conceptual model to analyse green maturity in … maturity in organizations: proposition and case...

CONCEPTUAL MODEL TO ANALYSE

GREEN MATURITY IN ORGANIZATIONS:

PROPOSITION AND CASE STUDY

Thiago Arena Viaro (UNISINOS)

[email protected]

Guilherme Luis Roehe Vaccaro (UNISINOS)

[email protected]

Tomas Scherrer (KAIST)

[email protected]

Society claims for immediate responses to the environmental concerns

have pushed organizations to adopt measures for greening their business,

i.e., with minimum environmental impact. In this context, Green IT

emerged as an alternative to maake the processes related to Information

Technology more sustainable. This research proposes a conceptual model

and a method to evaluate Green IT maturity of organizations. This

proposal is based on literature review involving related topics like

Corporate Social Responsibility, Green Management, Environmental

Sustainability, and Green IT, itself, and it was evaluated by a panel of

experts in the tackled subjects. The conceptual model consists of four

dimensions identified from the literature review: economy, technology,

environment and process, and has a maturity scale proposed in Green IT

from some reference models studied. From this model, it was constructed a

method of Green IT evaluation which aims to identify the maturity level of

the organization. It is divided into three stages: (i) context, (ii)

implementation and (iii) analysis and discussion. This method involves

direct observations, interviews and documents’ analisys, and an Analysis

Form - based on the maturity scale proposed.. Both, the proposed method

and model, were applied in a subsidiary of a large IT company with the

purpose of analysing the propositions empirically. The results from this

application were discussed in light of the theoretical model and theoretical

framework consulted, which allowed to evaluate Green IT maturity and

identify areas for improvement within the organization.

Palavras-chaves: Green IT, Environmental Sustainability, Green

Management

XVII INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Technological Innovation and Intellectual Property: Production Engineering Challenges in Brazil Consolidation in the World Economic Scenario.

Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 04 to 07 October – 2011


Technological Innovation and Intellectual Property: Production Engineering Challenges in Brazil Consolidation in the World Economic Scenario. Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 04 to 07 October – 2011

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1. Introduction

Sustainability has been highlighted as a central concept associated with the expectation of

improved social and environmental performance, also related to the actions of organizations (and

individuals). As defined in the Brundtland Report (published in 1987), global sustainability is the

ability to meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their

own needs (WCED, 1987), making human development inclusive, equitable, prudent, and safe.

Therefore a sustainable organization contributes to sustainable development by bringing

economic, social and environmental results. These are known as the three pillars of sustainable

development (HART; MILSTEIN, 2003) also known as Responsible Business.

However, some companies still do not perceive value in the idea of sustainable development,

simply because they believe that more environmentally sound means less competitive. This

thought is delineated from the idea that managers need to decide between the social and

environmental benefits of creating sustainable products and processes, and the financial cost from

those decisions (NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD; RANGASWAMI, 2009). Instead, the search for

sustainability does not have to be a burden for organizations. Making a company environmentally

friendly can help reduce costs and increase revenue and profits (PORTER; VAN DER LINDE,

1995; AMBEC; LANOIE, 2008; NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD; RANGASWAMI, 2009).

Companies that invest in improving environmental performance can obtain economic and

financial results through better access to certain markets, differentiation of products and services

in their portfolio, and reduced costs associated with materials, energy and services (AMBEC;

LANOIE, 2008). In this scenario, a trend under discussion is the idea of Green Information

Technology (Green IT).

Green IT can be seen as the study and practice of efficient and effective design, manufacture, use

and disposal of computers, servers and associated subsystems, with minimal or no impacts to the

environment. It also pursues economic viability, addressing energy efficiency and Total Cost of

Ownership (TCO), which includes the cost of disposal and recycling (MURUGESAN, 2008).

Lamb (2009) defines Green IT as the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently,

corroborating the definition that many organizations commonly refer to Green IT: a synonym for

efficiency in data centers (MOLLA, 2008). Aligned with this vision, Velte, Velte and Elsenpeter

(2008) present the component elements of Green IT as including: virtualization of data center, e-

waste, recycling, and redesign, amongst others. This view maintains the definition of Green IT

still closely tied to the physical elements of Information Technology.

