Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in

industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach and a case study in China
Yijun Ji a, b, Zhikan Liu c, Jing Wu a, Ying He d, *, He Xu a, **
a
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, China
b
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Technology for Complex Trans-Media Pollution, Tianjin, 300350, China
c
Ningbo Customs District, Ningbo, 315012, China
d
School of Environmental Science and Safety Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Which factors influence enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis (IS)? It has not been studied
Received 15 May 2019 well so far, which can be detrimental to IS development. The aims of this study are to propose an
Received in revised form analytical approach to determine the factors that significantly influence companies’ participation in IS
14 August 2019
and to verify the feasibility of this approach, as well as investigating whether there are significant dif-
Accepted 25 September 2019
Available online xxx
ferences in the influencing factors for diverse types of companies. The main part of our approach involves
collecting the scores of potential influencing factors from enterprises through a questionnaire and
Handling Editor: Charbel Jose Chiappetta analyzing these scores with four models based on logistic regression. Enterprises are divided into
Jabbour companies participating in IS (PCs), companies that have not participated in IS (NPCs), producers of waste
or by products (PWBs) and utilizer of waste or by products (UWBs), to reflect the differences in their
Keywords: influencing factors.
Industrial symbiosis This analytical approach was applied in Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) of
Promoting factors China. The results show that this approach can conveniently determine the promoting and inhibiting
Inhibiting factors
factors of IS participation for different types of companies. In TEDA, for PCs, the requirement of envi-
Binary logistic regression
ronmental regulations is the first driving force, and the uncertainty of waste and by-products (WBs) is an
Enterprises level
important concern; meanwhile, for NPCs, geographical disadvantages are key restraints. Among the PCs,
PWBs are more likely to be hindered by lack of IS awareness in the management, while UWBs are faced
with more barriers, such as lack of support from the government and difficulties in reaching agreements.
This study can provide insights into the factors that affect IS at the enterprise level as well as first-hand
information for exploiting targeted policies to boost IS according to the influencing factors of each type of
company.
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction advantage involving physical exchange of materials, energy, water,

