Have Trends in Corporate Environmental Management Influenced Companies' Competitiveness?

Abstract

Corporate environmental management have gradually developed into a more mature discipline during the past two to three decades. Many companies have in varying degrees adopted environmental considerations into their activities to eliminate or reduce the impacts on the natural environment caused by their business activities. The question, howeve, remains whether managers perceives corporate environmental initiatives as a challenge leading to new strategic options, which at the end may influence the competitive situation of a company or whether they just see it asyet another burden? Based on a series of surveys this paper includes findings regarding contemporary trends incorporate implementions of environmental management systems in Danish industry up till the entrance of the new millennium in order to identify if there has been any related effects on the competitiveness.