Environmental Management : From "Fit" to "Stretch"

Environmental management is a budding discipline that studies the development and shaping of environmental policy in business. This article discusses what progress has been made in theory building in the field of environmental management, and what priorities should be set for future research. The level of ambition of a company with respect to its environmental performance is seen as the result of the following three variables: the coincidence of increased eco-efficiency and market opportunities; the internal structure and culture of the company (including the influence of a number of important actors in it) and the pressure from the immediate and wider social environment to take environmental measures. Research in the field of environmental management can improve our understanding of the conditions under which companies will strive for higher eco-efficiencies. It is argued that such research must concentrate on the interaction of the three variables mentioned above and on how they affect the actions of companies. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

[1]  STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN THE IRISH CHEMICAL/PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY , 1996 .

[2]  J. B. Opschoor,et al.  Towards environmental performance indicators based on the notion of environmental space , 1994 .

[3]  Brian Garrod,et al.  Environmental management and business strategy: Towards a new strategic paradigm , 1996 .

[4]  Julie L. Hass.  ENVIRONMENTAL (‘GREEN’) MANAGEMENT TYPOLOGIES: AN EVALUATION, OPERATIONALIZATION AND EMPIRICAL DEVELOPMENT , 1996 .

[5]  Tor Guimaraes,et al.  Exploring the business benefits of environmental stewardship , 1995 .

[6]  E. Weizsäcker,et al.  Faktor Vier : doppelter Wohlstand - halbierter Naturverbrauch ; der neue Bericht an den Club of Rome , 1997 .

[7]  C. Hutchinson,et al.  Integrating environment policy with business strategy , 1996 .

[8]  Peter James,et al.  Driving Eco-Innovation: A Breakthrough Discipline for Innovation and Sustainability , 1996 .

[9]  Martin Charter,et al.  Greener Marketing : A Responsible Approach to Business , 1992 .

[10]  Anil Menon,et al.  Enviropreneurial Marketing Strategy: The Emergence of Corporate Environmentalism as Market Strategy , 1997 .

[11]  Gabriel G. Crognale.  Environmental management: What ISO 14000 brings to the table , 1995 .

[12]  K. Green,et al.  Towards commercial and environmental excellence: A green portfolio matrix , 1994 .

[13]  Susanne Östlund,et al.  The limits and possibilities in designing the environmentally sustainable firm , 1994 .

[14]  Henry Mintzberg.  Mintzberg on management : inside our strange world of organizations , 1989 .

[15]  David Wallace,et al.  Environmental policy and industrial innovation , 1995 .

[16]  Paul Shrivastava,et al.  Environmental technologies and competitive advantage , 1995 .

[17]  Waldemar Hopfenbeck,et al.  The Green Management Revolution: Lessons in Environmental Excellence , 1993 .

[18]  G. Dosi.  Sources, Procedures, and Microeconomic Effects of Innovation , 1988 .

[19]  Nigel Roome,et al.  Business Strategy, R&D Management and Environmental Imperatives , 1994 .

[20]  A. Campbell,et al.  Corporate strategy: The quest for parenting advantage , 1995 .

[21]  Stuart L. Hart,et al.  Creating sustainable corporations , 1995 .

[22]  C. K. Prahalad,et al.  Competing For the Future : breakthrough strategies for seizing control of your industry and creating the markets of tomorrow , 1994 .

[23]  A. Hoffman.  The importance of fit between individual values and organisational culture in the greening of industry , 1993 .

[24]  L. Preston,et al.  The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications , 1995 .

[25]  Han Brezet,et al.  Ecodesign : a promising approach to sustainable production and consumption , 1997 .

[26]  Taco C. R. van Someren,et al.  Sustainable development and the firm: Organizational innovations and environmental strategy , 1995 .

[27]  R. Freeman.  Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach , 2010 .

[28]  J. Alexander,et al.  Images of Organization , 1988 .

[29]  Lynn Johannson.  Tuning to station wiify on ISO 14000: What's in it for you? , 1995 .

[30]  R. T. Lenz,et al.  Environmental analysis: The applicability of current theory , 1986 .

[31]  O. Williamson.  Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractual Relations , 1979, The Journal of Law and Economics.