## 4 Survey Findings
### Drivers and Benefits  
Our survey also investigates the reasons that led companies to join the EMAS scheme, so the causes of company's satisfaction or dissatisfaction on certification were examined. In particular, the gaps between the reasons that led companies to apply for certification and the achieved benefits as a result were investigated. First, drivers and benefits have been divided in three main categories: economic, environmental, and strategic. Then, companies were asked to give a score from 1 to 6 regarding the importance of specific drivers and benefits in the decision to join EMAS. From data analysis, strategic drivers and benefits are the most stimulating for Italian companies than environmental and economics ones. In particular in strategic drivers and benefits, the improvement of image organization and legislative compliance seem to be the most appreciated, whilst the improvement of the relationship with the staff appeared as less important (Table 4). Among environmental drivers and benefits, organizations pay a particular attention to the reduction of waste generation and to the use of resources, raw materials and energy (Table 5). The most important drivers are energy savings and increase in competitiveness, while for benefits, savings in the use of raw materials are the ones with the higher satisfaction (Table 5). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline  & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Strategic Drivers**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Strategic Benefits**} \\ \cline{2-9}  & **Tot** & **P.A.** & **P** & **Gap** & **Tot.** & **P.A.** & **P.** & **Gap** \\ \hline Average score for drivers and benefits & 4.50 & 4.88 & 4.43 & 0.45 & 4.01 & 4.40 & 3.94 & 0.46 \\ Improvement of the organization image & 5.06 & 5.42 & 4.99 & 0.43 & 4.59 & 5.03 & 4.51 & 0.52 \\ Improvement of the relationship with customers/citizens & 4.65 & 5.34 & 4.52 & 0.82 & 3.80 & 4.51 & 3.67 & 0.84 \\ Improvement in relations with staff & 3.98 & 4.37 & 3.91 & 0.46 & 3.44 & 4.02 & 3.33 & 0.67 \\ Improvement of legislative compliance & 4.91 & 5.21 & 4.85 & 0.36 & 4.64 & 5.10 & 4.55 & 0.55 \\ Improvement of the internal organization & 4.53 & 4.91 & 4.46 & 0.45 & 4.18 & 4.42 & 4.13 & 0.29 \\ Incentive to innovation & 4.40 & 5.06 & 4.27 & 0.79 & 3.89 & 4.29 & 3.82 & 0.49 \\ Improvement of access to public funds and call for tenders & 3.99 & 3.83 & 4.03 & \(-\)0.2 & 3.54 & 3.41 & 3.56 & \(-\)0.15 \\ \hline \end{tabular} Source: Author’s elaboration on survey database.  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Strategic drivers and benefits. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline
**Geographical Location** & **Tot \%** & **P.a. \%** & **P. \%** & **Organization Dimensions** & **Tot \%** & **P.a. \%** & **P. \%** \\ \hline North & 63.9 & 78.7 & 61.6 & Large & 18.3 & 12.5 & 19.6 \\ Center & 23.7 & 21.3 & 24.3 & Medium & 34.2 & 30.7 & 35.1 \\ South and Islands & 11.7 & 0 & 14 & Small & 39.5 & 51.1 & 37.7 \\  & & & Micro & 7.3 & 5.7 & 7.7 \\ \hline \end{tabular} Source: Author’s elaboration on survey database. P.a.: Public Administration; P.: Private organizations.  
\end{table} 
Table 2: General information on survey’s population, Public Administrations and Private organizations. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline
**Average Length Registration** & **Tot \%** & **P.a. \%** & **P. \%** \\ \hline \textless{}6 months & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 6–12 months & 5.1 & 11.4 & 3.9 \\ 12–24 months & 13.8 & 34.1 & 9.9 \\ 24–36 months & 14.9 & 10.2 & 15.7 \\ \textgreater{}36 months & 66.3 & 44.3 & 70.5 \\ \hline \end{tabular} Source: Author’s elaboration on survey database. P.a.: Public Administration; P.: Private organizations.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: General information on survey’s population, Public Administrations and Private organizations. A key step to understand the attitude of companies towards the EMAS Regulation relates to the benefits achieved after the implementation of the EMS. An expected benefit not achieved, in fact, could negatively affect the opinion on the certification.