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The Green Onion: a corporate environmental strategy framework

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  • Scott Victor Valentine

Abstract

Since the 1990s, there has been a proliferation of research exploring the benefits of proactive corporate environmental management initiatives. Unfortunately, the absence of a comprehensive, strategic planning framework relegates much of this valuable research to a study of good ideas for making money while operating more sustainably. This paper presents a framework for guiding corporate environmental strategy to bring order to existing observations and allow social scientists to begin the process of ‘orderly control and prediction’. The research is based on modified grounded theory and an extensive literature review pertaining to the benefits of corporate environmental management. The framework has been named the ‘Green Onion’ to highlight the multiple strategic layers of influence uncovered and the importance of retaining resilient outer layers (i.e., stakeholder management) to protect the highly potent core of functional environmental management initiatives (i.e., cost saving initiatives). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

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  • Scott Victor Valentine, 2010. "The Green Onion: a corporate environmental strategy framework," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(5), pages 284-298, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:17:y:2010:i:5:p:284-298
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.217
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    1. Abeer Hassan & Essam Ibrahim, 2012. "Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure: Factors Influencing Companies' Success in Attaining Environmental Awards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 32-46, January.
    2. Lixiang Wang & Weian Li & Lujun Qi, 2020. "Stakeholder Pressures and Corporate Environmental Strategies: A Meta-Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-16, February.
    3. Fabio Neves Puglieri & Rodrigo Salvador & Omar Romero‐Hernandez & Edmundo Escrivão Filho & Cassiano Moro Piekarski & Antonio Carlos de Francisco & Aldo Roberto Ometto, 2022. "Strategic planning oriented to circular business models: A decision framework to promote sustainable development," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 3254-3273, November.
    4. Zhu, Qinghua & Geng, Yong & Sarkis, Joseph, 2016. "Shifting Chinese organizational responses to evolving greening pressures," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 65-74.
    5. Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2014. "Managing Corporate Sustainability and CSR: A Conceptual Framework Combining Values, Strategies and Instruments Contributing to Sustainable Development," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(5), pages 258-271, September.
    6. Seongho Kang & Won‐Moo Hur, 2012. "Investigating the Antecedents of Green Brand Equity: A Sustainable Development Perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(5), pages 306-316, September.
    7. M. Ormazabal & J.M. Sarriegi, 2014. "Environmental Management Evolution: Empirical Evidence from Spain and Italy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 73-88, February.
    8. Lucia Silva‐Gao, 2012. "The Disclosure of Environmental Capital Expenditures: Evidence from the Electric Utility Sector in the USA," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 240-252, July.
    9. Peter Oberhofer & Elmar Fürst, 2013. "Sustainable Development in the Transport Sector: Influencing Environmental Behaviour and Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6), pages 374-389, September.
    10. 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.
    11. Saif Rehman & René Orij & Hashim Khan, 2020. "The search for alignment of board gender diversity, the adoption of environmental management systems, and the association with firm performance in Asian firms," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(5), pages 2161-2175, September.
    12. 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.
    13. Maria Urbaniec, 2014. "Implementation of International Standards for Environmental Management in Visegrad Countries: a Comparative Analysis," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 2(2), pages 65-76.
    14. Helena Forsman, 2013. "Environmental Innovations as a Source of Competitive Advantage or Vice Versa?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 306-320, July.

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