The diploma thesis deals with the application of the risk analysis method for environmental impact assessment of a business entity. In the introduction of the theoretical part, an environmental review is carried out, focusing on the approach of the Slovak Republic, followed by theoretical background on environmental management, and in the end of the first part there is a survey of risk identification methods. The analytical part presents the system of environmental management in the company. After evaluating the current state, the thesis proposes its own proposals as preventive measures, which contribute to more effective management of environmental pollution risk.

Social controls influence the environmental performance of firms and require them to be more accountable for their environmental impacts. These controls include governmental interventions such as mandatory disclosure requirements, regulation and subsidisation, as well as less formal controls such as stakeholder opinion. This thesis examines the relative influence of environmental social controls on the acceptability of capital investment and provides insight into the perceptions of Australian managers concerning capital investment decision-making. An experiment is used to measure the relative influence of the four social control measures. This is supported by a survey to gauge firm size and industry influences and also a range of attributes of the controls on the capital investment decision. Experiment results suggest that the influence of stakeholder opinion on capital investment is very high and mandatory disclosure very low. The survey measured the influence of a range of indicators of each control and also firm size and industry effects. Firm size effects were weak while industry effects were much clearer and more consistent. A comparison of the influence of social control indicators and a range of financial and strategic indicators on the capital investment decision showed that the mainstream indicators had more influence. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis contributes to our knowledge on the emergence of environmental entrepreneurs. The study is guided by the research question, “how do UK environmental entrepreneurs start to form their distinctive environmental entrepreneurial thinking” and analyses the development of the environmental entrepreneurial mindset in the UK, through a theory of practice perspective. Based on a three-stage data collection process (preliminary focus group, semi-structured interviews and life stories), the study (1) conceptualises the construction of the environmental entrepreneurial mindset, (2) investigates the experiences of constraints for practice and (3) analyses differences in habitus and constraints on the basis of the sampling dimensions, type (social environmental and commercial) and gender (male and female). The study was undertaken under a social constructivist perspective and follows the naturalistic paradigm (Guba, 1978). The rigour (or trustworthiness) of the qualitative approach has been established according to perspectives by Mason (2001) and Guba and Lincoln (1985). The empirical basis of the study is comprised of a three stage design of discursive interviews, involving overlapping collective (focus group) and individual (life stories, in-depth interviews) data collection techniques, with a partly gathering structure (through semi-structured questions). A preliminary focus group identified key themes relevant to the study’s objectives and the concepts of the theory of practice (field, capital, and habitus). Three life stories refined the themes and analysed them within the context of entrepreneurs’ lives. The two stages enabled the development of questions targeting themes for the in-depth interviews and the cross case content analysis. For sampling purposes, the Maximum Variation Sampling (MVS) strategy was employed, which enabled identification and analysis of common and divergent themes (Miller & Crabtree, 1999) and by over-coming the limitations of the sample size, it provided a conditional representativeness. The findings show that environmental entrepreneurs accumulate divergent forms of cultural, social and economic capital, which shapes their entrepreneurial and environmental mindsets, triggering the creation of a disposition (habitus) towards setting up an environmental enterprise. Studying the formation of the environmental entrepreneurial mindset addresses a relevant knowledge gap and offers theoretical and methodological contributions. It also confers implications for practice, with a particular reference to entrepreneurial education and policymaking.