A Multi-Criteria Approach to Evaluate Sustainability: A Case Study of the Navarrese Wine Sector

Abstract

The present work introduces a multi-criteria approach focused on the evaluation of wine production, considering the three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, economic and social. In this sense, the most relevant key performance indicators were selected within each dimension and disaggregated into sub-indicators to address the different sustainability aspects within the wine value chain. Furthermore, the analytic hierarchy process was applied as the method to weight the relevance of the three dimensions and corresponding key performance indicators, in order to allow the producers to understand which aspects need to be covered to improve their production sustainability. Results demonstrate how the approach proposed is able to identify, for both the vineyard and winery, the strengths and weaknesses regarding the sustainability performance of their production. Additionally, this study also contributes by shedding light on the most suitable and recommended actions to increase the company’s sustainability from a sustainable perspective. Additionally, it is important to highlight that, although the developed approach is specifically designed for the wine sector in the Navarrese region, it can be replicated by adjusting the key performance indicator selection to apply this methodology to the reality in other wine production regions.

Keywords

• sustainability
• wine sector
• analytic hierarchy process methodology
• key performance indicators