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The concept of ‘barriers to entry’ provides a sound basis for interpreting foreign companies' behaviour abroad. It has to be complemented, however, by analysis of both countries' ‘ecological context’— natural settings and social developments linked to, or influenced by, the political debate concerning environmental issues within both countries. The case study of a Swedish forest products company introducing Scandinavian silvicultural methods into Nova Scotia provides clear evidence that entry and long‐term performance have to be interpreted within this framework. La conception de ‘barrières d'entrée’ sert de base solide pour la compréhension du comportement des entre‐prises établies en pays étranger. Elle doit pourtant être complété par une analyse du ‘contexte écologique’ de chaque pays concerné, aussi bien du pays hôte que du pays de provenance de I'entreprise. Cette expression ne déigne pas seulement les conditions naturelles, mais aussi le développement social qui, lié au débat politique et influencé par celui‐ci, concerne des sujets d'environ‐nement dans les deux pays. L'étude de cas d'une entrep‐rise suédoise de bois qui est en train d'introduire des méthodes de silviculture scandinaves en Nouvelle Ecosse démontre très clairement que non seulement son entrée, mais aussi son efficience à long terme ne doit êre inter‐prétée que dans ce cadre.

Concepts and key issues of an ecological modernisation of economic geography. To date, economic geographers have addressed ecological problems only very hesitatingly despite the fact that an “ecologically modernised” economic geography could offer a double chance to the entire discipline. First, because there is a good opportunity to add new value to older, established approaches within the discipline. Second, because there is considerable demand for applied environmental knowledge in politics, economy and society. In our paper we will discuss several new approaches and concepts from within and from outside (economic) geography in order to present a conceptual framework for further research. In particular, we try to outline research topics and questions regarding different but fundamentally inter-connected spatial scales, namely at the macro level (national and international regulation, environmental governance), at the meso level (environmental protection in regional context) and at the micro level (environmental performance of firms).

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Agents of Change: Conceptual considerations on the role of advanced producer services for the environmental performance of manufacturing firms. Recent development of greening in manufacturing firms has created a new market for environmental business services. Beside some reflections on the functional and spatial organization of these advanced producer services, this paper tries to conceptualize the influence of the services on the greening process of industry. Particular aspects of co-producership and interactive learning are discussed