Knowledge Management as a tool to improve the impact of Sustainability Reporting

The objective of this study is analyzing how sustainability can be fed by knowledge at the company level and how it can be implemented within the company’s overall strategic choices. Dealing with the issue of sustainability is certainly a complex matter, since it embraces concepts and dynamics aimed at creating value rather than profit, long-term rather than short term horizons and the satisfaction of stakeholders rather than that of shareholders. It is certainly a complex target, that must be put into a system capable of enhancing the management’s efforts. In this sense, knowledge management (KM) is a useful ally to consolidate the competitive advantage, to outline efficient business practices, to share knowledge and therefore to seek company going concern and development. The link between the latter and the issue of sustainability cannot be ignored, even if it’s no easy to understand the verse of the relationship. However, in the course of the study carried out on this issue, and supported by the empirical analysis conducted, some imbalances with respect to this relationship emerged when the effort was made to translate it into strategy. Although the concept is consolidated and linear, at least from a conceptual point of view, when putting it into practice the scenario become much more complex. The world is changing and with it the logic behind many business practices, both internal and external. Lagging behind on the issue of sustainability and its relative connection to KM would mean missing out on new opportunities. Without going any deeper into this important concept, we can say that it has none the less been inserted in order to make a focus by explaining, albeit in a simplistic line, why these can be considered as an important driver for the relationship between KM and sustainability. The study ends with the specific discussion of the empirical analysis, carried out on a sample referring to the top 20 listed companies in Italy. Thanks to the latter it has been possible to highlight, through percentages and mathematical ratios, the aforementioned relationships from a statistical point of view, creating a link between the theory analyzed and the practice identified in this research field.