However, Green IT must be understood beyond the above definition: it should be expected from

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to provide means for organizations to

enable their core business to become 'green' business – i.e., a business that is sustainable from an

environmental point of view. Through the use of ICTs (e.g., tools for monitoring emissions of

greenhouse gases and water consumption) organizations can reduce their carbon footprint while

also establishing strategies for production and service markets. This leads to a deeper and broader

understanding of Green IT: the ability of an organization to implement environmental

sustainability on different technical elements of the Information Technology (design, production,



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acquisition, use and disposal), and also for human and managerial resources (MOLLA, 2009a).

Thus, it becomes important for organizations to invest, internally, in the development of Green

IT, with the aim of driving their platform business in a sustainable manner and as a mean of

seeking competitive advantage (PORTER, 1985). Nidumolu, Prahalad and Rangaswami (2009)

present five stages in which an organization is likely to go through in order to become

sustainable, in such a way that the organization’s capacity to create sustainable products and

services or to redesign their existing line to avoid environmental damage becomes fundamental.

This relation is based on the following vision: in the near future, the basis of competition will be

determined by the capacity to understand what products or services are more harmful to the

environment and to use new techniques and technologies to develop these in a less harmful way.

In this context, this paper proposes a model to describe the Green IT maturity of companies,

based on the economical, technological, environmental, and on the processes perspectives.

The next sections are presented as follows: section 2 contains a brief literature review; section 3

explains the methodology used to perform this research; section 4 proposes the model created to

describe Green IT maturity of organizations; section 5 presents the results of the application of

this model in a world class IT company; finally, section 6 draws conclusions and relates to future

work.

2. Literature Review

The literature review is divided in two parts. First, the concept of Green Management (GM) will

be introduced, exhibiting the connection between management and environmental sustainability

(MARCUS; FREMETH, 2009) which has several implications for Green IT strategies and

practices development. Second, the most important works on Green IT will be presented.

2.1 Green Management

Green Management refers to the way an organization develops its strategy and action plans

regarding its operation and the environment. Companies of all sectors and sizes are under

constant pressure of green and regulatory movements in order to reduce their footprint. The

typical answers to these challenges include social corporate responsibility (SCR) and initiatives

of corporate sustainability. Thus, GM must be understood thoroughly in the business model

(MOLINA-AZORÍN et al., 2009). However, to make green strategy viable, benefits in terms of

income increase or cost reduction must be identified for the organization (MOLLA, 2008;

MARCUS; FREMETH, 2009; SIEGEL, 2009). These benefits can include costs reduction by

intelligent use of resources, value aggregation by differentiation – if acceptable that products or

services differentiated in comparison with competitors can be originated by innovation based on

GM practices –, taxes reduction, political advantages, amongst others (MARCUS; FREMETH,

2009; NIDUMOLU, PRAHALAD; RANGASWAMI, 2009; SIEGEL, 2009). Consequently, two

competitive positioning criteria, as established by Skinner (1969) and Porter (1985), costs and

differentiation, may be obtained at same time by GM practices adequate adoption. Reaching these

two competitive criteria simultaneously is a central condition to achieve sustainable competitive



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advantage by an organization (GHEMAWAT, 2000). These arguments outline the importance of

the alignment between GM practices and organizational strategy. In this alignment, technology

(i.e., Green IT) plays a central role (VIARO; VACCARO, 2010b).

2.2 Green IT

Since IT is responsible for costs associated with energy consumption in a great extent,

organizations seek for Green IT actions both as a way to reduce their carbon footprint as well as

to reduce their expenses in energy. As an example, in Australia, ICTs contribute for over 1.5% of

the national CO2 emissions (MOLLA, 2008), and it is estimated to contribute with about 2% of

global CO2 emissions (GARTNER, 2007). On the other hand, technological development has the

potential to turn non-clean technologies obsolete, like occurred with the wireless broadband

communication. Its advance (i) reduced the need of physical wire infrastructure; (ii) contributed

to reduce raw material consumption with elevate effect over the environment (HART;

