. The generic factors and stakeholders will be filled in with data from the specific situation at the GSP areas in practical terms. The relevant stakeholders and factors will be described in depth. These interviews will be supported with the study of relevant case documentation. After the interview round, a selection of the interviewees will be invited in a round table meeting. This meeting should encourage discussion on topics by the participants, which enriches the knowledge available. This round table meeting mainly will mainly focus on the managerial implications of the generic IS framework.
In sub-‐question 6, the framework will be compared with the data from the cases. The gaps found between the framework en the cases are evaluated . This practical field data will be used to improve the preliminary generic IS framework, which results in a validated generic Industrial Symbiosis framework.
The development of the framework can be defined in three phases, at first a conceptual model is created in the general introduction on Industrial Symbiosis, the topics mentioned in this model provide directions of research for the development of a preliminary generic Industrial Symbiosis framework. When this preliminary framework is created the inputs from the gap analysis, field expert evaluation and round table meeting will be used to optimise the framework, which results in a validated framework. This evolution of the model is visualized in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Evolution of the framework
1.5.1. Interview Methodology part 1
In part 1, the interviews will be used to validate and elaborate on the theory found in literature. Furthermore the interviews are used to determine directions of literature research. The interviews are semi-‐structured, a list of topics which should be part of the interview is prepared before the conversation. Within the conversation new topics can be added, there is enough time reserved for the interviewee to elaborate on topics which are relevant in his or hers opinion.
In total 17 people, out of 12 different organizations are interviewed using face to face interviews. An overview of the interviewees can be found in appendix 1.1. These interviewees are selected using the conceptual model (paragraph 2.4), for all the topics mentioned, organizations or people are selected which should have relevant professional knowledge. To establish a broad view on the topics, people from different organizations are interviewed. A number of employees from the Port Authority is interviewed, regarding their role, vision and participation in current and future IS projects. The same interviews are held with technical and factory managers from different companies, involved in the process towards a situation of IS. A good example of utilities synergy can be found on the Chemelot industrial site1, an interview is held with their utilities provider and one of their main customers, in
order to create a full view on their approach. Furthermore interviews are held with organizations involved or working with the concept of Industrial Symbiosis, examples are regional-‐ and national
1 Chemelot is one of the top 3 industrial clusters within the Netherlands, located near Sittard-‐Geleen.
development agencies and the regional cooperative environmental agency. This total amount of interviewees should provide enough data on the topics which are presented in the conceptual model (Paragraph 2.4). Mainly the business network of GSP is used for the selection of interviewees.
1.5.2. Interview Methodology part 2
After the preliminary framework from part 1 is finished, these results are evaluated by interviewing P. Cnubben, a field expert on Industrial Symbiosis. He works for Energy Valley and recently published an article on Industrial Symbiosis, related to the Energy-‐transition Park Midden-‐Drenthe2.
The feedback is incorporated in the framework, which resulted in an improved framework.
Furthermore, in the second part of the Thesis, a new round of 19 interviews will be conducted. These interviews should result in sufficient knowledge to be used as input for the case study. The case study will focus on the industrial water and steam utilities synergies on the Oosterhorn industrial area. From all the participating companies in these synergies, the plant manager or technical manager responsible for their participation is interviewed. These projects are supported by the Port Authority and regional development centre, people involved in this support are interviewed specifically on their contribution.
The purpose of this interview will be explained to the interviewee in the introduction. The questions will focus on the preliminary framework, this will be available during the interview. The interviewer will explain linkages within the preliminary framework when these are not clear for the interviewee. The topics and questions for the interview are predefined, in order to structure the interviews sub questions are prepared, which combined attribute to the answer of the general questions. These questions should be answered, related to the contribution of the interviewee at the utilities synergy. During the interview participants are stimulated to bring on topics which might be relevant, but are not mentioned within the interview guideline. Questions within this interview round will be open, this reduces the chance on false positive validation of the framework (Floyd and Fowler, 1995). At the end of the interview, a survey will be filled in by the interviewee, in which the importance from the topics mentioned in the framework should be rated. More about the survey can be found in paragraph 1.5.5. A report of the interview is written, the interviewee will receive a copy of this report and will be asked to check if the report is complete or contains any false data.