Industrial symbiosis (IS) usually refers to engaging “traditionally
separate industries in a collective approach to competitive
Abbreviations: IS, industrial symbiosis; CP, cleaner production; CE, circular
economy; PCs, companies participating in IS; NPCs, companies that have not
participated in IS; PWBs, producers of waste and by-products; UWBs, utilizers of
waste and by-products; TEDA, Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area;
EIPs, Eco-industrial parks; TPB, Theory of Planned Behavior; PBC, Perceived
Behavioural Control; EICs, ecological industrial chains; IEPI, Influencing enterprises’
participation in IS.
* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: tjheying@126.com (Y. He), seacenter@nankai.edu.cn (H. Xu).
and/or by-products” (Chertow, 2000). IS can produce both eco-
nomic and environmental benefits, thus it is regarded as a way to
transition to cleaner production (CP; Ramsheva et al., 2019), a route
to circular economy (CE; Merli et al., 2018) and a strategy for sus-
tainable development (Verguts et al., 2016).
In the last decades，IS and its main operation mode, eco-
industrial parks (EIPs), have drawn much attention in both devel-
oped and developing countries. Besides the famous Kalundborg
Symbiosis (Ehrenfeld and Gertler, 1997; Jacobsen, 2006) in
Denmark, a number of IS practices have emerged in the USA
(Eckelman and Chertow, 2013), UK (Mirata, 2004; Velenturf, 2016),
Italy (Iacondini et al., 2015; Notarnicola et al., 2016), Japan (Ohnishi
et al., 2016; Van Berkel et al., 2009), South Korea (Behera et al.,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
0959-6526/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
2 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx
2012; Park et al., 2008), China (Guo et al., 2016; Shi et al., 2010), etc.
However, many IS practices are far less successful than expected,
especially those artificially designed IS projects. In fact, some EIPs
have failed or have given up their ecological goals (Gibbs and Deutz,
2007; Sakr et al., 2011).
Why do some IS practices work well while some IS attempts run
into trouble or failure? Why are many IS exchanges not actualized
though they seem to be winewin for both sides? The answer is
closely linked with the factors that influence the development of IS
activities, including both enablers and barriers. Many studies have
investigated on such influencing factors (see Section 2.1). These
studies involve many cases in different countries and are un-
doubtedly beneficial for understanding relevant contexts from
different perspectives. Nevertheless, these studies are mainly on IS
networks (Behera et al., 2012; Chopra and Khanna, 2014; Fraccascia
et al., 2017), EIPs (Sakr et al., 2011; Tudor et al., 2007; Yu et al.,
2014), or industrial clusters (Taddeo et al., 2017; Yoon and Nadvi,
2018) at the macro or meso level, while the enterprises on the
micro level have not been well examined.
For instance, an IS system may involve diverse types of enter-
prises, such as companies that have participated in IS (hereinafter
referred to as “PCs”) and companies that have not participated in IS
(hereinafter referred to as “NPCs”), the producer of waste and by-
products (hereinafter called “PWBs”), and the utilizer of waste
and by-products (hereinafter called “UWBs”). To our knowledge,
previous studies on IS influencing factors rarely divide enterprises
into different types (except for a few studies considering different
industries). Thus, they seldom answer whether different types of
enterprises are affected by different factors and accordingly need
different policies.
Active company participation “is the most important element”
(Heeres et al., 2004) in an IS project; therefore, it is needed to
deepen the study of IS influencing factors at the company level. The
first aim of this study is to propose an analytical approach that can
determine the factors with significant influences on companies’
participation in IS and verify the feasibility of this approach. The
second aim is to investigate whether there are significant differ-
ences in the influencing factors among diverse types of companies.
Our analytical approach is divided into three steps: First, a set of
influencing factors is put forward for analysis. In this step, a general
framework of influencing factors provided by the present study can
be used as a base or reference. The second step is a questionnaire
survey on this set of influencing factors which are scored by
different types of enterprises, such as PCs and NPCs, and PWBs and
UWBs. The last step is a logistic regression analysis of these scores;
then, the promoting and inhibiting factors with statistical signifi-
cance for enterprises will manifest themselves. The successful
application of this approach in Tianjin Economic-Technological
Development Area (TEDA), an EIP in China, shows that it is easy
to use and useful for determining the significant influencing factors
for different types of companies, and that different types of com-
panies are affected by different promoting and inhibiting factors.
This study can provide more targeted policies for each type of
company, which will be more effective than the old trend of the
same policies for all companies.
2. Literature review
2.1. Factors influencing IS development
Compared with the symbionts in natural ecosystems, IS has to
manage more kinds of influencing factors, including some eco-
nomic and social factors. Many scholars have studied the factors
influencing the development of IS or EIPs.
Economic factors often receive a high degree of concern. For
Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
instance, Chertow (2007) points out that the most basic reason for
pursuing IS is the desire to have more profitable and competitive
businesses. The author’s emphasis on profit is similar to that of
Gibbs and Deutz (2007) and Roberts (2004), who consider financial
benefits and economic success the primary drivers. In addition,
Notarnicola et al. (2016), Van Beers et al. (2007), Wu et al. (2005),
and Yu et al. (2015) all believe that economic factors have effects on
the establishment and/or development of IS.
Some studies have examined the influence of regulations, pol-
icies or governments on IS. On one hand, stringent environmental
regulations are often thought to contribute to IS (Park et al., 2008;
Sakr et al., 2011; Yap and Devlin, 2017). On the other hand, too
severe and complex regulations may hinder IS (Gibbs and Deutz,
2007; Iacondini et al., 2015). As to the role of governments, there
is also evidence for both positive cases (Yu et al., 2014, 2015) and
negative cases (Gibbs and Deutz, 2007).
Some scholars are interested in awareness or attitude.
Notarnicola et al. (2016) find that the focus of the entrepreneurs on
their core business is the main constraint on the full development
of IS, while waste recycling is regarded as a diversion of human
resources and capital. Likewise, Ceglia et al. (2017), Guo et al. (2016)
and Mauthoor (2017) state that lack of attention or awareness
among enterprise managers or stakeholders is one of the key bar-
riers of IS. Qu et al. (2015) suggest that EIP managers’ environ-
mental awareness assists in building the IS network.
There are many specific influencing factors of IS (or EIPs), related
to various categories. Thus, some scholars have analyzed or sum-
marized the categories of these factors (Table 1).
Some factor categories appear at least three times. Besides
economic, policy and regulatory, and awareness and attitude fac-
tors, technical, information, and organization factors are also often
mentioned by researchers.
Most research on IS influencing factors are descriptive case
studies (Paquin et al., 2014) at the macro or meso level, while the
enterprise level has not been studied well (Yap and Devlin, 2017). In
fact, the decision of relevant companies can ultimately affect the
development or decline of an IS (Yap and Devlin, 2017). Thus,
strengthening the study at the micro level and reflecting more
opinions of companies is an urgent necessity. Moreover, there are
several types of companies related to IS, for example, PCs and NPCs,
and PWBs and UWBs; meanwhile, the influencing factors include
both promoting and inhibiting factors. For different types of com-
panies, which promoting factor and which inhibiting factor can
exert significant influences? To the authors’ knowledge, there are
very few quantitative research studies on this.
2.2. Theory of planned behavior
The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is considered as an
effective means for dealing with human social behavior (Ajzen,
1991) and “one of the most widely used rational-choice models”
(Lin et al., 2018). According to this theory, human behavior usually
can be explained or predicted by the three constructs with a rela-
tive high accuracy: attitude, subjective norm and perceived
behavioural control (PBC).
Increasing studies prove that TPB can be suitable not only for
individuals, but also for organizations. Nowadays, TPB is frequently
applied to organizations’ environmental or sustainable activities.
The survey of Begum et al. (2009) in the construction industry of
Malaysia supports the usability of TPB: contractors that have pos-
itive attitudes toward waste management mostly have satisfactory
behaviors. With TPB framework, Zhang et al. (2013) make an
empirical study in China, and find that perceived attitudes and
social pressure can cause significant and positive influence on en-
terprises’ adoption/development of cleaner production
 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

Table 1
Categories of IS (or EIPs) influencing factors.

Authors Number of Categories of IS (or EIPs) influencing factors

categories

Heeres et al. 5 Technical, economic, informational, organizational, and regulatory/legal

(2004)
Mirata (2004) 5 Technical, political, economic and financial, informational, organizational and motivational
Wu et al. (2005) 3 Structure factors, technology factors, and exterior factors
Van Beers et al. 6 Economics, information availability, organizational and social issues, region-specific issues, regulations, and technical issues.
(2007)
Tudor et al. (2007) 4 (drivers) Financial considerations, the desire/need to increase competitive advantage, “locational” factors, government policies and
4 (limitations) legislation
The potential fragility of the system, vulnerabilities due to material fluctuations, engaging with the firms and the public, attempting
to deliberately design an EIP
Sakr et al. (2011) 5 Creation of symbiotic relationship, information sharing and awareness, financial benefits, organizational structure, and legal and
regulatory framework
Taddeo et al. 5 Level of analysis, geographic and technical requirements, homogeneity/heterogeneity of industries, stakeholders and local
(2012) community involvement, regulatory system
Yu et al. (2014) 5 Institutional activity, technical facilitation, economic and financial enablers, informational activity, and company activity
Madsen et al. 6 Physical/technical, regulatory, resources, collaboration, motivation, and society
(2015)
Golev et al. (2015) 7 Commitment to sustainable development, information, cooperation, technical, regulatory, community, and economic
Notarnicola et al. 5 Technical, economic, information, laws, and the focus of the entrepreneurs on their core business
(2016)
Taddeo et al. 2 or 4 Technical factors and non-technical factors; technical phenomenon, socio-relational, organizational, and cultural issues
(2017)

Note: Underline denotes that the category (or related synonyms) appears at least three times in this table.

