Abstract

The environment, understood as the biophysical support to human society and economic systems, is a relevant variable to firm management. The way the environment is managed can affect not only firm competitiveness but also firm environmental performance both in the short and long-term. The environment generates the inputs (in terms of stocks of natural capital and flows of ecosystem services) supporting human economy and receives back outputs and by-products (waste and emissions) generated by human activities. Therefore the environment does a constant work providing inputs and receiving outputs throughout each function and businesses phase of firms, playing a key role for their development and sustainability. This thesis examines the following two main issues: 1) how to apply environmental management theory in the context of tourism industry, and 2) how to assess the environmental performance and sustainability of Small and Medium-sized Hotel Enterprises (SMHEs) by using a multicriteria assessment framework. Both a specific economic sector and different type of firms are investigated: the tourism industry and selected SMHEs in the Province of Trento. The environmental management theory, through an online survey of SMHEs in the Province of Trento, explores the implementation of environmental practices, the characteristics of enterprises as environmental determinants and the motivations and perceptions to environmental commitment. Environmental accounting is instead employed to assess environmental costs and impacts associated to selected hotels in the Province of Trento.