Corporate Environmental Strategy最新文献

Environmental problems in the United States often are marked by adversarial relationships between businesses and government. Adversarial decision-making creates delays and often fails to achieve satisfactory results. Cooperative relationships might enable businesses and governments to better solve pressing environmental problems. In many instances, governments and businesses could achieve “win–win” environmental solutions that were good for the environment and economy. Though people in government and business endorse these approaches, efforts to put such principles into practice have proved difficult. This paper reviews the movement toward greater cooperation in environmental decision-making, showing both advances that have taken place and limits to further progress.

Environmental management systems (EMSs) can differ considerably in the mix of practices and the number of practices adopted by firms. This paper explores the various incentives motivating adoption of different types of practices by a sample of Standard & Poor's 500 firms and provides an explanation for why firms adopt practices selectively. Observable firm characteristics, proxies for the incentives faced by firms, are used to determine the types of firms more likely to adopt certain types of practices. We find that practices, such as having an internal environmental policy, corporate environmental standards and environmental auditing are motivated more strongly by regulatory pressures, while practices such as total quality environmental management and environmental reporting are motivated more strongly by the potential for gaining competitive advantage and improving relations with stakeholders.

Mandatory and voluntary environmental information disclosure has grown dramatically over the past decade. The prevailing view had become that the public has a “right-to-know” the risks they face and that more information would ultimately lead to better societal decision-making. This all changed on September 11, 2001. The concern for homeland security has led to thousands of web pages and documents at public reading rooms being withdrawn. This article reports on a panel discussion with leading environmental information disclosure experts on the change in the transparency landscape post 9-11. Among the questions addressed: Have companies begun to rethink this trend post 9/11? What is the public's “right-to-know”? Does reducing the amount of information available to the public increase or decrease the risk to communities or emergency responders? Will the heightened threat of terrorist use of chemicals put pressure on companies to find alternative chemicals and processes?

Increasingly, global environmental trends such as climate change are impacting human and ecological health and the ability of business to operate. Business needs to act now to limit greenhouse gases and prepare for changes already underway. Business can play a significant part in providing solutions that are profitable for society and business. A select group of leadership companies are already demonstrating this.

The best strategy for business to prepare for a future with more pressing environmental problems and stricter regulations is to be bold and proactive. Partnerships with external organizations are key to helping companies succeed at creating value through sustainable development strategies. The World Resources Institute's Safe Climate, Sound Business Initiative seeks to engage corporate partners in actively developing and implementing solutions to climate change. Through projects such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative and the Green Power Market Development Group, companies are improving profitability even as they lead the trend towards sustainability and address climate change.

Complete disclosure is fundamental to ensuring proper and efficient financial transactions. The call for greater levels of disclosure has been a central theme in the socially responsible investment community. However, in today's world, there are differing approaches to the issue of disclosure. On the one hand, there are calls for more disclosure in the wake of debacles such as that illustrated by Enron Corp. On the other hand, there are concerns about security and the possibility that more disclosure might compromise security. What is needed is the identification and exploration of opportunities where the socially responsible investment community collaborates with other stakeholders with the aim of leveraging environmental information to work for positive societal change. In this effort there is a need for new methodologies, new and more sophisticated models with greater predictive power, and increased emphasis on education for the next generation of business leaders.

This article considers the debate over public policies to promote global corporate responsibility in the United States and in Europe. The debate and the response of policymakers is compared along with an explanation of how Europeans are developing a policy response encouraging corporate social responsibility. Finally, recommendations are made for U.S. policymakers based on encouraging ethical behavior around the world.