technologies, while the effect of PBC was also significant but
negative. Data gathered from 128 Indian cement manufacturing
firms testify the robustness of PTB in exploring factors that can
predict sustainable production intentions, and emphasize the in-
fluences of subjective norms (Luo et al., 2017). Lin et al. (2018) also
confirm the applicability of the TPB framework for investigations of
corporate greening. Their research shows the vital importance of
attitudes: the tour agencies, whose managers have stronger atti-
tudes about corporate social environmental responsibility, are
more likely to promote sustainable business strategies for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
3. Methodologies and main steps
The analytical approach proposed by this paper includes three
steps: proposing a set of influencing factors, collecting data, and
analyzing d (Fig. 1). The methodology of each step is described
below.
In some way, the general framework of Fig. 3 looks similar to the
theoretical framework of Madsen et al. (2015). For instance,
inspired by the latter, we add physical factors (e.g., geographic
conditions and infrastructure) and combine them with technical
factors into one category. The main differences are as follows: first,
the framework of this paper includes “external system” level to
reflect factors beyond “intercompany” level, such as factors about
the governments or third-parties; second, our framework incor-
porate the “employee level” of Madsen et al. (2015) into “intra-
company” level; third, the framework of Fig. 3 replaces the category
“resources” of Madsen et al. (2015) with two categories, economic
and informational factors, which are frequently emphasized by
literature and more explicit.
When proposing specific influencing factors, local companies’
opinions and advices can be regarded as crucial references. A pre-
liminary survey through semi-structured pilot interviews or similar
lines of enquiry is suitable and helpful in this process. To avoid
mutual interference, the researcher can propose promoting factors
and inhibiting factors respectively.

3.1. Proposing a set of influencing factors

In the first step of our analytical approach, the researcher needs
to put forward a set of influencing factors to be analyzed in the
following steps. In this regard, we combine the key elements of TPB
and the frequently used categories of influencing factors extracted
from literature on IS, and proposed six basic categories of influ-
encing factors. These categories have been discussed at the macro
or meso level. When studying the factors affecting the enterprise
level, we think they can still be applicable as basic categories, but
their specific contents need to be adjusted from the perspective of
the enterprises.
IS activities can be implemented at three levelsdindividual
firm, inter-firm, and regional (Liu et al., 2015)dand at each level,
there may be factors that can influence whether a company par-
ticipates in IS. Thus, integrating the three levels and the six basic
categories in Fig. 2, we provide a general framework of factors
influencing enterprises’ IS participation (Fig. 3), which can help
researchers propose specific factors quickly and will be conducive
to reducing the possibility of missing key factors.
3.2. Data collection
Next, the researcher should investigate the enterprises’ views
and attitudes to the aforementioned factors. A five-point Likert
scale (1 ¼ not important; 2 ¼ slightly important; 3 ¼ moderately
important; 4 ¼ important; and 5 ¼ very important) is convenient
for the respondents to indicate the significance level of each factor.
The researcher can design a questionnaire for different types of
enterprises to score each promoting and inhibiting factor.
The types of enterprises that are invited to score depend on the
study purpose. In the following case study, the authors hope to
clarify the factors that have significant influences on different types
of companies, in other words, the promoting and inhibiting factors
that can cause statistically different influence on PCs and NPCs, or
on PWBs and UWBs. Therefore, the scoring enterprises should
include PCs and NPCs, and PCs should contain PWBs and UWBs.
Then, the scores given by each enterprise for each factor and the
enterprise type are the data to be analyzed in the following step.

Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
4 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 1. Flow chart of the analytical approach proposed by this paper

Abbreviation: IEPI¼Influencing enterprises’ participation in IS.

Fig. 2. The basic categories of factors influencing IS development.

Note：The figure beside each arrow from the literature to a factor category means the number of times such category or its near-symptoms appeared in the literature review
(including the paragraphs before Table 1).

3.3. Data analysis differences.

After collecting the data, the researcher needs to select appro-
priate models to analyze the data according to the nature of the
variables (Mathew et al., 2009).
Four models are required to conduct this investigation. Model 1
describes the promoting factors whose influences on PCs and NPCs
have statistical difference. Here, the independent variables are the
scores of promoting factors, and the dependent variable is the en-
terprise type (PCs or NPCs). Model 2 describes the inhibiting factors
exhibiting statistically different influences on PCs and NPCs, while
models 3 and 4, respectively, describe the promoting and inhibiting
factors whose influences on PWBs and UWBs have significant
The dependent variable herein is binary: a company belongs to
either PCs or NPCs; if a company belongs to PCs, it will be either
PWB or UWB (for a certain WB). When the dependent variable is
categorical, logistic regression is an appropriate multivariate sta-
tistical technique (Bucur et al., 2017; Mathew et al., 2009; Suzen
and Doyuran, 2004). In logistic regression, the independent vari-
ables may be either continuous or discrete, or a combination of
both types, and it does not require normal distribution (Lee and
Pradhan, 2007) or homoscedasticity or equal variances (Peeters
et al., 2012; Suzen and Doyuran, 2004; Wang and Guo, 2001).
Thus, binary logistic regression (BLR) was employed to build four
models (Table 2).

Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

Fig. 3. Framework of factors influencing enterprises’ IS participation and examples of each category.

Table 2
The four models for data analysis in this paper.

Model Study purposes Independent Dependent variables Survey

variables respondents

Model To find promoting factors whose influences on PCs and NPCs have statistical difference P1~Pm The enterprise type: PCs and NPCs
1 Y ¼ 1, for PCs; Y ¼ 0, for NPCs
Model To find inhibiting factors whose influences on PCs and NPCs have statistical difference I1~In
2
Model To find promoting factors whose influences on PWPs and UWBs have statistical P1~Pm The enterprise type: PWBs and UWBs
3 difference Y ¼ 1, for PWPs; Y ¼ 0, for
Model To find inhibiting factors whose influences on PWPs and UWBs have statistical I1~In UWBs
4 difference

Note: m and n refer to the number of promoting and inhibiting factors, respectively.

