Voluntary environmental regulation in developing countries: Mexico’s Clean Industry Program

Modeling corporate sustainability strategy

“…The leading reason for firm adoption of sustainable practices is compliance with environmental regulations (63.6%). These results are consistent with the findings of Ruiz-Arredondo et al (2006) and Blackman et al (2007). The results show that national and international regulations drive strategic decisions for sustainable practices.…”

What drives voluntary eco-certification in Mexico?

“…Among the three studies that do not focus on ISO 14001, Blackman et al (2010), analyzes Mexico's Clean Industry program that provides a temporary enforcement amnesty and public recognition for plants that voluntarily submit to an environmental audit and correct all deficiencies it identifies. The authors find that plants fined for regulatory violations were more likely to subsequently join the program, as were plants that were relatively large, trading in overseas markets, and selling to the government.…”

Why Do Firms Engage in National Sustainability Programs and Transparent Sustainability Reporting?

“…For instance, at the firm level, membership into a particular group or category (e.g., national or regional origin) may influence firms to navigate toward safe and responsible harbors of sustainability that peer organizations have already found (Reid and toffel 2009). therefore, to understand the effect of sustainability pressures (and corresponding corporate sustainability actions) within a voluntary context and particular geographic region, we first analyze the pressures associated with complying with a national sustainability program-i.e., Mexico's clean industry Program (Blackman et al 2009;alvarez-larrauri and Fogel 2008). in so doing, we attempt to: (1) identify some of the factors that encourage foreign and domestic firms to seek SD legitimacy through membership in a voluntary program; (2) evaluate if voluntary supranational sustainability programs further increase firm participation into voluntary national sustainability programs; (3) decipher whether or not national environmental programs can be understood as institutional (sociopolitical-relational) entry barriers or legitimization instruments; and (4) ascertain the robust nature of a voluntary compliance program over time and within sub-regions of Mexico.…”