IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v9y2000i4p224-238.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organizational response to environmental regulation: punctuated change or autogenesis?

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew King

Abstract

Theory predicts that when faced with threatening new conditions, managers often attempt to preserve the status quo by creating a buffer between the organization and the outside world. This paper presents evidence that in response to new water pollution regulation, managers indeed created buffers of technology and personnel, but in some organizations this very equipment and personnel initiated a process of incremental change that led to better environmental protection, more efficient production, and in a few cases, entirely new product and production strategies. For public policy, this research suggests that environmental regulators should allow companies time and flexibility to learn and experiment. For organizational theory, this research suggests a link between punctuated‐equilibrium models of organizational dynamics (Tushman and Romanelli, 1985) and theories of self‐organizing systems (Drazin and Sandelands, 1992). That is, management may respond to external changes by attempting to preserve the status quo, but in so doing influence internal deep structures that then cause organizations to gradually evolve to different behaviours and shapes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew King, 2000. "Organizational response to environmental regulation: punctuated change or autogenesis?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 224-238, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:9:y:2000:i:4:p:224-238
    DOI: 10.1002/1099-0836(200007/08)9:43.0.CO;2-X
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/1099-0836(200007/08)9:43.0.CO;2-X
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/1099-0836(200007/08)9:43.0.CO;2-X?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Drazin & Lloyd Sandelands, 1992. "Autogenesis: A Perspective on the Process of Organizing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(2), pages 230-249, May.
    2. Minna Halme, 1996. "Shifting Environmental Management Paradigms In Two Finnish Paper Facilities: A Broader View Of Institutional Theory," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 94-105, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Sanjay Patnaik, 2020. "Emissions permit allocation and strategic firm behavior: Evidence from the oil sector in the European Union emissions trading scheme," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 976-995, March.
    2. William L. Smith & Yue Cai Hillon & Yanni Liang, 2019. "Reassessing measures of sustainable firm performance: A consultant's guide to identifying hidden costs in corporate disclosures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 353-365, February.
    3. Anja Schaefer, 2009. "Corporate greening and changing regulatory regimes: the UK water industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 320-333, July.
    4. Nigel James Martin & John Lewis Rice, 2014. "Influencing Clean Energy Laws: an Analysis of Business Stakeholder Engagement," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(7), pages 447-460, November.
    5. López-Gamero, María D. & Claver-Cortés, Enrique & Molina-Azorín, José F., 2009. "Evaluating environmental regulation in Spain using process control and preventive techniques," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 195(2), pages 497-518, June.
    6. Sanjay Sharma, 2001. "Different strokes: regulatory styles and environmental strategy in the North‐American oil and gas industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(6), pages 344-364, November.
    7. James Hine & Lutz Preuss, 2009. "“Society is Out There, Organisation is in Here”: On the Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Held by Different Managerial Groups," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(2), pages 381-393, August.
    8. Anton Shevchenko, 2021. "Do financial penalties for environmental violations facilitate improvements in corporate environmental performance? An empirical investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1723-1734, May.
    9. Gunne Grankvist & Anders Biel, 2007. "The impact of environmental information on professional purchasers' choice of products," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(6), pages 421-429, September.
    10. Dietrich Earnhart & Dylan G. Rassier, 2016. "“Effective regulatory stringency” and firms’ profitability: the effects of effluent limits and government monitoring," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 111-145, October.
    11. Rassier, Dylan G. & Earnhart, Dietrich, 2015. "Effects of environmental regulation on actual and expected profitability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 129-140.
    12. Kanwalroop K. Dhanda & Joseph Sarkis & Dileep G. Dhavale, 2022. "Institutional and stakeholder effects on carbon mitigation strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 782-795, March.
    13. Khaled Elsayed & David Paton, 2009. "The impact of financial performance on environmental policy: does firm life cycle matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(6), pages 397-413, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lu, Jinfeng & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "A system dynamics modelling of entrepreneurship and growth within firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    2. Lichtenstein, Benyamin B. & Dooley, Kevin J. & Lumpkin, G.T., 2006. "Measuring emergence in the dynamics of new venture creation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 153-175, March.
    3. Samet Güner, 2018. "Evaluation of the evolution of green management with a Kuhnian perspective," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 11(2), pages 309-328, September.
    4. Deborah Dougherty & Danielle D. Dunne, 2011. "Organizing Ecologies of Complex Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1214-1223, October.
    5. Robert J. Blomme, 2012. "How Managers Can Conduct Planned Change in Self-organising Systems: Actor Network Theory as a Perspective to Manager¡¯s Actions," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 3(5), pages 9-22, September.
    6. Wolfgang H. Güttel & Stefan Konlechner & Barbara Müller, 2012. "Entscheidungsmuster und Veränderungsarchitekturen in Wandelprozessen: Eine Dynamic Capabilities-Perspektive," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 64(6), pages 630-654, September.
    7. Accard, Philippe, 2015. "Complex hierarchy: The strategic advantages of a trade-off between hierarchical supervision and self-organizing," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 89-103.
    8. Bill McKelvey & Benyamin B. Lichtenstein & Pierpaolo Andriani, 2012. "When organisations and ecosystems interact: toward a law of requisite fractality in firms," International Journal of Complexity in Leadership and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(1/2), pages 104-136.
    9. Cha, Hongryol, 2020. "A paradigm shift in the global strategy of MNEs towards business ecosystems: A research agenda for new theory development," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(3).
    10. Jonathan Levie & Benyamin B. Lichtenstein, 2010. "A Terminal Assessment of Stages Theory: Introducing a Dynamic States Approach to Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(2), pages 317-350, March.
    11. Crawford, G. Christopher & Aguinis, Herman & Lichtenstein, Benyamin & Davidsson, Per & McKelvey, Bill, 2015. "Power law distributions in entrepreneurship: Implications for theory and research," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 696-713.
    12. Todd H. Chiles & Alan D. Meyer & Thomas J. Hench, 2004. "Organizational Emergence: The Origin and Transformation of Branson, Missouri's Musical Theaters," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 499-519, October.
    13. Philip Anderson, 1999. "Perspective: Complexity Theory and Organization Science," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(3), pages 216-232, June.
    14. Ji Li & Ying Zhang & Yanghong Hu & Xiaolong Tao & Wanxing Jiang & Lei Qi, 2018. "Developed market or developing market?: A perspective of institutional theory on multinational enterprises’ diversification and sustainable development with environmental protection," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 858-871, November.
    15. Jain, Sanjay, 2012. "Pragmatic agency in technology standards setting: The case of Ethernet," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1643-1654.
    16. Hongryol Cha & Masaaki Kotabe & Jie Wu, 2023. "Reshaping Internationalization Strategy and Control for Global E-Commerce and Digital Transactions: A Hayekian Perspective," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 161-192, February.
    17. Packard, Mark D., 2017. "Where did interpretivism go in the theory of entrepreneurship?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 536-549.
    18. repec:dau:papers:123456789/13444 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Peter Dobers & Rolf Wolff, 2000. "Competing with ‘soft’ issues – from managing the environment to sustainable business strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 143-150, May.
    20. Trenholm, Susan & Ferlie, Ewan, 2013. "Using complexity theory to analyse the organisational response to resurgent tuberculosis across London," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 229-237.
    21. Sanjay Sharma & Oliver Nguan, 1999. "The biotechnology industry and strategies of biodiversity conservation: The influence of managerial interpretations and risk propensity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 46-61, January.

    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:9:y:2000:i:4:p:224-238. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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.