Environmental Management Performance Research Articles

A Study on the Drivers of Environmental Supply Chain and Relationship Between the Supply Chain Environmental Management and Supply Chain Management Performance

A Study on the Drivers of Environmental Supply Chain and Relationship Between the Supply Chain Environmental Management and Supply Chain Management Performance

An analysis on the relationship between environmental management and firm performance of Chinese textile industry - Focused on Jiangsu province -

An analysis on the relationship between environmental management and firm performance of Chinese textile industry - Focused on Jiangsu province -

Importance of Implementing the Green Economy Concept and Its Impact on Financial Performance of an Enterprise

In the modern business environment, sustainable development is largely achieved through the implementation of the concept of the green economy, both at the global and national as well as at the corporate level. The motive for the application of this concept at the level of enterprise can be found in the numerous benefits and positive business experiences of companies that have already decided to take that step. Although there are different opinions regarding the character and direction of the following relation, it is stated that the most important reason for implementation of this concept is possible positive correlation with achieving financial performances and competitive advantage of the enterprise-implementator. One way of understanding this influence is through monitoring the implementation of environmental strategy, or through monitoring the process of environmental performance and social responsibility performance management.

Proactive environmental management and performance by a controlling family

Purpose– This study examined how proactive environmental management affects firm performance and whether a controlling family moderates this effect. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– The study adopted content analysis to collect data on listed Taiwanese firms and used cross-sectional regression analysis to examine the relationship between proactive environmental management and firm performance as well as the moderating role of a controlling family.Findings– The results indicated that not all types of proactive environmental management are positively associated with firm performance and that a controlling family might be more effective in low-risk proactive environmental management practices.Research limitations/implications– The focus was on the impact of proactive environmental management from the perspective of stockholders. Future research could investigate its impact on other stakeholders as well.Practical implications– The findings might convince managers that the stereotype of an environment-friendly firm – that the more its green initiatives, the less competitive it becomes – may not necessarily be true. Investing in product-focused pollution prevention could increase revenues and improve performance. Even though process-focused pollution prevention is negatively associated with firm performance, companies are not expected to reduce investment in green processes since they are required for the production of environment-friendly products.Originality/value– This study adopted a multi-dimensional approach to reveal how different types of proactive environmental management affect firm performance. The authors used the controlling family as a moderating variable to determine whether it moderates the relationship between proactive environmental management and firm performance.

Urban Environmental Management Performance Assessment by Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Processing (FAHP)

In recent decades, the world’s population growth and concentration in mega cities have caused several environmental, social and economic problems. Environment management audit has always been considered as a major challenge in urban management. Providing an appropriate model for the raters makes their personal judgments routinely minimized and obtains a more realistic assessment of the present situation. Using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Processing and collating it with audit programs can help them to achieve this goal. In the present research study, using stand- ards, the environmental indices have been determined in urban manage- ment and then using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Processing method, the weight and importance level of the indices have been set and the evalua- tion pattern was presented. The present study was conducted with the aim of presenting a model for auditing the environment and one of Tehran’s municipality regions was selected to do a case study. The results showed that the most important problems in the field of environmental manage- ment in a megacity like Tehran are in areas such as transport and traffic management, waste-water installation and solid waste management which have been unsatisfactory in some areas under study. Applying the pro- posed model has provided urban management with the possibility to iden- tify weaknesses of its collection and remove discrepancies by investing in the issue and causing a continuous improvement of the environment in their management zone.

The Relationship between Environmental Management and Economic Performance: A New Model with Accumulated Earnings Ratio

We empirically investigate the relationship between environmental management and economic performance using such data as environmental rating, credit rating, and accumulated earnings ratio of companies listed in the manufacturing sector on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. We performed a path analysis using two types of structural equation modeling: Model A with a terminal economic performance path and Model B with a terminal environmental management path. As a result, we found that Model B has better goodness of fit in the path analysis than does Model A. This is because it is natural to place the economic performance path before the environment management path since companies pursue profits for stockholders. We also confirmed that in Model B, the path from the accumulated earnings rate to environmental management has a significantly negative coefficient. This suggests that two groups of enterprises exist: profit-oriented and environment-oriented companies. Since our results are based on Japanese companies, it is advisable to investigate further to generalize the results worldwide.

