This research was set out to understand the underlying causes for the lack of knowledgeregarding the environmental field in Hong Kong and South China and get a basic view of thedifficulties Environmental Management Systems (EMS) encounter when being put intopractice. Interviews and factory visits were used to collect data needed to build this report.The interviews had the aim to understand how companies in Hong Kong and China managetheir environmental related work. An EMS is a set of processes and practices that enable anorganization to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating efficiency, buthow was the use of such systems affecting the environmental work in reality.A total of eight persons from six different companies were interviewed. With the aim tounderstand how EMS were implemented and used from their point of view. The maindifficulty for the companies asked was the task of understanding and documenting theprocesses of ones own company. With differences such as language, culture, etc present thereis a need for a mutual ground. In the environmental field EMS are used as the commonground. Western companies are, because of the use of EMS, able to attain a picture of theenvironmental work and processes of their industrial partners in the China and Hong Kong.The result of this research shows that there still are many obstacles, for environmentalmanagement systems used by SME, left to address. There are cultural as well asinfrastructural problems that need to be addressed. It is therefore important to alter EMS inco ordinance with the Chinese social environment that it will be used in.

<p>This research was set out to understand the underlying causes for the lack of knowledgeregarding the environmental field in Hong Kong and South China and get a basic view of thedifficulties Environmental Management Systems (EMS) encounter when being put intopractice. Interviews and factory visits were used to collect data needed to build this report.The interviews had the aim to understand how companies in Hong Kong and China managetheir environmental related work. An EMS is a set of processes and practices that enable anorganization to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating efficiency, buthow was the use of such systems affecting the environmental work in reality.A total of eight persons from six different companies were interviewed. With the aim tounderstand how EMS were implemented and used from their point of view. The maindifficulty for the companies asked was the task of understanding and documenting theprocesses of ones own company. With differences such as language, culture, etc present thereis a need for a mutual ground. In the environmental field EMS are used as the commonground. Western companies are, because of the use of EMS, able to attain a picture of theenvironmental work and processes of their industrial partners in the China and Hong Kong.The result of this research shows that there still are many obstacles, for environmentalmanagement systems used by SME, left to address. There are cultural as well asinfrastructural problems that need to be addressed. It is therefore important to alter EMS inco ordinance with the Chinese social environment that it will be used in.</p>

An investigation has been undertaken to ascertain the extent of the existing knowledge base regarding publically voluntary instruments capable of supporting organisations in developing improvements in environmental management. The multifaceted nature of the organisations seeking certification mean a generic approach to implementation is unlikely to deliver the desired after results or a resource efficient approach. Furthermore, the diversity of opinions recorded in the literature is often based on anecdotal evidence and small scale research projects. There is a lack of verifiable knowledge and understanding of the difficulties and barriers experienced by organisations attempting to secure certification for existing voluntary instruments for environmental management such as ISO 14001. The aim of the Research: ISO 14001 is the fastest growing of the ISO Standards related to Environmental Management Systems; however existing research has been small scale and anecdotal. This research aims to confirm or dispute the present discussions and assumptions surrounding the motivations and barriers to certification to ISO 14001. Through deductive reasoning this research will provide a comprehensive investigation into the barriers and motivations experienced in its implementation. It is proposed that more comprehensive opportunities for organisational categorisation may also be defined. The focus of the research has been to consider: · The potential for integration of these voluntary instruments. · The effects of the detailed requirements of the standard ISO 14001 on its certification and implementation processes. · The perceived and actual barriers to implementation · The opportunities to categorise participating organisations accordingly. An analysis of instruments available to support organisations in improving their environmental management has been undertaken. A complex and diverse array of instruments have been reviewed beyond the most regularly discussed ISO 14001. Considerable overlaps were identified in the requirements of the various instruments, suggesting opportunities for integration and resource efficiencies in implementation which have not previously been investigated. A detailed review of the certification processes of over 850 organisations certified to ISO 14001 was undertaken. This highlighted patterns in the barriers to implementation that have not previously been observed and which, in some cases, contradict existing literature. It has been shown that existing categorisation of originations was often only on the basis of whether an organisation was an SME or NON SME. However, it was proposed that this method lacked discrimination, with SME encompassing 99.8% of private sector businesses in the UK. This research has elicited significant motivations and barriers to EMS implementation and used these to provide an objective basis to categorise organisations. The outcome of this research has been: · A novel assessment of integration opportunities for 13 instruments. · An objective review of the certification and implementation processes for ISO 14001. · The development of taxonomies that encompasses multiple criteria that exhibit significant variability that could provide a method of classification for organisations.