The main components of the four models can all be expressed by VIFs are less than 10), these variables can be retained; otherwise,
the following two equations: variables should continue to be removed. The formula for calcu-
lating the VIF of the jth variable is as follows:
1
P¼ (1) 1
1 þ ez VIFj ¼ ð1  R2j Þ (3)

P X
k
z ¼ ln ¼aþ bj Xj (2)
1P 4. Study area and survey implementation
j¼1

where P is the estimated probability of an event. In models 1 and 2,
P refers to the probability that the enterprise belongs to PCs. In
models 3 and 4, P refers to the probability that the enterprise be-
longs to PWBs. z is the summation of a constant (a) and products of
independent variables (Xj) and their respective coefficients (bj). In
models 1 and 3, Xj is the score of the promoting factor Pj, whereas in
models 2 and 4, Xj is the score of the inhibiting factor Ij. By inputting
the independent variables (scores of factors) and dependent vari-
ables (enterprise type) of each model, the factors that can cause
statistically significant influence on the dependent variables along
with a and bi that can best fit the sample data can be obtained.
To control multicollinearity effects, this study uses the variance
inflation factor (VIF) to test the multicollinearity of the independent
variables. Multicollinearity can be considered severe and a variable
should be removed if its VIF is larger than 10. If there is no signif-
icant multicollinearity between the remaining variables (i.e., all
The study area is TEDA, which is one of the most famous in-
dustrial parks of China known for its remarkable achievements in
both economic development and environmental protection.
Established in 1984 with the approval of the State Council of China,
TEDA was among the first batch of national economic-technological
development zones. Since 1997, when the Chinese government
started a comprehensive appraisal on all national-level develop-
ment zones, it has topped the list (Deloitte, 2017).
In the respect of political regimes, TEDA Administrative Com-
mittee is its government. Like other regions of China, the govern-
ment of TEDA has powerful influences on many local issues, such as
finance, land use, public revenue and investment, industrial
structure, market supervision, state-owned enterprises develop-
ment. This regime is different from both the industrial parks in
developed countries and the parks established by big enterprise
groups.

Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
6 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx

In terms of economic development, TEDA is the largest devel-

opment zone in China. In 2016, TEDA became the first development
zone with a GDP of more than 300 billion yuan. In north China,
TEDA is one of the main gathering areas of advanced manufacturing
and high-end service industries. Today, TEDA has formed nine
leading industrial clusters, that is, electronics, automobiles,
equipment, petrochemicals, food and beverage, biomedicine, new
energy and new materials, aerospace, and modern service in-
dustries (Deloitte, 2017). The proportion of the secondary industry
to the tertiary industry is 70.9:29.1 (TEDA Administrative
Committee, 2017).
As the economy continues to grow rapidly, TEDA also focuses on
environmental protection and emphasizes on green development.
Since the establishment of the ISO14000 National Demonstration
Zone in 2000, TEDA has initiated an ecological transformation.
Today, TEDA’s energy intensity is less than one-fifth of the national
average (TEDA Development and Reform Bureau, 2016b). The Fig. 4. Industry distribution of valid samples obtained in our TEDA case study.
milestones and main achievements of TEDA’s green development
are presented in Table 3.
In 2010, TEDA started a European Union Switch-Asia Project The factors showing significant influences, their average scores
“Implementing Industrial Symbiosis and Environmental Manage- given by different types of enterprises, and their ranks according to
ment System in Tianjin Binhai New Area.” By 2015, 99 groups of WB the average scores are shown in Fig. 5.
exchange have been completed, which reduced waste landfill vol- The results of the four models are as follows.
ume by 981,000 tons and increased income by 158 million yuan
(TEDA Development and Reform Bureau, 2016a). During this proj-
5.1. Model 1 (on the promoting factors with different influences on
ect, a questionnaire survey was conducted for this study. Through
PCs and NPCs)
interviews, meetings, e-mails, and faxes, questionnaires are sent to
the staff (usually those in charge of production or environmental
For Model 1, the significant value in the omnibus tests of model
protection) of the enterprises in TEDA or those in neighboring areas
coefficients is 0.000, showing that this model has statistical sig-
that have IS cooperation with TEDA enterprises. In this survey, 236
nificance. The relevant variables of model 1 are shown in Table 5.
questionnaires were distributed and 110 were recovered. Among
The b value of the P11 (to meet the requirements of environ-
them, 15 were removed due to incompleteness, and finally 95 valid
mental laws and regulations) score is 1.544, indicating that this
questionnaires were remained. The valid samples included 60 PCs
factor has a significant positive influence on the enterprises’ IS
(32 PWBs and 28 UWBs) and 35 NPCs (see Fig. 4).
participation. For the PCs, P11 achieves the highest score, showing
The IS influencing factors in the questionnaire of this case study
that PCs generally believes that complying with environmental
included 22 promoting factors and 18 inhibiting factors, taking into
laws and regulations is the most important factor to drive them
account the relevant literature and suggestions of some companies
toward IS participation, and mandatory requirements are effective
as a reference (Table 4).
means to impel enterprises to implement IS cooperation. Many
scholars have indicated that regulation usually is one of the key
5. Results and discussion drivers of IS establishment and development (Chertow, 2007;
Madsen et al., 2015; Notarnicola et al., 2016; Sakr et al., 2011; Zhang
In this study, there is no VIF larger than 10; thus, all independent et al., 2015). The present study echoes these conclusions. Other
variables of the four models pass the multicollinearity test and studies have argued that overly strict and rigid regulation can
enter the BLR analysis. The BLR is performed through the backward hinder enterprises from participating in IS (Gibbs and Deutz, 2007;
stepwise process using the maximum likelihood estimation Iacondini et al., 2015). This study shows that, at TEDA, regulatory
method with the statistical analysis software, SPSS. This method requirements are still the main driving force for enterprises’ IS
first introduces all variables into the models, and then, based on the participation.
likelihood ratio test results, rejects the variables that do not meet The b value of scores of P10 (to prove the environment man-
the conditions (the condition for rejecting variables is Pout ¼ 0.10). agement capacity through an IS cooperation), P14 (to gain the

Table 3
Milestones and achievements of green development in TEDA.