MILSTEIN, 2003); (iii) reduced installation costs; and (iv) aggregated perceived value to

consumers by allowing high mobility. As another example, South Korea established a five year

plan to become the world’s seventh most competitive country by 2020 in terms of energy

efficiency and ability to adapt to climate change (BIZTECHREPORT, 2010), by inducing energy

efficient transport options, green buildings and new technology, with special attention to LEDs,

solar cells, hybrid cars and the efficient use of IT. Moreover, accordingly to Molla (2008), the

development of analytic tools and information systems that support decisions with a focus on

energy consumption reduction, and the implementation of systems to manage and neutralize

carbon emissions generated by business practices may be actions correlated to Green IT strategy.

Therefore, Green IT can be faced as an opportunity to enable the application of GM practices,

developing sustainable and responsible business in the social and environmental contexts and

adding competitiveness to the organization. For most companies, the major question is not

whether adopt Green IT, but rather on how to do it (MARCUS; FREMETH, 2009).

Green IT may also be understood as consisting of several elements, as presented in Table 1. In a

wider context, Green IT can be found as a milestone for responsibility and sustainability, as

proposed by Viaro et al. (2010a). Associated to pressure for non-palliative environmental

solutions, strategic requirements (MARCUS; FREMETH, 2009; SIEGEL, 2009) and value

generation for stakeholders are added to organizational demands. In this sense, organizations

need to address green practices strategically, aligning the Green IT adoption to its strategy and in

response to the environmental pressure (HART; MILSTEIN, 2003), realizing that the benefits for

the adoption are associated with how these practices will be adopted (AMBEC; LANOIE, 2008).

GIT elements

Related Topic Author Key aspects associated to Green IT

Maturity Steps for

Sustainability

Nidumolu et al.

(2009)

Five steps to achieve sustainability: (1) viewing compliance as opportunity, (2)

making value chains sustainable, (3) designing sustainable products and services,

(4) developing new business models; and (5) creating next-practice platforms.



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Governance Molla (2009) Roles, responsibilities, accountability and control.

Milestones for Ecological

Sustainability

Chen et al.

(2008) Define eco-efficiency, eco-effectiveness and eco-equity.

Operational Level

(Practices)

Molla (2009)

Sourcing, operations and End-of-IT management.

Strategic Level (Policies) Green data centers, Green IT policy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Green

Supply Chain Management, among others.

Technological Level Server consolidation and virtualization, Power down systems, Rightsizing IT

equipment, Storage tiering, print optimization, among others.

Sustainable IT Ecosystem

Framework

Watson et al.

(2009)

Five steps: Ecosystem-Scale Lifecycle design; Scalable, configurable resource

micro-grids; Pervasive sensing; Knowledge discovery and visualization;

Autonomous control.

Table 1: Elements associated with Green IT and their related constructs.

Source: elaborated by authors

In the same sense, organizations can develop Green IT capabilities through Dynamic Capability

Processes (VIARO et al, 2010a). The human element is relevant to the development of green

practices, whether as a driver for new goals whether as key holder for organizational learning on

such practices. For instance, in order to deal with environmental changing requirements related to

adoption of green practices, Green IT practices can be developed (MOLLA, 2009). If associated

to dynamic capabilities of the organization, such practices can be developed under a strategic

perspective. Clean technologies, pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainability

vision (HART, 1997) are examples of strategic perspectives that organizations should foresee in

order to become competitive. For instance, yearly rankings about greenest world companies are

released. In 2010, the Newsweek Green Rankings (NEWSWEEK, 2010), nominated IBM, HP,

Johnson& Johnson, Sony and GlaxoSmithKline as the top 5 greenest companies in the world,

based on a “green score”, derived from analyses provided by three independent research firms in

the following areas:

Environmental impact – Assessment of environmental impact and worldwide footprint;

Green policies – Evaluation of environmental reporting, policies, programs and initiatives;

Reputational survey – Opinion survey of corporate social responsibility professionals,

academics and other environmental experts who subscribe to CorporateRegister.com, plus

CEOs from all companies in the Newsweek U.S. 500 and Global 100 lists.