Corporate Social Environmental Reporting is a process through which companies and organisations can inform the societies within which they operate about their performance on non-economic issues including environmental performance. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an internationally recognised organisation which has frameworks and guidelines organisations can use to standardise the reports which they issue to the society. Data gathering for reporting on environmental performance can be done in several ways, including by means of the data required for an Environmental Management System (EMS) based on the ISO 14001 “plan – do – check - act” commonly known as the Demming cycle, aimed at continual improvement of environmental performance by an organisation. The clauses in an EMS allow for an organisation to measure its performance and hence the generation of data which can be used for interpretation on environmental performance. The utility of data generated from an EMS is optimised for input towards the generation of a Corporate Social Environmental Report by the level of alignment between the reporting process and the system used for data generation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of such an alignment between the two processes for AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), a multinational gold mining company which issues its reports according to GRI guidelines and also has an ISO 14001 EMS in place. The method used entailed a desktop documentary analysis, a questionnaire answered by individuals responsible for implementation of the EMS and an interview posed at corporate level. It was found that despite corporate commitment to continually improve CSER, there is a relative weak alignment between the two systems, with consequent duplication of effort and sub optimal use of human resources. Recommendations for improved alignment include focused education and training of staff on the relationship between CSER and EMS, and improvements in EMS monitoring and measuring procedures. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Corporate Social Environmental Reporting is a process through which companies and organisations can inform the societies within which they operate about their performance on non-economic issues including environmental performance. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an internationally recognised organisation which has frameworks and guidelines organisations can use to standardise the reports which they issue to the society. Data gathering for reporting on environmental performance can be done in several ways, including by means of the data required for an Environmental Management System (EMS) based on the ISO 14001 “plan – do – check - act” commonly known as the Demming cycle, aimed at continual improvement of environmental performance by an organisation. The clauses in an EMS allow for an organisation to measure its performance and hence the generation of data which can be used for interpretation on environmental performance. The utility of data generated from an EMS is optimised for input towards the generation of a Corporate Social Environmental Report by the level of alignment between the reporting process and the system used for data generation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of such an alignment between the two processes for AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), a multinational gold mining company which issues its reports according to GRI guidelines and also has an ISO 14001 EMS in place. The method used entailed a desktop documentary analysis, a questionnaire answered by individuals responsible for implementation of the EMS and an interview posed at corporate level. It was found that despite corporate commitment to continually improve CSER, there is a relative weak alignment between the two systems, with consequent duplication of effort and sub optimal use of human resources. Recommendations for improved alignment include focused education and training of staff on the relationship between CSER and EMS, and improvements in EMS monitoring and measuring procedures. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

In my PhD thesis I investigate the relationship between corporates' financial and environmental performances. The concept of quantitative environmental performance measures was introduced to enable to compare and analyse environmental impacts of different socio­economic units e.g. companies, countries, regions. In my dissertation, I use environmental performance measures to examine their effect on the financial performance of different companies. In the first chapter, I apply a meta­analysis to examine the results of the previous studies which investigate the impact of firms' environmental performance on their financial performance. The outcomes propose that it is important to account for the omitted variable bias such as unobserved firm heterogeneity. The results suggest that it takes time for the environmental regulation to materialize into the financial performance, too. In the subsequent two chapters I study Czech firms over 2004­2008. First I study the intertemporal effects of corporates' environmental performance on financial ...

In my PhD thesis I investigate the relationship between corporates' financial and environmental performances. The concept of quantitative environmental performance measures was introduced to enable to compare and analyse environmental impacts of different socio­economic units e.g. companies, countries, regions. In my dissertation, I use environmental performance measures to examine their effect on the financial performance of different companies. In the first chapter, I apply a meta­analysis to examine the results of the previous studies which investigate the impact of firms' environmental performance on their financial performance. The outcomes propose that it is important to account for the omitted variable bias such as unobserved firm heterogeneity. The results suggest that it takes time for the environmental regulation to materialize into the financial performance, too. In the subsequent two chapters I study Czech firms over 2004­2008. First I study the intertemporal effects of corporates' environmental performance on financial ...

