<p> The increased consumption of finite resources threatens the preservation of the environment. Environmental pioneers George Perkins Marsh, Gifford Pinchot, and Aldo Leopold were the first to address this concern in the United States. With this background, environmental sustainability in the United States has become a common consideration for public, private, and government organizations. Many organizations have implemented environmental management systems to handle environmental issues. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore what environmental sustainability programs manufacturing firms in West Michigan pursue and their motivation for doing so. Leaders from 13 West Michigan manufacturing companies were interviewed. Research questions addressed the benefits administrators perceive can be gained by adopting environmental sustainability programs, disadvantages in adopting environmental sustainability programs, and what organizations are doing to pursue environmental programs. Cost savings was cited as a major reason for pursuing sustainability programs with the lack of time and resources being the greatest restraint environmental administrators encounter. Company leadership noted that sustainability programs provided their firm a competitive advantage with many Millennial employees preferring companies that manage robust environmental programs. The sustainability strategies identified in this research can be leveraged by firms seeking to implement or improve their environmental programs.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3738950 |
| Date | 18 December 2015 |
| Creators | Boucon, Philip G. |
| Publisher | Baker College (Michigan) |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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