Milestones and typical achievements Year Related ministries

ISO 14000 National Demonstration Park 2000 Granted by the former State Environmental Protection Administration
Signatory of International Declaration of Clean Production 2002 Witnessed by UNEP
One of China’s Earliest Pilot Zones for CE 2005 Granted by six national ministries
One of China’s Earliest Eco-friendly Industrial Parks 2008 Granted by Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Commerce, and Ministry of Science
and Technology
One of the Demonstration Pilot Zones for the Transformation 2012 Granted by National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Finance
towards CE
A Showcase of CE in China 2012 Granted by National Development and Reform Commission
One of China’s Earliest Pilot Zones for Low-carbon Performance 2013 Granted by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and National Development and
Reform Commission
One of China’s Earliest Demonstrations of Green Industrial Parks 2017 Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Source: TEDA Development and Reform Bureau, 2014; General Office of the MIIT of China, 2017.

Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx
Table 4
IS influencing factors in this study’s questionnaire.
Level Promoting factors
Intra-company P1: To improve the internal environment
level P2: To meet the requirements of an environmental management system, e.g.
ISO 14001
P3: High environmental awareness of the management
P4: High environmental awareness of employees
P5: To meet the environmental requirements of the group corporation
P6: The social responsibility and morality of the company
Inter-company P7: To cut costs and raise productivity
level P8: To make more profits through an IS cooperation
P9: To obtain needed materials through an IS cooperation
P10: To prove the environmental management capacity through IS
cooperation
External system P11: To meet the requirements of environmental laws and regulations
level P12: To obtain government’s license for the company’s other investment
projects
P13: To obtain government’s support for technology development
P14: To gain the financial support for CE from the government
P15: Inspiration from other companies’ successes
P16: Help from coordination bodies such as trade associations
P17: Help from research or consulting organizations
P18: To meet the requirements of consumers and to gain more market
opportunities
P19: Response to the investors
P20: To meet bank requirements to obtain loans
P21: Response to the upstream/downstream of the industry chain
P22: More harmony with local community
financial support for CE from the government), and P20 (to meet
bank requirements to obtain loans) are all negative, showing a
negative correlation between their scores and the probability of the
enterprises’ participation in IS. For PCs, P20 achieves the lowest
score among the 22 promoting factors, and the scores of P10, P14,
and P20 given by the PCs are all lower than those given by the NPCs.
The low scores and their rankings imply that P10, P14, and P20 are
not sufficient to effectively facilitate enterprises’ IS participation.
This may be related to the fact that the government still provides
little financial support for IS projects, that banks have not sanc-
tioned loans to enterprises associated with IS, and that most en-
terprises do not expect to improve their environmental
management ability through IS cooperation.
5.2. Model 2(on the inhibiting factors with different influences on
PCs and NPCs)
Model 2 is also of statistical significance as the significant value
in the omnibus tests of model coefficients equals 0.000. The rele-
vant variables of model 2 are shown in Table 6.
The b value of I3 (geographic disadvantages) score is 0.730,
indicating higher probabilities of being NPCs than being PCs for the
enterprises that give high scores to this factor. This is probably
because PCs often do not have obvious geographic restrictions or
have already found ways to address such limitations. Proper
geographical location can help enterprises reduce the cost of ma-
terial transportation and also facilitate communication between
enterprises. Geographic proximity is often seen as an advantage for
establishing IS (Chertow, 2000; Jensen et al., 2011; Taddeo et al.,
2012), and it is found that close membership distance has a sig-
nificant impact on the stability of China’s eco-industrial system
(Duan et al., 2006). Although geographic proximity is not a suffi-
cient condition for an IS cooperation, for example, companies may
Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
7
Inhibiting factors
I1: Lack of IS awareness in the management
I2: Lack of relevant technology or administrative capacity
I3: Geographic disadvantages
I4: Too low rate of return on investment
I5: Too high start-up capital
I6: Lack of financing channel
I7: Lack of information sharing mechanism
I8: Lack of key technologies or equipment to finish the exchange
I9: Risk of independence and flexibility decline
I10: Worry about the leakage of intellectual properties or trade secrets
I11: Difficulties in finding potential partners
I12: Uncertainty in the quality or quantity of WBs
I13: Difficulties in reaching agreements on prices and cooperation form
I14: Lack of mandatory requirement in current laws or regulations
I15: Lack of policy support from the government
I16: Lack of reliable support from coordination agencies such as trade
associations
I17: The public’s distrust of the recycled products
I18: Barriers in regulations or local policies
choose more distant but more credible WB suppliers (Velenturf,
2016) and WB exchanges may occur between distant port cities
(Cerceau et al., 2014), it is still confirmed by this study that in TEDA,
adverse site conditions have significant hindering effects on NPCs.
The b value of I12 (uncertainty in the quality or quantity of WBs)
score is 0.545, and PCs generally pay more attention to this factor
than NPCs. For NCPs, I12 is the lowest scoring factor. It is easy to
understand: the uncertainty of quality or quantity of WB will
damage the stability of production; therefore, PCs should take I12
seriously, while NPCs do not face this risk and obviously do not
need to think highly of this factor. It is consistent with related
studies that material fluctuations or the volatility of the WBs may
cause vulnerabilities to IS (Li et al., 2017; Tudor et al., 2007). In
TEDA, there really are such cases: a foreign enterprise used a by-
product of a power plant, desulfurization gypsum (DG), to pro-
duce gypsum board, and the quality stability of DG is the key to this
IS cooperation. This gypsum board producer sends employees to
the power plant to assist in the desulfurization process to ensure
the quality of DG and maintain the stability of IS cooperation.
5.3. Model 3 (on the promoting factors with different influences on
PWBs and UWBs)
For Model 3, the significant value in the omnibus tests of model
coefficients equals 0.040, showing that this model is of statistical
significance. The relevant variables of model 3 are shown in Table 7.
The b value of P2 (to meet the requirements of an environmental
management system, e.g., ISO 14001) score is 1.835. The scores
given by PWBs are significantly higher than those given by UWBs
(for UWBs, P2 ranks second from the bottom among the 22 pro-
moting factors). This is because UWBs generally have less waste
that needs treatment and face less pressure from environmental
management systems.
8 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 5. Factors that have significant influences and their average scores and ranks. Notes: “AS PCs” is the average score of this factor given by PCs, “AS NPCs” is the average score of
this factor given by NPCs, “AS PWBs” is the average score of this factor given by PWBs, “AS UWBs” is the average score of this factor given by UWBs, “R PCs” refers to the rank
according to PCs, “R NPCs” is the rank according to NPCs, “R PWBs” is the rank according to PWBs, and “R UWBs” is the rank according to UWBs. Factors with higher scores are
ranked higher and assigned a lower rank number.