These perspectives also influence the continuous construction of Green IT strategies and

practices, making organizational learning and adaption a key point for continuous GM practices

(VIARO et al., 2010a).

3. Methodology

The preparation of the research method was carried out from the exploratory nature of the

proposed work, systematized as presented in Figure 1.



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3.1 Phase 1 – Exploration

The first phase – Exploration – aimed to establish the context in which the work is located. The

first step of the research was the topic definition, based on readings and research group

discussions. Green IT is a relatively recent topic from the academic point of view, not having a

definitive conceptualization and still has lack of consolidated references. Therefore, from an

extensive literature research that could encompass different elements of the theme, an exploratory

approach was chosen.

The proposal presented on this paper departs from conceptual models linking economic,

environmental and technological elements (HART 1997, HART; MILSTEIN, 2003;

NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD; RANGASWAMI, 2009), and specific Green IT elements (MOLLA,

2009a). These readings have led the authors to inquire how an organization could evaluate their

processes, strategies, practices and policies regarding the dimensions in Green IT, and to

understand the extent of implementing the strategies, policies and practices in Green IT. The

chosen strategy was to use a maturity ordinal scale, which emerged from the authors' knowledge

depicted from research maturity levels proposed in Hart and Milstein (2003), and Nidumolu,

Prahalad and Rangaswami (2009), and also by the CMMI maturity model (SEI, 2011), which

provides a standard way to rate the maturity level of an organization, a process or an activity, in

relation to sustainability. Therefore, the authors decided to propose a conceptual model and an

application method to analyze organization’s Green IT maturity.

3.2 Phase 2 – Proposition

In order to hold the proposal of a conceptual model to represent the Green IT maturity of

organizations, further research on academic and technical journals, and conferences was made by

the authors, including indexed magazines such as Academy of Management, Harvard Business

Review, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Journal of Cleaner

Production, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, and Brazilian

academic journals, such as Revista Produção e Gestão & Produção.



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Figure 1. Methodological approach.


The following steps were related to the construction of the conceptual model to analyze

organization’s Green IT maturity. The support application method was also developed but it will

not be presented in this paper due to space restrictions. These steps were performed through an

iterative process of knowledge construction. The construction of the method for assessment of

organization’s maturity in Green IT emerged initially from the idea of implementing a data

collection instrument in the field. The maturation of the project led to the construction of a set of

interviews based on a theoretical review, and an Analysis Form, which contains questions

relating to each of the constituent dimensions of Green IT proposed in this paper, and each

question is linked to a scale.

After defining the first version of the conceptual model and the application method to analyze

organization’s Green IT maturity, it was presented to experts on this subject, for refinement

purposes. The criterion for selection of experts was based on the dimensions proposed in the

conceptual model: Economics, Environment, Technology and Processes. The authors tried to

select specialists accordingly to their involvement in research within the themes present in each

dimension, because the goal of this round of validation was to have opinions, criticism and

external cues in order to improve the proposed artifacts of this research.

3.3 Phase 3 - Analysis

This step involved the collection of field data, which was performed by the refined version of the



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proposed method. This collection was based on different sources of evidence. Even though this

study does not characterize a case study, the step of defining the tools for data collection in the

field was built on certain principles prevailing in the conduct of case studies.

In order to collect data from interviews, the authors selected key persons in a global leading

organization of the IT industry. This step was done in order to collect empirical evidence to

confront the proposed model. The criterion for selection of interviewees was based on the

proposed dimensions for the Green IT conceptual model, so respondents were the heads of the

following departments: Information Technology, Facilities, Purchasing, and IT Projects. The

Controller and the Director of local subsidiary of the company were also interviewed. The

interviews were conducted within the company, in conference rooms scheduled for this purpose,

attended only by the researcher and by the interviewee. The interviews were taped and

transcribed for further analysis.

Also, direct observation was performed with the intention of gaining information directly into the

company. According to Cooper and Schindler (2003), one of the strengths of the observation

method is that it is possible to get information that most participants could ignore, either because

they are very common and expected, either because they cannot perceive them as important. The

observed areas included the control of intelligent automation system of the company's

headquarters, the purchasing sector, the research and development sector, and other dependencies

of the company, in order to verify items relevant to the context analyzed.

