Transition of mining industry toward sustainable value creation in developing countries

Purpose Considering the importance of productivity in the mining industry, the current study seeks to design and develop the productivity model of mining industries, focusing on sustainable value creation. By implementing interests of various stakeholders while considering environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles as a part of the quality and productivity management system, a special productivity assessment model would be in hand, which is adjusted based on the mining industry current status in developing countries and the gap which it should fulfill to get sustainable. With this aim come true, the mining industry will put positive effects on the environment and the enhancement of social welfare. Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive literature review is done, alongside comparing various existed excellence models applied in every corner of the world. The main pros and cons of the existing productivity models are then provided to about 18 academic experts and 82 industrial decision-makers to do benchmarking and diagnose the gaps. Followed by holding about 250 person-hour focus group meetings over a period of about 15 months, the key sustainability success factors are determined to help the mining industry face the volatile environment of the developing countries and creates continuous value. After providing the model and validating it with the application of quantitative and qualitative methods; the model has been implemented as a pilot in a special mining organization and operational defects of it have been identified and fixed. That is why one could say that the developed model in this study is unique. Findings A holistic productivity model of the mining industry is provided. As is depicted in the paper, sustainable value creation has a special position in the developed model. Such value creation would be based on people and their innovation. So, cultural elements of developing countries and their effects have been considered along the path to sustainability. Besides, since the model is at the national level, governance positioning and leadership principles in setting roadmaps toward sustainability are under consideration. Governance could make the technologies of Industry 5.0 be used in an integrated and effective way. Originality/value The originality of this study relies on the fact that the presented productivity model is a comprehensive model which not only considers the issue of sustainable value creation but also pays attention to the cognitive and functional results related to various stakeholders. In addition, the provision of guidelines simplifies the application of the model and makes it possible to set a roadmap toward excellence.