Table 5 Table 6
Variables with coefficients and test statistics of model 1. Variables with coefficients and test statistics of model 2.

Variables b S.E. Wald Df Sig. Exp (b) Variable b S.E. Wald Df Sig. Exp (b)

P10 1.572 0.600 6.860 1 0.009 0.208 N3 0.730 0.337 4.694 1 0.030 0.482
P11 1.544 0.638 5.851 1 0.016 4.684 N12 0.545 0.262 4.331 1 0.037 1.724
P14 1.476 0.663 4.958 1 0.026 0.229 a 0.586 1.258 0.217 1 0.641 0.556
P20 0.905 0.362 6.239 1 0.012 0.405
Note: the meanings of b, S.E, Wald, Df, Sig., and Exp (b) are the same with those in
a 0.144 1.587 0.008 1 0.928 0.866
Table 5.
b ¼ coefficient; S.E. ¼ standard error; Wald ¼ Wald chi-square values; Df ¼ degrees
of freedom; Sig. ¼ significance values; Exp (b) ¼ exponential value of b.
usually regard the WBs received from PWBs as needed resources,
such as raw materials, while PWBs often regard the IS exchange as a
The b value of P9 (to obtain needed materials through an IS treatment means of the WBs. Similarly, the b value of P18 (to meet
cooperation) score is 1.464. For the PWBs, the average score of P9 the requirements of consumers and to obtain more market op-
only ranks 20th among the 22 promoting factors, while for the portunities) score is also negative. Its average score ranks only 19th
UWBs, it ranks second. A reasonable explanation is that UWBs

Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx 9

Table 7 conservation and solid waste reclamation. I18 (barriers in regula-

Variables with coefficients and test statistics of model 3.
Variable b value S.E. Wald Df Sig.
P2 1.835 0.607 9.129 1 0.003
P9 1.464 0.473 9.595 1 0.002
P18 1.324 0.602 4.834 1 0.028
a 0.568 1.935 0.086 1 0.769
Note: the meanings of b, S.E, Wald, Df, Sig., and Exp (b) are the same with those in
Table 5.
for the PWBs, implying that, at present, consumers and market
have not yet generated sufficient incentive for waste producers of
TEDA to participate in IS.
5.4. Model 4 (on the inhibiting factors with different influences on
PWBs and UWBs)
Model 4 also exhibits statistical significance, as the significant
value in the omnibus tests of model coefficients equals 0.000. The
variables of model 4 are shown in Table 8.
The b value of I1 (lack of IS awareness in the management) score
is 1.673. PWBs generally attached higher importance to I1 than to
UWBs (for PWBs, I1 achieves the second highest average score). The
reason may be that the management of UWBs generally un-
derstands that IS is an important means to obtain necessary ma-
terials, and thus, has high awareness regarding IS. However, for
PWBs, their WB treatment generally have multiple options, and
often, IS is not a part of their mainstream business. Once the
management lacks IS awareness, PWBs easily adopt other ways to
manage WBs instead of participating in IS. This finding is consistent
with Notarnicola’s study (2016) in Italy.
The b value of I10 (worry about the leakage of intellectual
properties or trade secrets) score is also positive. For PWBs, the
composition, amount, and variations of their WBs may leak intel-
lectual properties or trade secrets. In this regard, UWBs obviously
bear less risk than PWBs. Besides, this result may also be related to
TEDA’s high proportion of foreign-funded enterprises and multi-
national companies in PWBs, which generally have strong aware-
ness for protecting intellectual properties and trade secrets. At
TEDA, there are, indeed, examples of foreign-invested biotech
companies rejecting IS cooperation because of the fear of leakage of
intellectual properties.
The b values of I12, I13, I15, I16, and I18 scores are all negative,
indicating that UWBs generally are more affected by these factors
than PWBs. In particular, I15 (lack of policy support from the gov-
ernment) is the most important factor for UWBs, indicating that
favorable policies supporting IS are urgently needed by UWBs,
though the TEDA government has developed some policies to
promote IS and CE (Shi et al., 2010; TEDA Development and Reform
Bureau, 2016b), including subsidies and funds for energy or water
tions or local policies) is the least important factor for PWBs,
Exp (b) implying that current regulations and local policies do not pose
6.267
serious barriers to PWBs, but still place many restrictions on UWBs.
0.231 For instance, representatives of multiple UWBs reported that they
0.266 often cannot receive invoices when purchasing WBs because ac-
1.764 cording to current regulations, PWBs are unable to provide invoices
for exchanged WBs. In such cases, the UWBs are unable to deduct
the input tax, resulting in heavy tax burden.
With regard to I12 (uncertainty in the quality or quantity of
WBs), UWBs usually view the received WBs as raw materials, and
generally, they are more vulnerable to the impact of waste uncer-
tainty than PWBs. In addition, UWBs generally include the IS pro-
jects that acquire WBs into their main businesses, while PWBs do
not (they may not be so eager for IS projects). Therefore, UWBs are
more susceptible to factors such as difficulties in reaching agree-
ments (I13), and hence place more emphasis on coordination
bodies’ support (I16).
Madsen et al. (2015) conclude that “important barriers for
realizing IS-exchanges that can be influenced by companies are
mainly related to a lack of resources,” for example, money, tech-
nologies, and collaborative issues. The factors above with negative b
values show that lack of such resources impacts UWBs more than
PWBs. This may be attributed to the fact that China’s producer re-
sponsibility system has not been effectively implemented, that the
PWBs’ environmental responsibilities need to be improved, and
that the economic strength of TEDA’s UWBs is often weaker than
that of PWBs.
6. Conclusions and implications
If there is no active enterprise participation, there is no possi-
bility of IS development. However, current research on IS influ-
encing factors focuses mainly at the macro or meso level, and little
has been studied regarding enterprises at the micro level. There-
fore, the present study proposed an analytical approach to deter-
mine the factors that have a significant influence on whether a
company participates in IS. This approach collects enterprises’
views and attitudes on potential promoting and inhibiting factors
through a questionnaire and carries out quantitative analysis using
models based on BLR.
A case study was conducted at TEDA, a famous EIP in China. The
results indicate that this approach is useful to reflect enterprises’
opinions and investigate the influencing factors of IS participation
for different types of companies. With this approach, this study
identifies the promoting and inhibiting factors whose influences on
PCs and NPCs, or on PWBs and UWBs, have a statistical difference.
Our research will augment knowledge on IS and help other re-
searchers discover more about IS in their particular areas of
interest.
6.1. Implications for theory

