Green Schemes: Corporate Environmental Strategies and Their Implementation

Abstract

ecently, many companies have taken a proactive approach to the environment, transforming the nature of their organization and products to reflect this.They are discovering that well-formulated environmental strategies can lead to a number of business advantages, such as better quality, reduced costs, improved environmental image, and the opening of new markets.1In the best examples of this approach, relations with stakeholders (such as regulators, local communities, and environmental groups) improve along with business profits.However, the implementation of these highly acclaimed strategies raises several issues for firms about the extent to which new activities should be integrated with existing ones, the speed with which changes should be initiated, and the scope and consistency of change across business units and geopolitical boundaries.This article examines the environmental strategies and implementation schemes of three companies in different industries: Volvo, Polaroid, and Procter & Gamble. Contex~Environmental Pressures as a Strategic OpportunityMany firms are taking a hard look at their environmental performance as a result of rapidly changing stakeholder pressures.Government regulators have assembled a dizzying series of laws under which firms must report and ensure Ttvs research was supported by MIT's international MotorVehicles Program and Technology,8usiness and Environment Progmm.