IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jincot/v22y2022i2d10.1007_s10842-022-00384-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green Alliances: Are They Beneficial when Regulated Firms are Asymmetric?

Author

Listed:
  • John C. Strandholm

    (University of South Carolina Upstate)

  • Ana Espinola-Arredondo

    (Washington State University)

  • Felix Munoz-Garcia

    (Washington State University)

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the collaboration between an environmental group (EG) and polluting firms when they are asymmetric in their abatement costs. We find that, as firms become more asymmetric, the EG collaborates more with the firm suffering from an abatement cost disadvantage, but this additional collaboration does not overcome firms’ cost asymmetry, producing an overall decrease in total abatement and an increase in total emissions. We also evaluate the welfare effects of introducing an EG and/or a regulator, finding that the latter generally yields larger welfare gains than the former when neither are present. Unlike previous studies, we show that the welfare benefit from a second agent is, under most settings, largest when firms are more asymmetric in their abatement costs.

Suggested Citation

  • John C. Strandholm & Ana Espinola-Arredondo & Felix Munoz-Garcia, 2022. "Green Alliances: Are They Beneficial when Regulated Firms are Asymmetric?," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 145-178, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jincot:v:22:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10842-022-00384-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10842-022-00384-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10842-022-00384-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10842-022-00384-w?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert Innes, 2006. "A Theory of Consumer Boycotts under Symmetric Information and Imperfect Competition," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(511), pages 355-381, April.
    2. Rick Harbaugh & John W. Maxwell & Beatrice Roussillon, 2011. "Label Confusion: The Groucho Effect of Uncertain Standards," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(9), pages 1512-1527, February.
    3. Heyes, Anthony G. & Maxwell, John W., 2004. "Private vs. public regulation: political economy of the international environment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 978-996, September.
    4. Edwin R. Stafford & Michael Jay Polonsky & Cathy L. Hartman, 2000. "Environmental NGO–business collaboration and strategic bridging: a case analysis of the Greenpeace–Foron Alliance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 122-135, March.
    5. Riddel, Mary, 2003. "Candidate eco-labeling and senate campaign contributions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 177-194, March.
    6. Carolyn Fischer & Thomas P. Lyon, 2014. "Competing Environmental Labels," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 692-716, September.
    7. Eleni Stathopoulou & Luis Gautier, 2019. "Green Alliances and the Role of Taxation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 74(3), pages 1189-1206, November.
    8. Pim Heijnen, 2013. "Informative advertising by an environmental group," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 108(3), pages 249-272, April.
    9. David P. Baron & Daniel Diermeier, 2007. "Strategic Activism and Nonmarket Strategy," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 599-634, September.
    10. Pim Heijnen & Lambert Schoonbeek, 2008. "Environmental groups in monopolistic markets," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 39(4), pages 379-396, April.
    11. Baron, David P., 2012. "The Industrial Organization of Private Politics," Quarterly Journal of Political Science, now publishers, vol. 7(2), pages 135-174, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Espinola-Arredondo, Ana & Stathopoulou, Eleni & Munoz, Felix, 2019. "Regulators and Environmental Groups: Substitutes or Complements?," Working Papers 2019-1, School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University.
    2. Dorothée Brécard & Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2024. "Information campaigns and ecolabels by environmental NGOs: Effective strategies to eliminate environmentally harmful components?," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-04592469, HAL.
    3. Dorothée Brécard & Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2020. "The market for "harmful component-free" products under pressure from the NGOs," Working Papers halshs-02878337, HAL.
    4. Dorothée Brécard, 2023. "How Corporate–NGO Partnerships Affect Eco-Label Adoption and Diffusion," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 86(1), pages 233-261, October.
    5. Elias Asproudis, 2011. "Revisiting environmental groups and members’ behaviour: budget, size and (im)pure altruism," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 13(2), pages 139-156, June.
    6. Chien‐Ming Chen & Maria J. Montes‐Sancho, 2017. "Do Perceived Operational Impacts Affect the Portfolio of Carbon‐Abatement Technologies?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 235-248, May.
    7. Georgy Egorov & Bård Harstad, 2017. "Private Politics and Public Regulation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(4), pages 1652-1682.
    8. Heijnen, Pim & van der Made, Allard, 2012. "A signaling theory of consumer boycotts," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 404-418.
    9. Krautheim, Sebastian & Verdier, Thierry, 2016. "Offshoring with endogenous NGO activism," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 22-41.
    10. Michela Limardi & Francesca Battista, 2022. "Global Supply Chain Sustainability: the Role of Non-governmental Enforcement Mechanisms," Post-Print halshs-03704334, HAL.
    11. Pio Baake & Helene Naegele, 2017. "Competition between For-Profit and Industry Labels: The Case of Social Labels in the Coffee Market," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1686, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    12. Poret, Sylvaine, 2019. "Label wars: Competition among NGOs as sustainability standard setters," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 1-18.
    13. Sylvaine Poret, 2019. "Corporate–NGO Partnerships through Sustainability Labeling Schemes: Motives and Risks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, May.
    14. Anthony Heyes & Steve Martin, 2018. "Inefficient NGO labels: Strategic proliferation and fragmentation in the market for certification," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(2), pages 206-220, June.
    15. Frank Wijen & Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline, 2019. "Controversy Over Voluntary Environmental Standards: A Socioeconomic Analysis of the Marine Stewardship Council," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-02071504, HAL.
    16. Anthony Heyes & Steve Martin, 2017. "Social Labeling by Competing NGOs: A Model with Multiple Issues and Entry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1800-1813, June.
    17. Li, Yi, 2020. "Competing eco-labels and product market competition," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    18. Michela Limardi & Francesca Battista, 2022. "Global Supply Chain Sustainability: the Role of Non-governmental Enforcement Mechanisms," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-03704334, HAL.
    19. Thomas P. Lyon & John W. Maxwell, 2008. "Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environment: A Theoretical Perspective," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 2(2), pages 240-260, Summer.
    20. David P. Baron & Margaret Neale & Hayagreeva Rao, 2016. "Extending Nonmarket Strategy: Political Economy and the Radical Flank Effect in Private Politics," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(2), pages 105-126, June.

    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:kap:jincot:v:22:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10842-022-00384-w. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://springer.com .

    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.