Table 8 First, this paper contributes directly to the body of knowledge

Variables with coefficients and test statistics of model 4.
on the influencing factors of IS development. According to Whetten
Variable b value S.E. Wald Df Sig. Exp (b) (1989), the key elements of theory development of a research are
I1 1.673 0.645 6.733 1 0.009 5.328 What、How、Why. This paper identifies what factors will promote
I10 2.494 0.895 7.768 1 0.005 12.110 and what factors can inhibit four types of enterprises’ IS partici-
I12 1.150 0.563 4.171 1 0.041 0.317 pation respectively in the case study. And the results of the logistic
I13 1.336 0.642 4.326 1 0.038 0.263
regression can indicate how different are these factors’ influences
I15 2.838 1.099 6.664 1 0.010 0.059
I16 2.406 0.909 7.007 1 0.008 11.093 on PCs and NPCs, or on PWBs and UWBs. The discussion section
I18 1.614 0.584 7.629 1 0.006 0.199 analyzes or speculates the reason of these differences to some
a 6.027 2.944 4.192 1 0.041 414.372 extent. The above contents are also related with the driving
Note: the meanings of b, S.E, Wald, Df, Sig., and Exp (b) are the same with those in mechanisms, evolution and development of IS, which belong to the
Table 5. four focuses in the field of IS research (Huang et al., 2019).

Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
10 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx
Second, we echoes and extends CP studies in some sense. The
core topic of this journal is CP, which traditionally focuses on in-
dividual enterprises (Baas, 1998). But sometimes, it is too difficult
for a firm to reduce all the wastes by itself (Liu et al., 2015), and
waste exchange with other firms may be cost-effective. Thus, IS can
be regarded as an essential way of CP at the inter-firm, industrial
cluster or industrial park level. Lack of economic incentive policies
and lax environmental enforcement was identified as top barriers
to CP adoption by Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (Shi
et al., 2008). This paper find that these barriers also exist in “inter-
firm CP”, i.e., IS, but they mainly affect UWBs and PWBs
respectively.
Moreover this paper has implications for TPB. First, it indicates
the applicability of TPB, as the factors fined in our case study all
belong to the key elements of TPB. But the results also have dis-
tinctions. Early researches often conclude that subjective norms are
weaker than attitude when predicting intentions and actions
(Ajzen, 1991). While in our case study, P11 (to meet the re-
quirements of environmental laws and regulations) is the most
significant promoting factor for PCs, and I15 (lack of policy support
from the government) is the most significant barrier for UWBs.
They are all belonging to subjective norms. Our results are similar
with those of Luo et al. (2017) in India and Zhang et al. (2013) in
China. They report that the direct effect of subjective norms on
sustainable production and CP behavior intentions are higher than
attitude and PBC. Our work reveals the need to exploring whether it
is a normal that subjective norms are more significant for organi-
zations’ environmental activities in developing regions.
6.2. Implications for practice
For companies with intentions to participate in IS or to initiate IS
projects, this paper indicates that, they should judge what types
they belong to first, and then act according to the influencing fac-
tors of their types. For instance, I1 (lack of IS awareness in the
management) is a significant barrier for PWBs. If a company be-
longs to PWBs, it should improve the IS awareness in their
management.
Furthermore, our findings show that, companies should act not
only according to the influencing factors of their types, but also
according to the influencing factors of their IS partners. For PWBs,
this paper reveals that their partners, UWBs, are often inhibited by
I12 (Uncertainty in the quality or quantity of WBs). Thus, PWBs
need to take measures to maintain the stability of their WBs. And
UWBs should also consider the influencing factors of PWBs. For
instance, we find that I10 (worry about the leakage of intellectual
properties or trade secrets) is a significant barrier for PWBs.
Therefore, UWBs should take measures to help PWBs dispel their
concerns (e.g. signing confidentiality agreements to prevent secret
leakage).
For the legislators, policy-makers and administrators of China,
this paper explores the promoting factors and inhibiting factors
with significantly different influences on PCs and NPCs, or on PWBs
and UWBs, so they should improve the laws, policies and admin-
istrations according to the factors to accelerate IS development in
China. To this end, we make the follows suggestions for them,
which may be more accurate and more effective than the old
version of the same tone for different types of companies.
(1) Strengthening regulations: Intensifying restrictions on PWBs
and increasing costs of illegal activities
This study shows that mandatory provisions are an effective
factor to promote the implementation of IS among enterprises. At
present, there are several issues in China’s current regulations that
Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
restrict IS development. First, the current regulations on pollution
reduction and resource conservation are generally relaxed, coupled
with lax enforcement in some areas, enabling companies to
discharge waste illegally. Central environmental protection in-
spections and the National People’s Congress Standing Committee’s
law enforcement inspections have found a large number of such
phenomena (Kou, 2018; Zhang, 2017a; Zhang et al., 2017). The low
cost of illegal discharge greatly reduces PWBs’ enthusiasm of
implementing IS. Second, China has no special regulation for IS (Yu
et al., 2015). Only a few provisions related to IS are in relevant
regulations, but the mandatory is seriously inadequate. “Cleaner
Production Promotion Law” stipulates that enterprises shall “recycle
the … solid waste, waste heat independently or transfer such waste
to other qualified enterprises”, but without punishment mecha-
nism. Third, some measures conducive to IS development lack
high-level legal support, which has weakened their effect.
Therefore, this study proposes strengthening of regulations as
early as possible. First, the cost of pollution emission and resource
consumption, especially the cost of such illegal activities should be
substantially increased to force PWBs to actively seek utilization
approach of WBs. Second, IS-related regulations should be strictly
enforced and get more compulsory. Third, high-level regulations
for measures such as pollution cap system and extended producer
responsibility, which can promote IS powerfully, should be
formulated.
In addition, consumers and markets can push PWBs to recycle
WBs. However, our survey reveals that this role needs to be
improved. We suggest that the demand should be raised for the
enterprises to disclose their environmental information, and green
labels can be granted to both PWBs and UWBs in IS that have
successfully performed recycling of WBs, so that consumers and the
market can exert greater influence.
(2) Improving the economic incentive system: Increasing sup-
port for UWBs and reducing their economic costs
The significant barriers found in this study such as lack of
favorable policies indicate that the economic incentives for IS par-
ticipants, especially the support for UWBs, are too weak. A series of
reforms should be taken. When using the special funds for CE, the
government should increase financial support to the UWBs. On the
tax front, it is necessary to modify the rules that are not conducive
to IS. For example, PWBs should be allowed to issue invoices for the
sales of WBs, or UWBs should be able to deduct input taxes in other
ways. The tax discounts for IS participants should be augmented
based on their environmental benefits, especially those for small-
and medium-sized UWBs. The tax amounts of pollutants and non-
renewable resources should be increased. In addition, the pricing
mechanism must fully reflect the resource scarcity and cost of
environmental damage. The prices of non-renewable resources and
their products should be raised, which will enhance the competi-
tiveness of recycled products. For enterprises that consume energy
or water beyond standards, the punitive price of fresh water and
electricity need further increment.
(3) Vigorously boosting coordination agencies and their network
construction
Worry about the leakage of intellectual properties or trade se-
crets is a significant hindrance for PWBs, while difficulties in
reaching agreements often plague UWBs. These issues indicate that
IS development needs coordination very much. According to
Heeres et al. (2004), in Dutch EIPs, local entrepreneurs’/employers’
associations act as effective coordination platforms. At TEDA, there
is a famous coordination body, TEDA Eco-center (Wang et al., 2017;
 Y. Ji et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production xxx (xxxx) xxx
Yu et al., 2014), which has catalyzed hundreds of IS exchanges and
technology transfers. However, the present study suggests that IS
coordination agencies should step up.
Not only as a communication bridge, the coordination agencies
can also take part in an IS agreement as a third party. When an
enterprise refuses to participate in IS due to concern about the
leakage of intellectual properties, the coordination agencies can
assume the role of secret keeping and information screening for
both parties according to their agreement. Besides, the coordinator
can, to some extent, serve as a supervisor on the implementation of
IS agreement, which will be conducive to IS stability. Furthermore,
with several expert coordination bodies as hubs, relevant govern-
ment sectors, scientific institutions, and financial groups should be
organized into a coordination network, which can provide more
support in terms of information, technology, policy, and fund for IS
participants (especially UWBs).
(4) Fully integrating developing IS into the planning and
administrative system
IS promotion requires preventing and overcoming a series of
barriers and increasing a series of supplies for different types of
enterprises, which must be system-engineered and not fragmented
or temporary measures. Therefore, IS development should be fully
integrated into the planning and administrative system.
For newly established industrial parks, the IS network should be
included in their plans. The ecological industrial chains (EICs)
should be considered an important basis to determine the spatial
layout of the parks, and space for future IS projects should be
reserved. Besides, suitable “3R” (reduce, reuse, and recycle) ways of
main WBs should be suggested in plans. For existing industrial
parks, the establishment and extension of EICs should be treated as
starting points in attracting investment and spatial layout optimi-
zation. Governments should constantly improve their control
ability on WB flows, and raise the initiative of enterprises to
participate in IS through strict supervisions, especially for PWBs,
and enthusiastic services, especially for UWBs.
This paper has limitations which warrant consideration. First,
the survey is implemented only in TEDA, while the implications and
suggestions are based on this case study. TEDA is a “planned plus
facilitated EIP” (Yu et al., 2014), which can be regarded as repre-
sentative to a certain extent in China, but different with the parks in
other countries, especially the self-organized EIPs in Europe and
North America. So probably the implications and suggestions are
not applicable elsewhere, and further researches are needed in
other regions. Second, the number of valid samples is not so big. If
future studies get sufficient samples, further questions or as-
sumptions can be examined, such as the differences between the
industrial sectors.
Acknowledgments
This research is supported by National Key R&D Program of
China (2018YFC1903604) and Tianjin Natural Science Foundation
(13JCQNJC08300). The authors express sincere thanks to the
handling editor and the reviewers for their comments and sug-
gestions. We are also grateful to the staff of the Environmental
Protection Bureau and Eco-center of TEDA (especially Yuyan Song,
and Guoguo Liu), and related enterprises for their help and coop-
eration in our survey. This paper also benefits from the advice of Dr.
Han Shi (City University of Hong Kong) and Lei Shi (Tsinghua
University).
Please cite this article as: Ji, Y et al., Which factors promote or inhibit enterprises’ participation in industrial symbiosis? An analytical approach
and a case study in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118600
11
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