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Assessing the sustainability of water companies: A synthetic indicator approach.
- Source :
-
Ecological Indicators . Feb2016 Part 2, Vol. 61, p577-587. 11p. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Performance indicators (PIs) are essential in the benchmarking process used to rate and rank water companies. However, a set of individual PIs does not provide a holistic assessment of company performance from multiple perspectives. A multidimensional evaluation of the performance of water companies can be achieved by aggregating the PIs into a synthetic indicator. Although the concept of sustainability involves economic, environmental and social criteria, most of the previous studies have not considered these three dimensions simultaneously. This paper discusses a process of indicator aggregation using two approaches based on multi-criteria decision analysis to evaluate and compare the sustainability of water companies from a holistic perspective. A synthetic indicator embracing economic, environmental and social PIs was computed for a sample of 154 Portuguese water companies. Both methods yielded similar rankings of water company sustainability. The techniques and results presented in this paper may be utilized as a means of improving the benchmarking process in regulated water industries, as well as providing valuable contributions to decision-makers on the most efficient steps for improving the sustainability of urban water services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1470160X
- Volume :
- 61
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Ecological Indicators
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 111566920
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.10.009