Assessing the impact of environmental management systems on corporate and environmental performance

Abstract

There has been an increase in interest towards corporate activities aimed at reducing or eliminating the waste created during the production, use and/or disposal of the firm's products. Prior research has focused on the need for such activities, while current research tries to identify those components that encourage or discourage such activities. As a result of the introduction of ISO 14001, attention has turned to corporate environmental management systems (EMS). The underlying assumption is that such a system is critical to a firm's ability to reduce waste and pollution while simultaneously improving overall performance. This study evaluates this assumption. Drawing on data provided by a survey of North American managers, their attitudes toward EMS and ISO 14001, this study assesses the relative effects of having a formal but uncertified EMS compared to having a formal, certified system. The results strongly demonstrate that firms in possession of a formal EMS perceive impacts well beyond pollution abatement and see a critical positive impact on many dimensions of operations performance. The results also show that firms having gone through EMS certification experience a greater impact on performance than do firms that have not certified their EMS. Additionally, experience with these systems over time has a greater impact on the selection and use of environmental options. These results demonstrate the need for further investigation into EMS, the environmental options a firm chooses, and the direct and indirect relationships between these systems and performance.

The whole relationship between environmental variables and firm performance: Competitive advantage and firm resources as mediator variables

“…Our findings coincide with those derived from previous research (e.g. Annandale et al, 2004;Melnyk et al, 2003;Zhu and Sarkis, 2004). In fact, Wagner (2005) also demonstrates that high levels of environmental performance are only possible if a firm's environmental management has a proactive technological pollution orientation.…”

“…Environmental management and environmental performance The environmental management literature has shown that the adoption of environmental practices by firms typically leads to or has to do with good environmental performance (e.g. Annandale et al, 2004;Melnyk et al, 2003;Zhu and Sarkis, 2004).…”

“…In our case, we used perception measures because there were no publicly available data on environmental practices in Spain. We considered two groups of items to measure the extent to which firms were proactive in environmental management drawn from different studies (Judge and Douglas, 1998;Klassen and Whybark, 1999;Carmona-Moreno et al, 2004;Melnyk et al, 2003). The first category was related to organizational aspects of environmental management, and the second group was related to technical aspects.…”

“…In fact, different papers have highlighted only partial aspects of the whole relationship. For example, some studies have analyzed the relationship between environmental management and environmental performance (Barla, 2007;Szymanski and Tiwari, 2004;Zhu and Sarkis, 2004); other papers have studied the connection between environmental management and financial performance (Melnyk et al, 2003;Menguc and Ozanne, 2005;Wahba, 2008), or between environmental performance and financial performance (Al-Tuwaijri et al, 2004;Nakao et al, 2007;Wagner, 2005;Wagner et al, 2002); and some previous papers have discussed the relationship between firm resources and financial performance (Aragó n-Correa and Sharma, 2003;Aragó nCorrea et al, 2008;Sharma and Vredenburg, 1998). However, these studies have ignored some mediator variables.…”

Modelling the impact of ISO 14001 on environmental performance: A comparative approach

“…The same kind of debate is repeated in the evaluation of the impacts of the ISO 14001 standard on improvements in environmental performance. While most studies tend to highlight the positive nature of these impacts and the fact that ISO 14001 certification improves environmental performance (Goh Eng et al, 2006;Melnyk et al, 2003;Potoski and Prakash, 2005;Pun and Hui, 2001;Standards Council of Canada, 2000), other studies question these benefits (Barla, 2007;Boiral, 2007;Christmann and Taylor, 2006;King et al, 2005;Welch et al, 2003).…”