The authors of this paper will identify the main stakeholders in the energy intensive industry in Sweden. Moreover, this paper will examine in what way these stakeholders affect the environmental strategy of the firm. A case study was performed at Pilkington, a float glass manufacturer in Halmstad. The findings show that government, top management, shareholders and employees represent the main stakeholders influencing the firm’s environmental strategy. The authors of this paper did not find any data supporting NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) as a stakeholder influencing the firm. However, the findings indicate that the firm’s perceptions of stakeholders affect the environmental strategy of the firm. Moreover, this thesis empirically investigates how stakeholders can influence to a more or less proactive or reactive environmental strategy.

Companies in the 21st century are exposed to a variety of pressures to respond to a plethora of environmental issues. Understanding how these issues impact companies over time is, therefore, important for corporate practitioners and policy makers alike. This thesis investigates the state and evolution of corporate environmental strategy with the help of a multi-study, longitudinal research design. Theoretically grounded in complexity theory, a conceptual framework is developed that portrays organisations as open systems within which agents interact and attempt to improve organisational fitness. By conceptualising the organisational metaphor of ‘rugged fitness landscapes’, firms are depicted as complex adaptive systems searching for peaks on a constantly changing fitness landscape in order to guarantee economic long-term profit and survival. While study one examines environmental responses among a stratified sample of UK companies through repeated interviews both in 2006 and 2008, the second study draws on KLD data from S&P500 corporations for the period 1991 to 2006 by distinguishing between changes at firm and at population level. The findings suggest that the state and evolution of corporate environmental strategy are effectively subordinated to contributing towards firms’ fitness, whereby firms mostly attempt to remain profitable and obtain social legitimacy. Even over longer periods of time this behaviour has not changed markedly, except that starting from around 2004 higher levels of oil prices and lower interest rates have spurred more proactive environmental changes among a number of firms. Equally, different motivations, individuals and contextual factors appear to influence the varying patterns of evolution. The thesis fills a gap in the existing literature with respect to the lack of conceptual and empirical contributions about the evolution of corporate environmental strategy by providing new insights into how firms are responding to environmental issues over time and by extending various strands of theory.

<p><p>We started out with a focus on how companies act when considering the environment in business, but the research took us further than that and led us to the root of our research focus. We are discussing aspects pertaining to the relation of society – and business life, and how human beings perceive the connection to nature. Our initial thought was to study business and how companies handle the environmental context, but the social context appeared to us as well with its strong connection to the environment. The master thesis is written with a respect for the environment and with an aspiration to give a sense of the larger context wherein nature and human itself exist. The environment is a complex issue for companies to handle. The benefits of improving the environmental performance are not always clear, which induces companies with insecurity as to what strategic action should be taken. The development of environmental performance over the years has resulted in certain environmental deeds, which have become institutionalized in different industries. What is considered to be ethically acceptable is not easily established, but it is a term companies are facing more often, especially when companies take actions that give them higher influence on society. Every company can claim to be environmentally friendly, at the same time, consumers are skeptical towards these claims, which complicates sincere attempts of environmental improvements. A company’s reality is constructed by people, and the company has to adjust to the demands people have outside and inside the organization. It is people’s perception of the environment that will state the demands of a company. We have studied three companies and how they handle their environmental performance that is determined by the business context, and the perception the interviewees have thereof. In the environmental area of sustainability, ISO-certification is an industry norm that is created, sustainable forestry is another, but we have realized that the environmental area is not balanced. The norms and expectations of society conflict with business and environmental considerations. That is why some companies are hesitant in initiating environmental action, because environmental initiatives cost, as any investment does, and might not give back tangible benefits.</p></p>

The purpose of this thesis is to study how the process of introducing an environmental strategy has led to competitiveness in the Swedish construction industry. Previous research in the area indicated that there was insufficient empirical evidence in the field and this study hopes to increase the empirical understanding for the relation between the concepts.Research conducted was of qualitative nature and the semi-structured interview was used to gather information from Sweden's three largest construction companies. Managers from the environmental department in the three companies were chosen as respondents and their views on the company's environmental strategy was formed and its relation to competitiveness was captured.The results of the study reviled that the companies have not had a clear relation to competitiveness when developing their environmental strategies and consequently have found it hard to differentiate themselves for their competitors. It was also found that the environmental strategy mainly developed through the pressure of external forces and that there was a lack of internal initiative to include elements of competitiveness into the strategy.

