IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v13y2004i3p172-186.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Meeting the environmental challenge: a case of win–win or lose–win? A study of the UK baking and refrigeration industries

Author

Listed:
  • Frances Drake
  • Martin Purvis
  • Jane Hunt

Abstract

The idea that what is good for the environment is good for business has come to dominate environmental thinking and provides one of the cornerstones of ecological modernization. Studies of this win–win philosophy have tended to concentrate on large companies. This study considers how the UK refrigeration and baking industries have responded to the main drivers for change. By eliciting managers' views of environmental issues through semi‐structured interviews, the problems and opportunities facing these two industries are explored. The responses were remarkably similar, given the different characteristics of the two industries. The interviews revealed that legislation maintains its pre‐eminence as a motivation for change. Win–win situations arising out of environmental legislation were found in some SMEs; however, for most the perception was one of lose–win. The demand for environmental products and processes, necessary for win–win, has yet to materialize. Companies, therefore, remain driven by the commercial, rather than the environmental, imperative. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Frances Drake & Martin Purvis & Jane Hunt, 2004. "Meeting the environmental challenge: a case of win–win or lose–win? A study of the UK baking and refrigeration industries," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 172-186, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:13:y:2004:i:3:p:172-186
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.401
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.401
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.401?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. ,, 2001. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(6), pages 1157-1160, December.
    2. Martin Lindell & Necmi Karagozoglu, 2001. "Corporate environmental behaviour – a comparison between Nordic and US firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 38-52, January.
    3. ,, 2001. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(5), pages 1025-1031, October.
    4. Xepapadeas, Anastasios & de Zeeuw, Aart, 1999. "Environmental Policy and Competitiveness: The Porter Hypothesis and the Composition of Capital," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 165-182, March.
    5. Simone Maier & Matthias Finger, 2001. "Constraints to organizational change processes regarding the introduction of organic products: case findings from the Swiss food industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 89-99, March.
    6. Simonis, Udo E., 1989. "Ecological modernization of industrial society: three strategic elements," EconStor Research Reports 112267, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Tim Newton & George Harte, 1997. "Green Business: Technicist Kitsch?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 75-98, January.
    8. Knud Sinding, 2000. "Environmental management beyond the boundaries of the firm: definitions and constraints," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 79-91, March.
    9. Matthias Finger & Rolf Künneke, 2011. "Introduction," Chapters, in: Matthias Finger & Rolf W. Künneke (ed.), International Handbook of Network Industries, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Judith Petts & Andrew Herd & Simon Gerrard & Chris Horne, 1999. "The climate and culture of environmental compliance within SMEs," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 14-30, January.
    11. Frank Boons & Marjolein Berends, 2001. "Stretching the boundary: the possibilities of flexibility as an organizational capability in industrial ecology," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(2), pages 115-124, March.
    12. R. J. Welford, 1998. "Editorial: Corporate environmental management, technology and sustainable development: postmodern perspectives and the need for a critical research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 1-12, February.
    13. Karvonen, Minna-Maari, 2001. "Natural versus manufactured capital: win-lose or win-win? A case study of the Finnish pulp and paper industry," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 71-85, April.
    14. Cerin, Pontus & Karlson, Lennart, 2002. "Business incentives for sustainability: a property rights approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 13-22, January.
    15. Mark S. Rossi & Halina Szejnwald Brown & Leo W. Baas, 2000. "Leaders in sustainable development: how agents of change define the agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(5), pages 273-286, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Parisa Salimzadeh & Jerry Courvisanos, 2015. "A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Sustainable Development in Regional SMEs," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(04), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Sue Cassells & Kate Lewis, 2011. "SMEs and environmental responsibility: do actions reflect attitudes?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(3), pages 186-199, May.
    3. Déirdre Crowe & Louis Brennan, 2007. "Environmental considerations within manufacturing strategy: an international study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 266-289, May.
    4. Jenny Ählström & Monica Macquet & Ulf Richter, 2009. "The lack of a critical perspective in environmental management research: distortion in the scientific discourse," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 334-346, July.
    5. Kate V. Lewis & Sue Cassells & Hernan Roxas, 2015. "SMEs and the Potential for A Collaborative Path to Environmental Responsibility," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 750-764, December.
    6. Teresa Kupczyk & Elwira Gross-Golacka & Joanna Kubicka, 2023. "Training Employees in Sustainability and Assessing their Ability to Implement Bottom-up Changes in Companies for the Green Revolution – A Comparative Analysis in Poland and India," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 94-107.
    7. José Elenilson Cruz & Gabriel da Silva Medina & João Ricardo de Oliveira Júnior, 2022. "Brazil’s Agribusiness Economic Miracle: Exploring Food Supply Chain Transformations for Promoting Win–Win Investments," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-19, March.
    8. Khoa T. Tran & Phuong V. Nguyen & Linh M. Nguyen, 2018. "The Role of Financial Slack, Employee Creative Self-Efficacy and Learning Orientation in Innovation and Organizational Performance," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-32, December.
    9. Manish Mohan Baral & Subhodeep Mukherjee & Rajesh Kr Singh & Venkataiah Chittipaka & Yigit Kazancoglu, 2023. "Exploring antecedents for the circular economy capability of micro, small and medium enterprises: An empirical study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5785-5806, December.
