Coherence in process- and product-oriented environmental policies in the car industry: cases of BMW and GM

Abstract The car industry currently faces increasing regulatory pressure to improve both its methods in production and the sustainability of its products. Many car manufacturers have adopted proactive environmental strategies and it is common prac-tice to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) at production facilities. However, the car has an impact on the environment at each stage in its life cycle. The car is considered to be one of the most polluting consumer products. This article investigates how the car industry has dealt with both process-oriented and product-oriented environmental policies and to what extent these two policy concepts have been inte-grated. We have conducted case studies of BMW and GM with interviews at the headquarters of the par-ent companies and with production plants in South Africa to analyse how they attempt to integrate process- and product-oriented strategies. Key words: car industry, process-oriented policy, product-oriented policy, BMW, General Motors (GM).