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via which data resources create value for environmental sustainability. Although research has pinpointed collaboration as crucial to any move toward sustainability, our review of pertinent literature identified no studies aimed at systematic understanding of how a company could, with the use of data, serve its customers' pursuit of their environmen- tal sustainability targets. In addition, there is a recognized need for further empirical research specifically geared to revealing how digital transformation supports reaching environmental goals (Beltrami et al., 2021; O'Rourke & Lollo, 2021; Rusch et al., 2022). The purpose behind this paper is to help fill that gap by examining data's value for environmental performance as perceived by the direct customers of a leading European tissue paper supplier. In a study from the perspective of environmental sustainability, we explored the terri- tory of customers' expectations/needs and how they are shifting. Set- ting out to uncover critical elements and mechanisms of data's value in this context, we addressed the following research question: How is the value of data for environmental sustainability perceived among busi- ness customers of a tissue paper supplier? We chose to focus on the value chain behind tissue paper because of its associated complex demands for environmental sus- tainability, from a range of stakeholders: customers, investors, regula- tors, and others (Ghosal, 2015; Toppinen et al., 2017). These demands cast the rapidly growing need for environmental-performance-related data into high relief also. The body of data required comprises myriad details that a company may collect, produce, process, and share in relation to its activities, products, and value chains (all the way through to customers and disposal) that could shed light on their envi- ronmental impacts and the improvement opportunities. In previous lit- erature on the forest companies (Mäkelä, 2017) it is found that these companies report on the environmental performance of their supply chain only very little. Hence, relying on secondary sources available in reporting data from the companies themselves is not likely to produce sufficiently in-depth insights from the customer interface to facilitate solid analysis, calling for collection of primary data. The case company, Metsä Tissue, had recognized a need to make better use of data to enhance its environment-related performance in the business of tissue-paper manufacture, and it sought to understand how, alongside its customers, it could enhance its utilization of data for environmental sustainability. The findings presented here are output from a joint pro- ject with Metsä Tissue carried out in January to June 2022 that included eight interviews with direct customers of Metsä Tissue engaged in retail and professional sales. This empirically underpinned study's contribution to theory is twofold. First, we identified the discrete elements of the environmen- tal sustainability value that customers perceive in data, and, second, our work makes the multifaceted nature of data's value in support of environment-informed decisions and environmental improvements explicit. The resulting sense of the value held by data content and the possible uses points to the necessity of reliable product-specific and environment-related data to support better informed decisions within companies and along their value chains. The work's central contribu- tion to practice is in strengthening our understanding of how compa- nies could seize data's power to enhance their customers'
purchase decisions (Pinheiro et al., 2022; Rusch et al., 2022). Other examples involve data sharing between suppliers and customers; for instance, detailing the content and origin of the product can help all parties understand and manage potential biodiversity issues and other environmental risks along the supply chain (Contador et al., 2021). In addition, companies need data for proving their environmental perfor- mance to customers, investors, and regulators who demand evidence of progress on clearly defined pathways to significant reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions and who require compliance with the EU's new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (Science Based Tar- gets Initiative, n.d.; European Commission, 2021). When cultivated into information and, further, into knowledge, data can support better, more environment-aware decisions by incumbent companies and by their customers and suppliers. The intersection of environmental sustainability and digital trans- formation, encompassing increasing availability and utilization of data, has recently captured scholars' more intense interest (see, e.g., Bai et al., 2020; Cardinali & De Giovanni, 2022). Digitalization and related data are now recognized as gateways to supporting climate-change mitigation, circular economy, and other environment-linked goals (Di Maria et al., 2022; George et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2022), with gen- eral discussion pointing to their potential role in a shift toward sustainability – reduced resource-intensity, greater energy-efficiency, waste reductions, and decreased CO 2 emissions (e.g., Chiarini, 2021; Kerin & Pham, 2020; Niehoff, 2022). Specific digital technologies facilitating activities such as collection and utilization of data, along- side the so-called Industry 4.0 in general, are recognized as prospec- tive means of supporting more sustainable business strategies that incorporate new business models, manufacturing practices, and supply-chain solutions (de Sousa et al., 2018; Gupta et al., 2021). Making data-driven decisions is increasingly relevant not only in companies' internal activities but also in their larger value chains, bringing in suppliers and customers (Dubey et al., 2019; Gebhardt et al., 2021; Gold et al., 2010). Data needs are growing more precisely elucidated, and greater detail is required – the data must cover numerous facets of product life cycles and value networks. These requirements necessitate considerable expansion in the quantities of data needed but also emphasize the requisite of successfully manag- ing and utilizing the data (Gandolfo & Lupi, 2021). Thus far, though, potentially valuable environmental sustainability data have remained scattered and under-utilized (Rusch et al., 2022). Efficient means of collecting, managing, and utilizing said data in business decision- making are still emerging, and common definitions, methods, and rules of the game for utilizing and sharing data are largely absent (Busch et al., 2022; Elias Mota et al., 2020). In this context, the value that versatile product life-cycle and value-network data offer for realizing environmental gains is poorly understood, and companies lack understanding of the data's ultimate value for businesses and their customers. These shortcomings render it difficult to prioritize data-linked development needs and articulate cases for investing in related innovation and capability development. It is difficult even to point to empirical foundations, since little research has examined the details of the elements and mechanisms
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