Innovative Practices in Environmental Management

摘要

This study explores what the literature indicates is occurring in environmentally conscious manufacturing (ECM), versus what companies in the electronics manufacturing sector actually report on their websites. It highlights the differences between the literature and practice, pointing to a proactive trend in ECM among large companies. Adequate measures for reporting the real costs and benefits of ECM appear to be lacking. Using a resource-based view of the firm, an organization with limited resources will only devote those resources to activities where the perceived benefits exceed the cost. In a metrics-priented world, lack of measurement and reporting can undermine the future growth of ECM. In addition, many of the costs and benefits of ECM may not be explicitly recognized, but rather assumed. This may relegate ECM approaches to be categorized as "necessary for compliance" or "cost centers", when in fact there may be significant benefits. This could limit ECM to meet regulatory compliance, and little more. To highlight the potential contribution of ECM to the corporation's success this study compares and contrasts current literature with existing operational practices discovered by gathering secondary data frorn the websites of environmentally proactive organizations.