Defining operating environmental strategies: programmes and plans within Italian industries

Over the last decades, public opinion, governments and regulators have forced executives of both large and small corporations to improve their environmental performance and, for this reason, to consider the environment as a significant competitive priority. The objective of the paper is twofold, to: design an effective taxonomy of operating environmental strategies; and develop an empirical investigation aimed at testing whether the identified environmental strategies correspond to real strategic behaviours of companies.