Quantifying the Role of Corporate Values in Sustainable Process Innovation: A Case Study from the Steel Industry

This study investigates the integration of corporate values into sustainable process innovation, with a focus on quantifying the alignment between organizational principles and sustainability-driven production practices. As sustainability becomes a strategic priority in manufacturing, firms must adapt not only to environmental regulations and social expectations but also embed sustainability into their core innovation processes. A single-case study design was employed to examine a steel manufacturing company operating in Bursa, Türkiye. The research framework consisted of four stages: identification of corporate values, their alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), numerical weighting of these alignments, and the development of an evaluation mechanism to assess sustainability integration during project planning and production setup. A value–SDG matrix was constructed, and a scoring tool ranging from −10 to +10 was applied to evaluate sustainability performance on-site. Findings suggest that the deliberate incorporation of value-based sustainability metrics enhances decision-making transparency and process efficiency. The study contributes a structured, quantifiable approach to embedding sustainability into industrial innovation strategies and offers implications for policy and practice in value-driven production systems.