The collection of documents was held aiming to complete the view depicted from the data

obtained during the interviews and observations. All documents examined were in digital format,

available on the Internet or Intranet of the enterprise. Based on the triangulation of interviews

with the direct observations and documents, the authors tried to check the correctness of

information.

After this data analysis, the results were presented to the interviewed stakeholders in order to

validate the model based on the company's vision. This was accomplished with meetings of

approximately half an hour. At this stage, improvement points were proposed in the items

considered relevant by the stakeholders.

3.4 Phase 4 – Conclusions

After the collected data was analyzed and the data collection instruments were filled, the results

obtained with the proposed conceptual model were discussed, in order to verify the applicability

of the method and the Green IT maturity model inside the company under analysis. This

discussion was performed based on the theoretical fundamentals (the key referential point of the

proposed model) and based on the empirical data. At this stage, new points of improvement were

identified for the method and model and new insights were obtained. These improvements were

incorporated to the results, in a sense of continuous refinement of these research products.

4. Conceptual model for describing Green IT maturity of organizations

Figure 2 presents the connections among the dimensions Technology, Process, Economics and



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Environment, depicted from the theoretical and empirical research performed by the authors.

Technology and Process dimensions are shown in Figure 2 within the “Practices in Green IT”

box, while the “Results” box represents the Economics dimension. The top box represents the

elements linked to the Environment dimension. These four dimensions are fundamental and

constitutive for the conceptual model and for the maturity scale in Green IT, used to classify the

maturity level of the organization. The authors tried to emphasize, in Figure 2, the causality and

the interrelationship between these dimensions and constructs, also identified during the research.

In this sense, the stronger these interrelationships are, the more mature the company will be.

Figure 2. Green IT Maturity Conceptual Model


The “Practices in Green IT” box represents the organization’s actions in terms of Information

Technology. Through information systems hardware and infrastructure (data center, servers,

printers, laptops, etc.), the company can promote environmental sustainability and can obtain

financial results from a series of initiatives, such as server virtualization, automated cooling,

reducing of prints or use of “green” information systems (PRZYBYLA; PEGAH, 2007; VELTE;

VELTE; ELSENPETER, 2009; LAMB, 2009; WATSON et al., 2009). Therefore, technological

innovations play an important role in driving the Information Technology, whether in hardware

or in software, as an alternative to solve environmental issues. Such innovations can become

attractive to organizations because they can represent investments which also leverage the

organizations’ profit by reducing the operational costs (PORTER; VAR DER LINDE, 1986;

NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD; RANGASWAMI, 2009; LAMB, 2009).

However, these practices are not restricted to the use of technological elements, but also include



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the application of environmental sustainability criteria to the management of IT assets lifecycle

(production, purchase, use and disposal) (MOLLA, 2008, 2009a, 2009c; MOLLA; COOPER,

2009b; FINNVEDEN; MOBERG, 2005; NASCIMENTO et al., 2008). This concept of process,

i.e., this chain of activities related to the IT input or equipment, from before the time of

acquisition until the time of disposure, allows understanding the environmental issue in a holistic

manner: when analyzing the practices of software vendors acquiring IT goods (whether software

or hardware) through a process that incorporates sustainability criteria on purchases, thus there is

a practice in Green IT being considered as important (HART, 1997; MOLLA, 2009a). Likewise,

when an environmentally friendly destination is given to some IT good which has reached the

end of its useful life, contribution is being done to the mitigation of electronic waste (e-waste)

disposed directly to the environment (HART, 1997; MOLLA, 2009a).

It is understood that the use of these practices in IT promotes financial and environmental results

to the organization (as in “Results” box), potentiating the investment in Green IT, either through

information systems and infrastructure, either based on green processes. This encourages

technological innovation within the organization, in accordance to which some authors advocate

(PORTER, VAN DER LINDE, 1995; AMBEC; LANOIE, 2008; NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD;

RANGASWAMI, 2009). These results are linked also to the activities developed by the company

towards environmental sustainability, and may be represented by different strategies resulting

from different motivators (HART; MILSTEIN, 2003). The return on investment in Green IT, for

example, may be evidenced by minimizing waste and emissions in the company's operations,

which leads to reduction of costs and risks associated with the image of the organization (HART;

MILSTEIN, 2003). Since the organization benefits through practices in Green IT, financial and

environmental results – obtained by reducing costs, CO2 emissions and water consumption, for

example –, it can leverage new investments in technology, processes and policies Green IT

within the organization.