Hundreds of thousands of organizations have chosen to boost their competitive position by demonstrating compliance to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System standard. In order for these standards to become credible policy options, they must ensure the capacity to build an industrial morality and to institutionalize responsibility. Relying on a series of in-depth interviews with environmental auditors, this dissertation contributes to a deeper empirical understanding of these regulatory instruments by, first, exploring how the adoption of an EMS promotes self-regulatory capacity and contributes toward effective environmental protection, and second, discussing the limitations of its accountability structure and the threats to the credibility of the standard. This project highlights several misconceptions associated with the role of ISO 14001, and explains why both public and private sectors hold conflicting and inappropriate expectations regarding the certification process. According to the environmental auditors interviewed, the standard has helped thousands of committed organizations to effectively improve their self-regulatory capacity as well as their environmental performance. Yet, organizations with no intrinsic motivation can take advantage of the flexibility granted by the standard and the limitations of the conformity assessment process, to obtain an empty environmental certificate. ISO 14001 is a process standard that can help both "environmental leaders and laggards / Ph. D.

<p><em>Abstract</em></p><p>The research behind this licentiate is spread out over a decade of intensive development of environmental work in industry. A 1998 survey of Swedish companies with newly installed environmental management systems (EMS) concluded that such systems need more product-orientation. Data collected by companies as part of the process of creating their EMS between 1996-2001 offered further evidence that it is environmentally justified to seek improvements in the materials selection, use and disposal phases of products, i.e., to make the environmental improvement work more product-orientated. In a EU-funded project carried out between 2004-2006 it was demonstrated that developing an environmental product declaration could be a cost-effective product-oriented environmental action even for smaller companies.</p><p>This licentiate thesis relates to methods for companies to orientate their environmental work on their products. In particular, it examines experience and provides insights on the possibilities for companies, including small ones, to use life cycle assessment in product development in order to design products with an environmental performance well above legal compliance.</p><p>It is difficult to give general recommendations to companies about their environmental work because each company has its own unique business idea, customers, work culture, stakeholders etc. Nevertheless, the main findings of the licentiate thesis can be summed up in the following recommendations for, say, a small company in Europe without much previous experience of environmental work:</p><p>§  Focus your environmental work on your products because you will accomplish more environmentally and the chance of profiting economically will motivate your personnel;</p><p>§  Consider doing a life cycle assessment, LCA, on a strategically chosen product in order to learn more about your products and how to improve their environmental performance;</p><p>§  Do not expect to find a general market demand for green products; start a dialogue with your best customers in order to create the demand;</p><p>§  Engage an LCA specialist to do the LCA and work together with your personnel to interpret the results and generate improvement ideas;</p><p>§  If your customers demand that you install an environmental management system, ask them if they would not prefer to receive an environmental product declaration on the particular product they are interested in, and a chance to discuss how its environmental performance can be improved.</p>

Syfte: Studiens syfte är att ge företag ökad förståelse för hur arbete mot minskad miljöpåverkan även kan vara förenligt med ökade finansiella intäkter. Metod: Vi använder oss av ett intressentbaserat angreppsätt för att besvara studiens frågeställning, där företags benägenhet att aktivt arbeta med miljöledning utgår från de krav som ställs av dess olika intressenter. Genom att anpassa sig efter dessa krav mot förbättrad miljöpåverkan, kan lönsamma relationer och konkurrenskraftiga förmågor skapas. Teorier inom stakeholder theory, enlightened shareholder theory, innovationsförmåga och proaktiva arbetsmetoder har lagt grunden till denna förståelse. Empirisk data har samlats in via semistrukturerade intervjuer hos tre företag som idag är ISO 14001 certifierade. Med hjälp av en deduktiv arbetsmetodik, har logiska slutsatser härletts från de likheter och skillnader som uppstår mellan teori och empiri. Slutsatser: Studiens frågeställning som vi ämnar besvara har formulerats enligt följande; Hur påverkas företags finansiella intäkter av ISO 14001 certifiering? Vårt bidrag till frågan visar stöd att det inte finns något enhälligt svar att ge, då företag som idag arbetar mot dessa miljökrav både har upplevt certifikatet som något möjliggörande, men också som något restriktivt, till att öka finansiella intäkter. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to give companies a greater understanding for how work towards reducing environmental impact, also can be compatible with increased financial income. Method: We use a stakeholder based approaches to answer the study question, where the company's willingness to actively work with environmental management is based on the requirements of its various stakeholders. By adapting to these requirements towards improved environmental impact, profitable relationships and competitive abilities can be created. Theories in stakeholder theory, enlightened shareholder theory, innovation and proactive practices have laid the foundation for this understanding. Empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews with three companies which today are ISO 14001 certified. By using a deductive methodology, logical conclusions was derived from the similarities and differences that arise between theory and empiricism. Conclusions:The study's issue that we intend to answer is formulated as follows; How is companies financial income affected due to ISO 14001 certification? Our contribution supports that there is no unanimous answer here to give, since the companies currently working with environmental requirements both have experienced the certificate as something that enables, but also restrains, increases in financial revenue.