    10. Gunne Grankvist & Anders Biel, 2007. "The impact of environmental information on professional purchasers' choice of products," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(6), pages 421-429, September.
    11. Andrea Revell & David Stokes & Hsin Chen, 2010. "Small businesses and the environment: turning over a new leaf?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(5), pages 273-288, July.
    12. Stanley Kam Sing Wong, 2013. "Environmental Requirements, Knowledge Sharing and Green Innovation: Empirical Evidence from the Electronics Industry in China," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 321-338, July.
    13. Martina Battisti & Martin Perry, 2011. "Walking the talk? Environmental responsibility from the perspective of small‐business owners," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(3), pages 172-185, May.
    14. Pinget, Amandine, 2016. "Spécificités des déterminants des innovations environnementales : une approche appliquée aux PME [Specificities of determinants for environmental innovation : an approach applied to SMEs]," MPRA Paper 80108, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Francesco Testa & Olivier Boiral & Fabio Iraldo, 2018. "Internalization of Environmental Practices and Institutional Complexity: Can Stakeholders Pressures Encourage Greenwashing?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 287-307, January.
    16. Laura F. Sasse-Werhahn & Claudius Bachmann & André Habisch, 2020. "Managing Tensions in Corporate Sustainability Through a Practical Wisdom Lens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 53-66, April.
    17. Centobelli, Piera & Cerchione, Roberto & Esposito, Emilio & Passaro, Renato & Shashi,, 2021. "Determinants of the transition towards circular economy in SMEs: A sustainable supply chain management perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    18. Teresa Kupczyk & Andrzej Wiatrak & Elwira Gross-Golacka & Joanna Kubicka, 2022. "Evaluation of Corporate Sustainability Strategies and Practices in this Area in the Opinion of Employees – A Comparative Analysis in Poland and India," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 308-322.
    19. Sonja Studer & Richard Welford & Peter Hills, 2006. "Engaging Hong Kong businesses in environmental change: drivers and barriers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 416-431, November.
    20. Szczepańska-Woszczyna Katarzyna & Kurowska-Pysz Joanna, 2016. "Sustainable Business Development Through Leadership in SMEs," Engineering Management in Production and Services, Sciendo, vol. 8(3), pages 57-69, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jenny Ählström & Monica Macquet & Ulf Richter, 2009. "The lack of a critical perspective in environmental management research: distortion in the scientific discourse," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 334-346, July.
    2. Jouni Korhonen & Fredrik von Malmborg & Peter A. Strachan & John R. Ehrenfeld, 2004. "Management and policy aspects of industrial ecology: an emerging research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 289-305, September.
    3. World Bank, 2002. "Costa Rica : Social Spending and the Poor, Volume 1. Summary of Issues and Recommendations with Executive Summary," World Bank Publications - Reports 15330, The World Bank Group.
    4. Hernández-Hernández, M.E. & Kolokoltsov, V.N. & Toniazzi, L., 2017. "Generalised fractional evolution equations of Caputo type," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 184-196.
    5. Simon Levin & Anastasios Xepapadeas, 2021. "On the Coevolution of Economic and Ecological Systems," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 13(1), pages 355-377, October.
    6. Hoang Ngoc Tuan, 2015. "Boundedness of a Type of Iterative Sequences in Two-Dimensional Quadratic Programming," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 234-245, January.
    7. Wang, Daojuan & Hain, Daniel S. & Larimo, Jorma & Dao, Li T., 2020. "Cultural differences and synergy realization in cross-border acquisitions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3).
    8. Zhou, H. & Uhlaner, L.M., 2009. "Knowledge Management in the SME and its Relationship to Strategy, Family Orientation and Organization Learning," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2009-026-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    9. Turpie, J.K. & Marais, C. & Blignaut, J.N., 2008. "The working for water programme: Evolution of a payments for ecosystem services mechanism that addresses both poverty and ecosystem service delivery in South Africa," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 788-798, May.
    10. Koichi Hamada & Asahi Noguchi, 2005. "The Role of Preconceived Ideas in Macroeconomic Policy: Japan's Experiences in the Two Deflationary Periods," Working Papers 908, Economic Growth Center, Yale University.
    11. Jingyi Xue, 2018. "Fair division with uncertain needs," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 51(1), pages 105-136, June.
    12. Dipak R. Pant, 2013. "Managing the global waste in the 21st century: As an anthropologist views it," LIUC Papers in Economics 263, Cattaneo University (LIUC).
    13. van der Laan, Gerard & Talman, Dolf & Yang, Zaifu, 2011. "Solving discrete systems of nonlinear equations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 214(3), pages 493-500, November.
    14. Richard ANKER, 2006. "Poverty lines around the world: A new methodology and internationally comparable estimates," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 145(4), pages 279-307, December.
    15. X. F. Li & J. Z. Zhang, 2006. "Necessary Optimality Conditions in Terms of Convexificators in Lipschitz Optimization," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 429-452, December.
    16. Popli, Manish & Akbar, Mohammad & Kumar, Vikas & Gaur, Ajai, 2016. "Reconceptualizing cultural distance: The role of cultural experience reserve in cross-border acquisitions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 404-412.
    17. Quah Chee-Heong, 2019. "China’s Dollar-linked Hong Kong during the Global Crisis," Apuntes del Cenes, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, vol. 38(67), pages 95-121, February.
    18. Lan, Heng-you, 2021. "Approximation-solvability of population biology systems based on p-Laplacian elliptic inequalities with demicontinuous strongly pseudo-contractive operators," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    19. Teresa Estañ & Natividad Llorca & Ricardo Martínez & Joaquín Sánchez-Soriano, 2020. "On the difficulty of budget allocation in claims problems with indivisible items of different prices," ThE Papers 20/09, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    20. Slotnick, Susan A., 2011. "Order acceptance and scheduling: A taxonomy and review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 212(1), pages 1-11, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:13:y:2004:i:3:p:172-186. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.