Certification of Quality as a Forerunner of Environmental Sustainability Standards Adoption in the Olive Oil Production Industry

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the sectors which is considered to have the greatest impact on the environment. That is particularly true in the area of olive oil production where the concept of sustainability is gaining a major importance not only for administrations and organisations but also for consumers and olive oil producers. This sector has previously focused on the quality management certified by different standards (ISO 9001, ISO 22000, BRC, and IFS); however, these days some interest in environmental responsibility is being shown. This interest goes beyond what is being enforced by the regulations and we can see this by the implementation of environmental standards such as the ISO 14001 within these companies. In this paper, through the analysis of the adoption processes of the ISO 14001 standard by both cooperatives and non-cooperative companies, we can determine their level of involvement in the environmental sustainability of olive oil production in the province of Jaén (Spain), where 20% of the world's production is located. To that effect, we have first studied how many of the 330 companies analysed have adopted the ISO 14001 standard and secondly, qualitative research has been carried out with in-depth interviews involving some of the previously mentioned companies. Results obtained reveal that previous experience of the certification processes ease the adoption of new environmental certifications in such a way that companies which have adopted the ISO 14001 or have stated their intention of doing so possess a high degree of adherence to the ISO 9001 standard. At the same time, they consider that the adoption of that standard makes them more competitive in foreign markets.

Can Environmental Regulation Drive the Environmental Technology Diffusion and Enhance Firms’ Environmental Performance in Developing Countries? Case of Olive Oil Industry in Morocco

“…The contribution of this article to the existing literature on the determinants of the diffusion of ET is relevant for the two following reasons: firstly, the study was conducted in the specific context of an agri-food industry; to date, the large number of empirical studies that have analyzed the determinants of the adoption of (ET) usually focused on 'high-tech' technologies [12]., while the agri-food sector itself has been the subject of limited empirical research. As mentioned in [13,14], the agri-food sector is generally considered as a traditional, labor intensive sector in which the use of advanced technologies is limited. Likewise, very few studies have focused on environmental technological change in the olive oil industry.…”

Standards adoption: A comprehensive multidisciplinary review

“…Expertise also relates to experience with standards in general [ 78 ]. For example, Labella et al [ 79 ] conducted a study among 330 firms in the olive oil production industry in Spain. They find that firms that previously have adopted an environmental management system standard (ISO 14001) will have a higher tendency to adopt a quality management system standard (ISO 9001).…”