Shared value creation during site decommissioning: A case study from the energy sector

Recent trends of globalization and industrial relocation have made the issue of industrial site decommissioning increasingly urgent. The outcome of decommissioning processes is generally highly dependent on the “economic status” of the specific industrial site, with a high risk for those sites that have low land value and high reclamation costs of being simply abandoned by the site owners. This represents a lose-lose situation, both for the companies that have to close their sites and the neighbourhood. To overcome this situation, some firms are starting to implement more proactive strategies, for supporting shared benefits in site remediation. Nevertheless, research is still scant on the consequences of such emerging solutions and on whether and how they can create shared value. To fill this gap, the paper studies the evolution of the decommissioning strategy of an Italian energy company (Energ.IT), that started to take on a more proactive role to foster site redevelopment. The case analysis is articulated around the conceptual elements of the Social Resource Based View: resources, capabilities, stakeholders, interactions and outcome, identifying three different strategies, defined as Activation, Integration or Co-design and appraising, in a qualitative way, their impact on shared value and the conditions that make each strategy feasible. •A role-shift is emerging for firms carrying out site decommissioning processes.•Firms’ proactivity can foster shared value creation during site decommissioning.•Shared value in site decommissioning is not automatically created.•Activation, Integration and Co-design strategies can be applied.