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What distinguishes EMAS participants? An exploration of company characteristics

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  • R. BRACKE
  • T. VERBEKE
  • V. DEJONCKHEERE

Abstract

Empirical research on the characteristics of environmentally responsive companies has focussed on US and Japanese firms. For Europe, which is commonly considered as the greenest of the three major markets, similar research is lacking. This paper seeks to fill this gap by empirically investigating business and financial characteristics, stakeholder pressures and public policies to distinguish companies that have implemented the European Eco-Management and Audit System (EMAS) from a unique firm-level dataset of European publicly quoted companies. We find that the EMAS participation decision is positively influenced by the solvency ratio, the share of non-current liabilities, the average labour cost and the absolute company size as well as the relative size of a company compared to its sector average. The profit margin exerts a negative influence. We further find that companies whose headquarters is located in a country that actively encourages EMAS have a higher probability of participation.

Suggested Citation

  • R. Bracke & T. Verbeke & V. Dejonckheere, 2007. "What distinguishes EMAS participants? An exploration of company characteristics," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 07/459, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    • Handle: RePEc:rug:rugwps:07/459
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    EMAS participation; business and financial characteristics; stakeholder pressures; logistic regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

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