Environmental Commitment and Economic Performance – Short‐Term Pain for Long‐Term Gain

ABSTRACTAlthough an increasing number of studies have begun to investigate the relationship between firms' environmental practices and economic performance, one of the issues that have been neglected involves the time lag between environmental investment and economic performance, as well as the tradeoff between short‐term costs and long‐term benefits. By utilizing a sample of publicly listed corporations in Taiwan over the period 1996–2008, we find that the relationship between economic performance and ISO certification is neither strictly negative nor strictly positive, but is instead U shaped. The evidence suggests that, although a firm bears costs for environmental management in the short term, the benefits of environmental management accumulate over time after environmental certification, and a firm benefits from environmental management in the long term. The result also provides an explanation for the mixed evidence on the relationship between proactive environmental strategies and economic performance by documenting a non‐monotonic relationship between environmental management and firm performance. The finding thus implies that government subsidies for ISO certification can be rationalized, since they help firms to overcome the barrier associated with the costs of certification, and encourage them to obtain ISO certification. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Leading by Example: A Model of Organizational Citizenship Behavior for the Environment

AbstractOrganizational citizenship behaviors for the environment (OCBEs), which are based on individual, voluntary and informal initiatives, are increasingly considered as an essential ingredient of corporate greening. Drawing on the emerging literature on this issue, this paper explores the determinants and consequences of managers' OCBEs. A study of 304 managers from the manufacturing sector allowed us to validate a new model of managers' OCBEs based on structural equation modeling. The model shows the role of environmental values and perceived behavioral control (PBC) in the adoption of OCBEs. As expected, the model also shows positive and significant relationships between OCBEs, environmental management practices and performance in this area. The study sheds new light on the impacts of OCBEs and explores the reasons why they can be used to lead by example and to improve environmental performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

A ATUAÇÃO NO MERCADO EXTERNO INFLUENCIA A ESTRATÉGIA DE GESTÃO AMBIENTAL DAS EMPRESAS BRASILEIRAS? UM ESTUDO MULTICASO NA INDÚSTRIA CERÂMICA DE SANTA CATARINA

The general purpose of this case study is to analyze the influence of foreign market performance on environmental management strategies of the largest ceramic companies of Brazil. The fundamental theories discuss the determining aspects of environmental management, with emphasis on the requirements and standards of the foreign market. The foreign market demands that the domestic companies meet their standard of quality in regard to environmental issues and business attitudes. The research was conducted by means of a multi-case study of a qualitative nature by using semi-structured interviews and interpretive analysis. The data was organized in chronological order for both the performance in foreign markets as well as the environmental practices of the companies, with a focus on the strategic vision of the environmental policy of the organizations. Despite the coincidence of the progress of the studied categories (environmental management and foreign market performance) the results of the study do not affirm that environmental strategies of companies have been affected by foreign market performance. Other factors, however, arose as explanations for environmental strategies of the companies, such as Brazilian legislation and globalization, leading to the adoption of better practices to maintain a competitive edge.

Being ‘Green and Competitive’: The Impact of Environmental Actions and Collaborations on Firm Performance

AbstractIn this paper, we seek to enhance the understanding of the link between environmental management and firm performance, so contributing to the debate of being “green and competitive”. Relying on the resource‐based view, we study the effect of different environmental management capabilities on a firm's market and image performance. In particular, we analyze the capabilities to implement product and process‐related environmental actions with different types of environmental focus (materials, energy, pollution) and the capabilities to develop environmental collaborations with different types of actors (both business actors and non‐business actors). To this aim we conducted a survey on 122 Italian companies. Results show that market performance and image performance have partially different antecedents. Specifically, a firm's market performance is positively affected by the capabilities to implement environmental actions with a focus on energy and pollution and to develop environmental collaborations both with business and with non‐business actors. On the other hand, a firm's image performance is positively affected by the capabilities to implement environmental actions with a focus on materials and to develop environmental collaborations with non‐business actors. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Initiatives of Textile Industry Organizations towards Environmental Issues

The textile industry is the subject of many environmental regulations and voluntary and administrative instruments. This tendency, together with the increasing general public interest, determined changes in the management of any company that wishes to fulfil the legislative demand and the demand of reporting. The first objective of this study is to establish in what extent the implementation of an environmental management system has an impact on organisational variables. The second objective is to identify the influence factors for the environmental management performance. The results of the study represent the base of some recommendations for the Romanian textile organisations so that they obtain as many advantages as possible from their strategy of sustainable development. We have used the survey method. We sent a questionnaire and we have received the answers of the 31 representatives in all sectors of the textile industry.

