J. Appl. Environ. Biol. Sci., 2(10)523-530, 2012 © 2012, TextRoad Publication ISSN 2090-4274 Journal of Applied Environmental and Biological Sciences www.textroad.com *Corresponding Author: Mahdi Golsefid-Alavi, PO Box. 34185-1416 Qazvin Islamic Azad University (QIAU), Nokhbegan St., Punak, Qazvin, Iran. Tel: (+98)281 3665275-6, E –mail address: Mahdi_golsefid@yahoo.com Evaluation of Success Factors of ISO 14001- Based EMS Implementation and Ranking the Cement Industry Using the TOPSIS Method Hessam Zand Hessami 1 , Mahdi Golsefid-Alavi 2 *, Shahram Madan Shekaf 3 , Reza Kiani Mavi 4 1,4 Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qazvin branch, Islamic Azad University (IAU), Qazvin, Iran 2,3 Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qazvin branch, Islamic Azad University (IAU), Qazvin, Iran ABSTRACT Environmental problems have earned high priority in a growing number of businesses due to market pressures and environmental regulations and green production has become important issue to manufacturers like cement industries.The important factors and sub-factors to the successful implementation of ISO 14001-based environmental management system (EMS) and benefits that can be gained from the implementation were recognized in our study and in this study we used the TOPSIS method, to find out the ranking of critical factors of successful implementation of ISO 14001-based environmental management system (EMS) and corporations in Cement Industry in Iran and the study was accomplished in Iran by experts in cement industries. So, in this article we want to introduce a frame work for assessment of effective implementation ISO 14001-based environmental management system (EMS) that can be useful with internal and external audit process and also the results of this study suggest that the most important critical sub-factors of implementation of ISO 14001 in cement industries in Iran are as follows: top management commitment and support, environmental specialist assistance,environmental legislation, training and awareness, and costs of maintenance and improvement. KEY WORDS: ISO 14001, environmental management system (EMS), Sustainability, TOPSIS, cement industry 1. INTRODUCTION The world consumption of cement is rising at an increasing rate creating significant levels of pollution (Avetisyan, 2008) and recently, there is a growing skepticism among consumers about the validity of “green” product claims (Blengini and Shields, 2010). The issue with environmental destruction has been one of the main problems both social and political in recent times (Da Silva and De Medeiros, 2004) and concerns about the sustainability and the protection of the natural environment have become increasingly significant issues amongst regulators, environmentalists and society in many countries (Ribeiro and Guzman, 2010). Sustainability is a significant issue which has been discussed in recent years and a large number of sustainability reports, exhibiting the increased significance of sustainability issues (La¨nsiluoto and Ja¨rvenpa¨a¨, 2008) andenvironmental management programs were organized to ensure the implementation of the environment friendly concept by employees (Yusoff and Lehman, 2009).So, companies can earn a green passport for a greater market (Baharum and Pitt, 2009) and the use of such environmental management practices presents new needs of information for public organizations and they need information about their environmental impacts and the results of the initiatives that are developed (Ribeiro and Aibar-Guzman, 2010). The environmental management becomes our every day’s care and increasingly numerous people care for the environment we live in (Kralj, 2008) and implementing an EMS can aids corporations improve their performance (Baharum and Pitt, 2009) and also the purpose of the ISO 14001 standard is to guide environmental improvements worldwide through a systematic approach to environmental management (Ann et al., 2006) and ISO 14001 is a systemic requirement directed to changing business processes and procedures (Gonza´lezet al., 2008). This research defines the concept of environmental management systems for the cement industry and in this study we have used TOPSIS method to recognize the most effective criteria of ISO 14001-based environmental management system (EMS) and ranking cement industries in Iran. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 discusses the basics of sustainability, ISO 14001 and its benefits and EMS systems in cement industries, Section 3 discusses the important success factors of ISO 14001 implementation, Section 4 discusses the methodology, Section 6 discuses the study and Section 7 concludes the study. 523