An overview of the interviewees and interview analysis can be found in Appendix 1:
1.5.3. Literature study methodology
In the first part of the Thesis, an in-‐depth literature study will be performed. Literature on the subject of Industrial Symbiosis will be searched using EBSCOhost Complete. An additional search will be performed using Google Scholar. The usage of two different search engines results in a completer overview of literature available. The search will mainly focus on the topics Industrial Symbiosis, Eco-‐ Industrial Parks and Synergic Exchange, only literature which is generic or related to the process industry will be used. When the literature indicates interesting theory, an additional search for this type of knowledge will be performed, using the references within the article, and performing additional searches for the topics highlighted within the article.
1.5.4. Documentation study methodology
In the second part of the Thesis, different documents are studied in order to complete the gap analysis. Wester and Peters (2004) identity two crucial aspects regarding documents study. At first, documents should be representative materials for the intended purpose. Second, there should be enough background information available to the researcher in order to reconstruct the implications. Business cases and reports related to relevant processes support on the total picture regarding the different cases, the context of these documents is carefully taken into account.
1.5.5. Survey methodology
In the interviews for part 2, a survey is part of the interview round. The survey will be used to map the stakeholders ranking regarding the topics mapped in the preliminary IS framework. Survey guidelines by Derrington (2009) are used to create an effective questionnaire with ordinal grading. In order to create consistency among the surveys, a list of definitions of the concepts used in the questions are provided within the survey. The participants should rate the importance of aspects mentioned in the framework using a 5 scale ordinal rating. A scale consisting of 5 categories is probably as most respondents can meaningfully respond to the statements (Floyd and Fowler, 1995).
1.5.6. Round table meeting
The managerial implications of the generic IS framework will be discussed within this round table meeting. This might lead to a revised view on topics, the importance of factors or other shortcomings in the framework. The concept of the round table meeting is excellent for receiving targeted feedback, networking and in-‐depth feedback on a particular topic (eval.org). A discussion will be created by possessing targeted questions to the participants, which are stimulated to discuss the topics mentioned. The participants for the round table meeting are selected among the interviewees from the interview rounds. A mix is created between participants from the local industry, Port Authority and knowledge centre’s. An overview of participants within the round table meeting can be found in Appendix 1:
1.6. Definition of concepts used
In this paragraph, concepts used within the thesis will be described and or operationalized. Within the general introduction (paragraph 1.1) , an overview of the following concepts is presented, because these are essential within the introduction.
• Industrial Symbiosis (IS) • By-‐products
• Wastes
• Inter-‐firm cooperation
• The decision making process towards a situation of Industrial Symbiosis • The strategic consequences
• Groningen Seaports (GSP)
The following concepts will be relevant within the upcoming chapters of this Thesis.
Port: A port is an area of land with both maritime and hinterland access which has developed into a logistics and industrial centre, and therewith plays an important role in global industrial and logistics networks (Notteboom and Winkelmans, 2001).
Port management: Port management is responsible for the administering and development of the port area, in order to establish and secure for the future a port area of high quality level.
Organisation: A social unit of people, systematically structured and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals on a continuing basis.
Inter-‐firm cooperation: Is defined as coordinated actions taken by alliance partners to achieve
desirable mutual or singular outcomes (Anderson and Narus, 1990) In the thesis, partners can also be different production facilities from one firm.
Company: A company is a business organization, a collection or association of individual real persons and or companies who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose and or focus at gaining profit. In this Thesis, a focus will be placed on companies within the process industry.
Industry: The manufacturing or technically productive enterprises in a particular field, country, region or economy viewed collectively, or one of these individually. Within this Thesis, the concept industry will represent the process industry.
Process industry: Industry processing raw materials: an industry in which raw materials are treated or prepared in a series of stages, e.g. using chemical processes.
Government: A body of people that sets and administers public policy, and exercises executive, political, and sovereign power through customs, institutions and laws within a defined region. A distinction can be made within local, regional and national government.
Utilities: Utilities are basic services of common (energy) inputs provided to industrial firms, examples are steam, power, instrumental air and industrial water.
Process water: Process water covers the wide range of boiler feed water, cooling water for heat exchangers or engine, chemicals dilution, etc. It should typically have a conductivity ranging from 0,1 to 50 uS/cm, with little to no hardness to avoid scaling in heating system.
Go/ No-‐Go: Determination to proceed with or abandon a plan or project, based on the information gathered or presented.
