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Organizational response to environmental regulation: punctuated change or autogenesis?

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  • Andrew King

Abstract

Theory predicts that when faced with threatening new conditions, managers often attempt to preserve the status quo by creating a buffer between the organization and the outside world. This paper presents evidence that in response to new water pollution regulation, managers indeed created buffers of technology and personnel, but in some organizations this very equipment and personnel initiated a process of incremental change that led to better environmental protection, more efficient production, and in a few cases, entirely new product and production strategies. For public policy, this research suggests that environmental regulators should allow companies time and flexibility to learn and experiment. For organizational theory, this research suggests a link between punctuated‐equilibrium models of organizational dynamics (Tushman and Romanelli, 1985) and theories of self‐organizing systems (Drazin and Sandelands, 1992). That is, management may respond to external changes by attempting to preserve the status quo, but in so doing influence internal deep structures that then cause organizations to gradually evolve to different behaviours and shapes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment

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  • Andrew King, 2000. "Organizational response to environmental regulation: punctuated change or autogenesis?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 224-238, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:9:y:2000:i:4:p:224-238
    DOI: 10.1002/1099-0836(200007/08)9:43.0.CO;2-X
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Minna Halme, 1996. "Shifting Environmental Management Paradigms In Two Finnish Paper Facilities: A Broader View Of Institutional Theory," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 94-105, June.
    2. Robert Drazin & Lloyd Sandelands, 1992. "Autogenesis: A Perspective on the Process of Organizing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(2), pages 230-249, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sanjay Patnaik, 2020. "Emissions permit allocation and strategic firm behavior: Evidence from the oil sector in the European Union emissions trading scheme," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 976-995, March.
    2. William L. Smith & Yue Cai Hillon & Yanni Liang, 2019. "Reassessing measures of sustainable firm performance: A consultant's guide to identifying hidden costs in corporate disclosures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 353-365, February.
    3. Anja Schaefer, 2009. "Corporate greening and changing regulatory regimes: the UK water industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(5), pages 320-333, July.
    4. Nigel James Martin & John Lewis Rice, 2014. "Influencing Clean Energy Laws: an Analysis of Business Stakeholder Engagement," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(7), pages 447-460, November.
    5. López-Gamero, María D. & Claver-Cortés, Enrique & Molina-Azorín, José F., 2009. "Evaluating environmental regulation in Spain using process control and preventive techniques," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 195(2), pages 497-518, June.
    6. Sanjay Sharma, 2001. "Different strokes: regulatory styles and environmental strategy in the North‐American oil and gas industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(6), pages 344-364, November.
    7. James Hine & Lutz Preuss, 2009. "“Society is Out There, Organisation is in Here”: On the Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Held by Different Managerial Groups," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(2), pages 381-393, August.
    8. Anton Shevchenko, 2021. "Do financial penalties for environmental violations facilitate improvements in corporate environmental performance? An empirical investigation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1723-1734, May.
    9. 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.
    10. Dietrich Earnhart & Dylan G. Rassier, 2016. "“Effective regulatory stringency” and firms’ profitability: the effects of effluent limits and government monitoring," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 111-145, October.
    11. Rassier, Dylan G. & Earnhart, Dietrich, 2015. "Effects of environmental regulation on actual and expected profitability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 129-140.
    12. Kanwalroop K. Dhanda & Joseph Sarkis & Dileep G. Dhavale, 2022. "Institutional and stakeholder effects on carbon mitigation strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 782-795, March.
    13. Khaled Elsayed & David Paton, 2009. "The impact of financial performance on environmental policy: does firm life cycle matter?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(6), pages 397-413, September.

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