We started out with a focus on how companies act when considering the environment in business, but the research took us further than that and led us to the root of our research focus. We are discussing aspects pertaining to the relation of society – and business life, and how human beings perceive the connection to nature. Our initial thought was to study business and how companies handle the environmental context, but the social context appeared to us as well with its strong connection to the environment. The master thesis is written with a respect for the environment and with an aspiration to give a sense of the larger context wherein nature and human itself exist. The environment is a complex issue for companies to handle. The benefits of improving the environmental performance are not always clear, which induces companies with insecurity as to what strategic action should be taken. The development of environmental performance over the years has resulted in certain environmental deeds, which have become institutionalized in different industries. What is considered to be ethically acceptable is not easily established, but it is a term companies are facing more often, especially when companies take actions that give them higher influence on society. Every company can claim to be environmentally friendly, at the same time, consumers are skeptical towards these claims, which complicates sincere attempts of environmental improvements. A company’s reality is constructed by people, and the company has to adjust to the demands people have outside and inside the organization. It is people’s perception of the environment that will state the demands of a company. We have studied three companies and how they handle their environmental performance that is determined by the business context, and the perception the interviewees have thereof. In the environmental area of sustainability, ISO-certification is an industry norm that is created, sustainable forestry is another, but we have realized that the environmental area is not balanced. The norms and expectations of society conflict with business and environmental considerations. That is why some companies are hesitant in initiating environmental action, because environmental initiatives cost, as any investment does, and might not give back tangible benefits.

The importance of environmental protection rises with economic development; ironically, the fact is a result of environmental destruction. In old days, we thought that environmental destruction was unavoidable for developing economy, whereas nowadays we have perceived that the extended cost from destroying environment will eventually come back onto us from the viewpoint of ecological loop system. Human¡¦s social economic activities have been continuously changing with time and technology, which means that there will be relatively new emerging industries and business. New business strategies could lead existing economic activities to new types of economy, and new types of economy could lead to new business operational strategies. Therefore, in the wake of environmentalism is the pressure and new driving force for business operation, causing competitive environmental strategy is an undeniable trend for running business today. This research is based on literary reviews, in-depth interviews, and comparative quantitive analysis to study environmental strategic management under four dimensions, the pressures caused by externl factors, internal resource base, enterprise environmental strategies, and the value and performance of environmental strategy. This thesis expects to identify how Taiwan enterprises develop integrative competitiveness through environmental strategies within organizations. The research findings are as follows: 1.The objective of environmental strategy is sustainable business which is compatible with environment prosperously. 2.Environmental protection and economy cannot stand alone without social equity, and environmental strategy must take people into account. 3.The essence of environmental strategy is the cohesion of people (society), economy, and environment. 4.The triangle framework of environmental strategy, cause-effect diagram of competitive environmental strategy, and green implementation path tree illustrate strategies, methods, and paths for enterprise environmental strategies.

Yes / This article examines the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) proactive environmental strategy on market performance through the mediating mechanism of environmental reputation. In addition, we investigate the potential moderating role of competitive strategies on the environmental reputation-market performance nexus. Data were collected from 223 SMEs. Using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the results show that a proactive environmental strategy positively enhances environmental reputation. Also, the influence of proactively environmental strategy on market performance is mediated by environmental reputation. In addition, our findings show the relationship between environmental reputation and market performance is greater for firms that adopt the differentiation strategy but not significant for firms adopting the low-cost and integrated strategies. Our study offers several theoretical and practical implications.

