IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v1y1992i4p1-12.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Issues in the implementation of proactive environmental strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Sandra Rothenberg
  • James Maxwell
  • Dr Alfred Marcus

Abstract

Management consultants, environmental groups, and industry trade associations have all recently offered guidelines for companies to improve environmental performance.1 The guidelines suggest ways that companies can implement strategic change to move beyond compliance with regulation, assume responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products, and gain public credibility. Much of the advice offered can be useful to managers who are responding to rapidly changing environmental pressures. Nevertheless, implementation of some of the general guidelines could impose undue costs or introduce untoward organisational consequences for certain companies. While mentioned as an issue in the management literature, companies need more systematic advice on how best to tailor these broad guidelines for environmental strategic change to the specific needs and capabilities of their companies. In addition, as many companies are comprised of diverse business units that are sometimes linked together only through financial controls, managers must adapt environmental management programs to unique ‘substructures’ within the firm. These substructures can differ dramatically in their environmental performance and their management capabilities. Elsewhere we have offered a framework for analysing environmental strategies and management programs.2 In this paper, we identify some of the implementation issues that confront companies when they introduce environmental strategic change. We argue that environmental strategies are most effectively implemented when they are consistent with the organisational characteristics and operating context of the company involved. We use Volvo's experience with environmental strategic change to highlight many of the difficulties that companies may encounter when altering their approach to environmental performance. The case illustrates how a company can modify its own strategy and management programs for more effective change. It is an interesting case to study because of the proactive and comprehensive nature of Volvo's environmental strategy and management programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Sandra Rothenberg & James Maxwell & Dr Alfred Marcus, 1992. "Issues in the implementation of proactive environmental strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(4), pages 1-12, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:1:y:1992:i:4:p:1-12
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.3280010402
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3280010402
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.3280010402?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olusola O. Ololade & Palesa P. Rametse, 2018. "Determining factors that enable managers to implement an environmental management system for sustainable construction: A case study in Johannesburg," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1720-1732, December.
    2. Sophie Marquet-Pondeville, 2003. "L'impact de la stratégie environnementale, des pressions perçues des " stakeholders " environnementaux et de l'incertitude perçue de l'environnement écologique sur un système de contrôle de ," Post-Print halshs-00582803, HAL.
    3. Jakeline Serrano‐García & Andrea Bikfalvi & Josep Llach & Juan José Arbeláez‐Toro, 2022. "Capabilities and organisational dimensions conducive to green product innovation: Evidence from Croatian and Spanish manufacturing firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 2767-2785, November.
    4. Frances E. Bowen, 2000. "Environmental visibility: a trigger of green organizational response?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 92-107, March.
    5. Rivera-Camino, Jaime, 2012. "Corporate environmental market responsiveness: A model of individual and organizational drivers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 402-411.
    6. Jobst Conrad, 1995. "Development and results of research on environmental management in Germany," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(2), pages 51-61, April.
    7. Stephen Tinsley, 2002. "EMS models for business strategy development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(6), pages 376-390, November.
    8. Ola Bergström & Peter Dobers, 2000. "Organizing sustainable development: from diffusion to translation," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(4), pages 167-179.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:1:y:1992:i:4:p:1-12. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.