The Environmental dimension has three distinct constructs: eco-equity, eco-effectiveness and

legal norms. They are represented in the top box, with elements that require an environmentally

responsible attitude of the organizations, thus demanding actions on Green IT due to different

external forces. The society requires ethical behavior from firms, this is reflected in actions on

eco-equity, with a form of environmental responsibility to future generations that will inhabit the

planet, and actions on eco-effectiveness, i.e., not limited only to act in an environmentally way

only in favor of financial gain or the requirement of compliance with environmental laws

(GRIESSE, 2003; HENDRY; VESILIND, 2005; CHEN; BOUDREAU; WATSON, 2008;

MARCUS; FREMETH, 2009). However, as Siegel (2009) states, companies must be mindful of

their strategic objectives in adopting sustainable practices, since simply submitting to external

pressures with no strategy may, as usual, end up pushing companies into bankruptcy.

Thus, environmental regulations continue to be a major responsibility for implementing a series

of actions in environmental sustainability within organizations. Some authors argue that limiting

environmental measures to mere compliance to standards is a characteristic of companies in the

early stages towards environmental sustainability (HART; MILSTEIN, 2003; NIDUMOLU;



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PRAHALAD; RANGASWAMI, 2009). Thus, it is essential that organizations realize that

opportunities exist beyond simple regulation. In this sense, Nidumolu, Prahalad and Rangaswami

(2009) suggest increasing the use of clean energy sources, finding innovative uses for discarded

products, and creating business models that combine digital and physical infrastructure, among

other alternatives.

This conceptual model is adherent to GM concepts presented in the literature review (HART,

1997; HART; MILSTEIN, 2003; AMBEC; LANOIE, 2008; NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD;

RANGASWAMI, 2009; SIEGEL, 2009; MARCUS; FREMETH, 2009). Therefore, the authors

understand that Green IT falls into a broader organizational context, ruled by elements of GM. As

a consequence, the degree of maturity in Green IT of an organization will be judged from the

context in which strategies, policies and practices in Green IT develop. Thus, it becomes relevant

to consider diagnostic tools of the maturity of organizations in relation to environmental

sustainability, or green orientation to management, such as those proposed in Hart and Milstein

(2003) and Nidumolu, Prahalad and Rangaswami (2009). Additionally, Molla et al. (2010) offer a

scale of capability maturity of organizations in Green IT, which provides specific elements within

this theme. These elements are presented in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Green IT Maturity Level scale.




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5. Maturity model and evaluation method for application in an organization

The proposed model was used to evaluate the Green IT maturity level of a large IT company,

which has significant investments in actions related to environmental sustainability. From this

evaluation, as expected, a high level of maturity in Green IT was found. Nevertheless, it was

found on the economic, environmental and technological dimensions.

In the conceptual model, Green IT practices are divided into two dimensions: Technology and

Processes. Through server virtualization, automated cooling, optimization of prints and virtual

collaboration, to name a few initiatives undertaken globally, the company is geared to

environmental sustainability through information technology, as advocated several authors

(VELTE; VELTE; ELSENPETER, 2009; LAMB, 2009; MOLLA, 2009a; MOLLA; COOPER,

2009b). From the collected data, it can be stated that the company lays in an advanced level of

maturity about the prospects of operations and systems, like in the viewpoint of Molla and

Cooper (2009b). The company undertakes to improve efficiency in its operations in power supply

and cooling of corporate IT assets, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, and uses green

information systems (Green IS) for support actions on sustainability. These activities occur in a

systematic manner, as they are aligned to the company’s strategy for environmental

sustainability, using indicators based on the concept of sustainable development (WCED, 1987)

to consider economic, social and environmental factors.

