11 Postcards from the Edge

Abstract

Environmental issues, while of growing interest, have been outside the main focus of business scholarship. This position on the periphery may have been a good thing. It allowed scholars of business and the environment to consider unusual theories and evaluate overlooked phenomenon. In doing so, they have created a body of research providing new insights into two topics of mainstream interest: (a) the sources of competitive advantage and (b) the origin and function of self-regulatory institutions.

Notes

1. To facilitate exposition, we will use “environmental performance” to refer to the degree to which firms harm or help the natural environment.

2. Several scholars propose that the potentially beneficial effects of regulation are contingent on the design of the regulation or on the match between regulation and other organizational and institutional factors. This extensive literature is not reviewed here. See Hahn and Stavins (1991) for a complete review.

3. Among management scholars, Ostrom's work has had the greatest impact on researchers investigating human decision-making in experimental strategy games - particularly social dilemmas (Weber, Kopelman, & Messick, 2001). For the rest of the academy, Ostrom's work in particular, and self-regulation in general, has been slow to take hold. Business and environment scholars were among the first to draw inspiration from her research.

4. To specify the management system standards that became ISO 9000 and ISO 14000, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) convened technical advisory committees comprised of representatives of numerous companies, NGOs, and governments. ISO 9000 is primarily concerned with quality management and ISO 14000 with environmental management. Collectively, over 800,000 organizations in 161 countries have been certified as having adopted these standard management practices.

5. Firms voluntarily pledged to reduce their emissions of 17 key chemicals by 33% and then 50%.