Influence of Corporate Culture on Environmental Management Performance: An Empirical Study of Japanese Firms

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the relationships between the scores of 109 Japanese corporations found in the NIKKEI environmental management ranking survey and the corporate culture of each firm. Corporate culture is measured with the instrument developed by Cameron and Quinn (2006). The instrument measures corporate culture in terms of four categories: clan culture, adhocracy culture, hierarchy culture, and market culture. The results indicate that adhocracy culture has statistically significant positive relationships with the management system, product development, and climate change mitigation aspects of environmental management or sustainability management. Excessive hierarchy culture has a negative relationship with the overall score of environmental management. An appropriate combination of hierarchy culture and adhocracy culture enhances the overall score. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Environmental performance evaluation of implementing EMS (ISO 14001) in the coating industry: case study of a Shanghai coating firm

Abstract The implementation of an Environmental Management System (EMS) ISO 14001 is an instrument for achieving a corporate's sustainable development and therefore is an important tool for environmental management. Due to rapid economic development, the coating industry is increasing rapidly, resulting in several environmental problems. Many coating firms have adopted EMS; however, quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the environmental performance of EMS have rarely been examined in the literature. This paper proposed an environmental performance evaluation system that enables quantitatively assess the effects of EMS in the coating industry. A four-level framework was structured with 74 indicators and sub-indicators according to the context and characteristics of the coating industry. Divided into two aspects, the legislative system and environmental management performance system, these indicators and sub-indicators covered almost every element of ISO 14001. And the evaluation criteria were closely referred to Chinese coating industry standards and cleaner production regulations. Using analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy membership degree analysis, the weight of each indicator was determined, and evaluation results were achieved. Moreover, using a coating firm in Shanghai as a case study, this paper investigated the impacts of EMS implementation in two successive years after the firm was granted an ISO14001 certificate in 2007. The results indicated that the environmental performance of EMS in the coating firm was satisfactory in 2008, and there was an obvious improvement in 2009, which strongly demonstrated that the evaluation model was scientific and practical. Finally, further improvements are proposed from four aspects, including thoroughly identifying environmental factors, encouraging the development of advanced pollution control technologies, sustaining the improvement process of EMS after the initial adoption, and supporting the involvement of software applications.

Can Both Substantive and Symbolic Environmental Management get Paid? - An Empirical Study Based on China Listing Corporation

Starting with the illogical reality that with the improvement of corporate environmental management, the nature environment is getting worse, we empirically studied the relationship between environmental management and corporate financial performance. We choose the listed companies that published social, environmental or sustainable reports during 2010 and 2011 as a study sample. The Spearman correlation was used in SPSS 20. Through content analysis, we found that symbolic approach will benefit the CFP, while substantive approach did not show significant effect.

Green IS

While in the past information technology was mostly seen as a contributor to environmental degradation, recent studies suggest that information systems (IS) can indeed enable sustainable processes, products, and services. Specifically, information systems are expected to create an impact on individual beliefs about environmental sustainability, enable more sustainable work practices through virtualization and remote work, enable organizations to meet compliance imperatives and social norms, or increase resource efficiency. In this context, notions such as energy informatics or green business process management have emerged. The IS discipline is thus challenged to explore the potential of information systems to contribute to the betterment of the natural environment by enabling more sustainable work practices at individual, organizational, and societal levels. This special focus issue invites rigorous studies employing various research designs. The focus is on solution-oriented studies that show how the transformative power of IS can be leveraged in order to lessen our impact on the natural environment, which is under imminent pressure. Prospective studies thus range from the development and testing of new theory that explains how IS can support environmentally friendly behavior to design-oriented studies on the development of solutions for environmental sustainability. At this, we see one specific challenge in understanding how sustainability-related IS phenomena are different to “conventional” areas of investigation, typically focusing on mere economic imperatives including time, cost, and quality. Contributions from research and business practice on the following (and related) topics are invited: Information systems designs for sustainable work practices IT-enabled sustainability transformation The application of IS theories to sustainability-related phenomena Research methods for the investigation of sustainability-related phenomena Information systems and beliefs about environmental sustainability Supply chain management and sustainability Business intelligence and performance management for sustainability Systems approaches towards ITenabled environmental sustainability Sustainability solutions Energy informatics Green business process management 2 Submission

Environmental Management Practices and Performance in Canada

In this paper, a model of the determinants of environmental management practices and the impact of these practices on environmental performance is described and tested using Canadian manufacturing facility-level data. Our results show that Canadian manufacturing facilities have indeed undertaken environmental initiatives as a result of pressures arising from the buyers of their products and corporate headquarters. The relationship between environmental management practices and environmental performance is curvilinear. Increases in environmental performance are observed as the number of environmental practices increases up to an inflection point. Past this inflection point, environmental performance diminishes with further increases in environmental practices. We also find that, across time, facilities with more comprehensive practices continue to see improvements in environmental performance.