Process based approaches to environmentally sustainable logistics performancemanagement are lacking within organizations that buy logistics services (buyers) and thatsell logistics services (LSPs), which puts a damper on environmentally sustainablelogistics performance. Organizations understand the potential of environmentallysustainable logistics performance management, but they seems unable to developeffective management processes and accurate environmentally sustainable logisticsmetrics. An environmentally sustainable logistics performance management process(ESLPM process) is one way for an organization to manage its performance in line withits environmental strategy and overall environmental targets.The purpose of this thesis is to adapt the logistics performance management process toinclude environmental sustainability. The first research question is about thecharacteristics for including environmentally sustainable logistics in the logisticsperformance management process. Characteristics that need to be included in the logisticsperformance management process must be identified in order to illustrate the process, inorder to improve the environmental performance. Moreover, by identifying thecharacteristics of the process activities, it is possible to compare how the characteristicsof the process are similar and/or different between organizations. The performancemanagement process can only be used successfully if the strategy is closely aligned tosome process activities being implemented; this motivates the second research question,which is how the ESLPM process can be expanded to measure alignment.The method used to collect empirical data is primarily interviews in eight multiple-casestudies of four organizations buying logistics services and four organizations sellinglogistics services. The frame of reference is based on the inclusion of environmentalsustainability characteristics in the logistics performance management process and thealignment between process and strategy as well as within processes. The results include a description of an ESLPM process that contains five activities withseventeen characteristics for managing environmentally sustainable logistics. Specificcontexts of eight organizations, like type (private, public, or private/public) and size(small, medium, or large) and their influence and implications concerning the ESLPMprocess are discussed and presented. The matching between the theoretical ESLPMprocess (based on the frame of reference) and the empirical ESLPM process is presentedand then compared within the eight organizations, resulting in a modified ESLPM processwith twenty characteristics. The results shows that the use of an ESLPM process is stillin beginning stages and is not done in a structured manner; in particular, the organizationsfind it difficult to establish appropriate ESLP metrics, to define the ESLP metrics, to setaccurate ESLP targets, and to collect and measure the ESLP metrics.Results from measuring level of alignment include theoretical measurement models fortwo types of alignment, a model for measuring alignment between process and strategy,as well as a model for measuring alignment within a process. The two theoretical modelscontain different aspects that measure alignment on three different levels (high, medium,low). These models are tested within each organization, and the results from measuringlevel of alignment per organization is used to evaluate the two theoretical models,resulting in modified models for measuring alignment.The results lead to increased understanding of how type and size influence thecharacteristics of the ESLPM process and the level of alignment. The results also contribute to the literature on environmentally sustainable logistics performancemanagement and the alignment both between process and strategy as well as within theESLPM process. The result can be used by organizations selling and buying logisticsservices to improve their environmentally sustainable logistics performance.

<p>This paper aims to examine how the driving forces of the Swedish CNG market have impacted OKQ8’s strategies. This has been conducted through the four drivers’ coercive-, market-, resource- and social drivers. The papers conclusion is that all drivers impact on OKQ8’s strategy but that coercive drivers have the most significant impact on the CNG market and OKQ8’s strategy. OKQ8’s decision to establish a cooperation together with E.ON was smart decision since they minimized their own ambiguity in this market that depends on governmental policies and incentives.</p>

This paper aims to examine how the driving forces of the Swedish CNG market have impacted OKQ8’s strategies. This has been conducted through the four drivers’ coercive-, market-, resource- and social drivers. The papers conclusion is that all drivers impact on OKQ8’s strategy but that coercive drivers have the most significant impact on the CNG market and OKQ8’s strategy. OKQ8’s decision to establish a cooperation together with E.ON was smart decision since they minimized their own ambiguity in this market that depends on governmental policies and incentives.