However, in terms of process, the company still demonstrates being in early sustainable practice

stages. One of the most impacting processes is the acquisition and disposal of IT assets. It was

evidenced that there was no institutionalized process or politics related to these topics in the

organization. In the subsidiaries located in countries with legal regulations that require such

actions, the company properly disposes IT assets when they reach their end of life. But in Brazil,

as there were no active rules requiring such behavior by companies, the commitment established

by the company to the destination of IT assets is related to social actions, with no engagement

with further disposal of such equipment though. The notebooks that reach to the end of business

life, for example, are donated to needy schools, but there is no further association from the

company with its future destination. However, government initiatives such as the National Policy

on Solid Waste (BRASIL, 2011) will regulate, when in effective application, environmentally

sound disposal of waste, among other things. From the evaluation presented by this study, the

company started a project to better define processes for adequate IT assets management.

Toward the inclusion of strategic product management in organizations, Hart and Milstein (2003)

alert to the importance of engagement of stakeholders (suppliers, customers, partners, etc.) when

thinking about the life cycle of a product from its start to its finish, mainly because it can be used

to optimize the legitimacy and corporate reputation. However, the administration of the life cycle

value chain extends beyond the traditional boundaries of the organization, which may include

additional costs associated with procurement practices and disposal of assets (HART;

MILSTEIN, 2003; NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD; RANGASWAMI, 2009) These factors,

considered in this empirical study, have a strong tendency to contribute to the lack of practice

from the organization in this regard.



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Finally, the systematic application of Green IT practices within the company is reflected in the

economic and environmental outcomes achieved. The company performs actions in Green IT

directly tied to cost savings, which can be observed, in particular, when it comes to reducing

energy consumption. The sustainability report released by the company clearly relates the

efficiency of data centers as a strategic factor for reducing costs and CO2 emissions, which is

supported by several internal initiatives in terms of server virtualization, optimization and

reducing travel impressions (air and land) through virtual collaboration tools, to name a few

initiatives in these sustainability projects within the IT industry's global enterprise. These

initiatives are linked to Green IT strategy in a broader environmental sustainability within the

organization, which considers various factors in GM, as shown by several authors (HART, 1997;

HART; MILSTEIN, 2003; AMBEC; LANOIE, 2008; NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD;

RANGASWAMI, 2009; SIEGEL, 2009; MARCUS; FREMETH, 2009).

6. Final Remarks

The question whether or not organizations should engage in environmental issues do not seem to

make sense, the issue is: how? (MARCUS; FREMETH, 2009) In this paper, Green IT emerges as

a possible complimentary response to environmental impacts caused by man, from the

perspective of cost savings coming from IT as well as the capability to use IT to reduce emissions

arising from all other possible forms (MOLLA, 2009a).

Thus, this study proposed a model for assessment of maturity in Green IT in organizations, with

the objective of providing to companies a systematic way to analyze their processes and

operations with respect to Green IT. The result of the assessment of maturity in Green IT intends

to provide a diagnostic of the company, which provides subsidies for managers making strategic

decisions related to IT and more broadly environmental sustainability.

The Environmental Management Systems and Cleaner Production Systems help organizations to

contribute to the environment through efficient management of the environment (NASCIMENTO

et al., 2008), but mainly through technological innovations. Similarly, Green IT is driven by

innovation, and this demands that one company which is trying to reach maturity in Green IT

consistently reorganize its operations and processes constantly (NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD;

RANGASWAMI, 2009). In addition, Green IT can drive innovations, as it is perceived as a set of

values introjected in culture of the organization.

From the application of the assessment model in the company it could be noticed the correlation

between GM models (HART, 1997; HART, MILSTEIN, 2003; NIDUMOLU; PRAHALAD;

RANGASWAMI, 2009) and Green IT model proposed in this paper. Results indicate that the

conceptual model presented in this work can be suitable for assessment of maturity in Green IT,

at least in the case studied. The evidences collected in the field were supported by the set of

theoretical arguments derived from the literature review. The presentation of research results to

stakeholders generated practical effects within the organization, which gives some evidences of

robustness to the model, leading to further applications in order to obtain comparative results.



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References

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