Different Shades of Green: Environmental Management in Hotels in Accra

AbstractThis paper assesses the environmental management practices of different categories of hotels in Accra, Ghana. Managers of 200 hotels were surveyed, employing the stratified random sampling method. Results of the study indicate significant differences in the extent of environmental management of the hotels suggesting that the better the quality of a hotel, the better the environmental management performance. Suggestions are made towards improvement in waste management and voluntary environmental programmes in small and medium hotels that did not perform well in those areas of environmental management Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Leveraging Environmental Information Integration to Enable Environmental Management Capability and Performance

Although environmental sustainability has emerged as an important organizational capability to protect the environment and sustain businesses, there is little knowledge on how it is developed. This is of particular importance when environmental management no longer relies solely on an individual firm's efforts, but on its supply chain partners as well. Building on dynamic capabilities theory, environmental information integration (EII) is defined as the organizational capacity of sharing information on environmental management with supply chain partners to facilitate coordination of environmental management practices. This study examines how EII contributes to environmental management capabilities in terms of corporate environmental innovativeness and adaptability. The research model is empirically tested using data collected from 230 firms. The findings show that supplier EII is insufficient in improving environmental management capabilities. Internal EII contributes to corporate environmental adaptability, while customer EII engenders both corporate environmental innovativeness and adaptability. This study suggests that strategic values of EII go beyond the sharing of environmental management information between supply chain partners, simultaneously contributing to the environmental management capabilities of firms. This study contributes substantially to environmental management research by providing empirical evidence on the specific dimensions of EII in supply chains that contribute to environmental management capabilities and business values.

Corporate sustainability reporting and the relations with evaluation and management frameworks: the Portuguese case

This paper assesses how sustainability reporting practices have been adopted in organizations which operate in a Southern European country, Portugal, and how those practices are related with environmental management and evaluation systems. A questionnaire survey was carried out in 2006, involving a statistical population of 69 firms, specifically the member companies of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Portugal, the Portuguese branch of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The questionnaire survey was designed to assess: (i) the use of environmental management systems (EMS) and environmental performance evaluation (EPE) frameworks and (ii) practices connected with environmental and sustainability performance reporting, namely: report formats; regularity; key target audiences; reporting driving forces; guidelines; and future intentions. The results indicate that the environmental management system was a well-accepted environmental management tool. More than half of the companies surveyed had adopted environmental performance evaluation related frameworks. Corporate sustainability reporting was found to be a growing issue in a high number of organizations. Those companies that produce a sustainability/environmental report have an EMS and EPE in place. Most organizations in the study produced annual reports, in accordance with Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Despite the increasing interest among organizations in the adoption of environmental and sustainability measurement and reporting practices, this issue was mainly confined to larger companies. The six Portuguese Small and Medium Enterprises analyzed show a poor environmental management and environmental performance evaluation and sustainability reporting profile. The findings show that they needed to be more engaged with these practices. Specific drivers must be used to enable these directions, including environmental education and raising awareness, since that is the first step toward improving the current scenario of reaching a better sustainable profile.

The mediating role of environmental innovation in the relationship between environmental management and firm performance in a multi-stakeholder environment

Nowadays, firms are increasingly challenged to bridge potentially conflicting economic interests of primary commercial stakeholders and sustainability demands from secondary non-commercial stakeholder groups. While a number of firms view investments in environmental management as disconnected from their value-creating activities, others have reported achieved cost efficiency and differentiation advantages. Prior research suggests that environmental innovation might be the missing link between environmental management and firm performance. However, the mediating effect of environmental innovation in the relationship between environmental management and a firm's performance had not been empirically tested so far. Our paper provides a contribution by conducting an empirical investigation into this possible mediating effect. Although the presumed mediating role of environmental innovation suggests that it is influenced by internal environmental management, environmental innovation literature is especially concerned with the role of external stakeholders in environmental innovation. This study investigates the role of the engagement of stakeholders such as supply chain partners, industry, and public authorities in environmental impact reduction. We hypothesise that environmental innovation positively mediates the relationship between environmental management and firm performance, and that the engagement of stakeholders has a positive impact on environmental innovation. The research model was tested with a variance-based structural equation model using data from 90 Dutch food and beverage firms. The results confirm the positive mediating effect of environmental process innovation on the relationship between environmental management and cost efficiency advantage. Environmental product innovation contributes to a differentiation advantage but it is not significantly influenced by environmental management. So we could not support a positive mediating effect of environmental product innovation on the relationship between environmental management and differentiation advantage. Instead, environmental collaboration with supply chain partners has a strong positive impact on environmental product innovation. It also positively influences environmental process innovation but this influence is much weaker than the influence of internal environmental management. Our findings can assist managers in their decision making regarding the implementation of environmental innovations and environmental collaboration with external parties. The study is also relevant to policy makers as a tool to assess the appropriateness of their policy.