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Topping up or watering down? Sustainable development in the privatized UK water industry

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  • Adrian Cashman
  • Linda Lewis

Abstract

Increasingly in the UK regulators and industries are taking on duties towards sustainable development. Governance procedures, which include regulation, are evolving to accommodate this in a manner that is reflexive of existing institutional structures. Governance provides an organizing framework for ordered rule and collective action, not reliant on coercive sanction. It is characterized by a web of actors from across government, industry and civil society with both intentions and outcomes being negotiated and reinterpreted. With respect to sustainable development this can be seen at work within the regulation of the water sector. This paper, based on a series of interviews situated from within the water industry, investigates whether the formal regulation of the industry helps or hinders the adoption and implementation of sustainable practices. The regulatory structure encourages an approach that mediates relationships through the redefinition of sustainability in econocentric terms, thus losing the richness of the concept. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Adrian Cashman & Linda Lewis, 2007. "Topping up or watering down? Sustainable development in the privatized UK water industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 93-105, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:16:y:2007:i:2:p:93-105
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.472
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrea B. Coulson, 2009. "How should banks govern the environment? Challenging the construction of action versus veto," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 149-161, March.
    2. Massimiliano Agovino & Massimiliano Cerciello & Antonio Garofalo & Loris Landriani & Luigi Lepore, 2021. "Corporate governance and sustainability in water utilities. The effects of decorporatisation in the city of Naples, Italy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 874-890, February.
    3. Marc Spiller & Brian McIntosh & Roger Seaton & Paul Jeffrey, 2015. "Integrating Process and Factor Understanding of Environmental Innovation by Water Utilities," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(6), pages 1979-1993, April.
    4. Carlos Larrinaga-Gonzélez & Vincente Pérez-Chamorro, 2008. "Sustainability Accounting and Accountability in Public Water Companies," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(6), pages 337-343, December.
    5. Blanca L. Delgado‐Márquez & Luis Enrique Pedauga, 2017. "Environmental Behavior and MNEs: A Strategy Pulled by Stakeholder Engagement," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7), pages 927-939, November.

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