IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/proeco/v228y2020ics0925527320301237.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environmental management systems, practices and outcomes: Differences in resource allocation between small and large firms

Author

Listed:
  • Wong, Christina W.Y.
  • Wong, Chee Yew
  • Boon-itt, Sakun

Abstract

This paper argues both small and large firms use different resource allocation patterns to benefit from implementing environmental management practices (EMPs) and environmental management systems (EMS). Results from the multi-group structural equation analyses of a survey of manufacturing firms in two countries support the resource allocation arguments - large firms use resource-demanding EMPs such as green product design and green production to improve outcomes in environmental, cost-reduction and business performance, while small firms choose resource-light EMPs such as green logistics and green packaging to gain only environmental and cost-reduction benefits. The paper advances the existing resource-advantage view by revealing different resource allocation patterns and provides meaningful recommendations through which policy makers can address various resource allocation constraints among small and large enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Wong, Christina W.Y. & Wong, Chee Yew & Boon-itt, Sakun, 2020. "Environmental management systems, practices and outcomes: Differences in resource allocation between small and large firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:228:y:2020:i:c:s0925527320301237
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2020.107734
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527320301237
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijpe.2020.107734?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Williamson & Gary Lynch-Wood & John Ramsay, 2006. "Drivers of Environmental Behaviour in Manufacturing SMEs and the Implications for CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 67(3), pages 317-330, September.
    2. Lai, Kee-hung & Wu, Sarah J. & Wong, Christina W.Y., 2013. "Did reverse logistics practices hit the triple bottom line of Chinese manufacturers?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 106-117.
    3. Paul Lanoie, 2008. "When And Why Does It Pay To Be Green?," CIRANO Papers 2008n-02a, CIRANO.
    4. 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.
    5. Vijay Sethi & William R. King, 1994. "Development of Measures to Assess the Extent to Which an Information Technology Application Provides Competitive Advantage," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(12), pages 1601-1627, December.
    6. Stephen Brammer & Stefan Hoejmose & Kerry Marchant, 2012. "Environmental Management in SMEs in the UK: Practices, Pressures and Perceived Benefits," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 423-434, November.
    7. Dorothée Baumann-Pauly & Christopher Wickert & Laura Spence & Andreas Scherer, 2013. "Organizing Corporate Social Responsibility in Small and Large Firms: Size Matters," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(4), pages 693-705, July.
    8. Petra Christmann & Glen Taylor, 2006. "Firm self-regulation through international certifiable standards: determinants of symbolic versus substantive implementation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(6), pages 863-878, November.
    9. Paul Shrivastava, 1995. "Environmental technologies and competitive advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(S1), pages 183-200.
    10. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Mark Cordano & R. Marshall & Murray Silverman, 2010. "How do Small and Medium Enterprises Go “Green”? A Study of Environmental Management Programs in the U.S. Wine Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 463-478, March.
    12. Richard Margerum & Stephen Born, 2000. "A Co-ordination Diagnostic for Improving Integrated Environmental Management," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 5-21.
    13. Lai, Kee-hung & Wong, Christina W.Y. & Lam, Jasmine Siu Lee, 2015. "Sharing environmental management information with supply chain partners and the performance contingencies on environmental munificence," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 445-453.
    14. Christina W.Y. Wong & Chee Yew Wong & Sakun Boon‐itt, 2018. "How Does Sustainable Development of Supply Chains Make Firms Lean, Green and Profitable? A Resource Orchestration Perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 375-388, March.
    15. Yang, Ma Ga (Mark) & Hong, Paul & Modi, Sachin B., 2011. "Impact of lean manufacturing and environmental management on business performance: An empirical study of manufacturing firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(2), pages 251-261, February.
    16. Magali A. Delmas & Maria J. Montes‐Sancho, 2010. "Voluntary agreements to improve environmental quality: symbolic and substantive cooperation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 575-601, June.
    17. David Gadenne & Jessica Kennedy & Catherine McKeiver, 2009. "An Empirical Study of Environmental Awareness and Practices in SMEs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 45-63, January.
    18. Jing Wang & Yuchen Zhang & Mark Goh, 2018. "Moderating the Role of Firm Size in Sustainable Performance Improvement through Sustainable Supply Chain Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-14, May.
    19. Enno Masurel, 2007. "Why SMEs invest in environmental measures: sustainability evidence from small and medium‐sized printing firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 190-201, March.
    20. Zhu, Qinghua & Sarkis, Joseph & Lai, Kee-hung, 2008. "Confirmation of a measurement model for green supply chain management practices implementation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 261-273, February.
    21. Nath, Prithwiraj & Ramanathan, Ramakrishnan, 2016. "Environmental management practices, environmental technology portfolio, and environmental commitment: A content analytic approach for UK manufacturing firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(P3), pages 427-437.
    22. Morrow, David & Rondinelli, Dennis, 2002. "Adopting Corporate Environmental Management Systems:: Motivations and Results of ISO 14001 and EMAS Certification," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 159-171, April.
    23. Nicole Darnall & Irene Henriques & Perry Sadorsky, 2010. "Adopting Proactive Environmental Strategy: The Influence of Stakeholders and Firm Size," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(6), pages 1072-1094, September.
    24. Jonas Ammenberg & Olof Hjelm, 2003. "Tracing business and environmental effects of environmental management systems—a study of networking small and medium‐sized enterprises using a joint environmental management system," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 163-174, May.
    25. Mengying Feng & Wantao Yu & Xingyu Wang & Chee Yew Wong & Maozeng Xu & Zhi Xiao, 2018. "Green supply chain management and financial performance: The mediating roles of operational and environmental performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 811-824, November.
    26. Robert D. Klassen & Curtis P. McLaughlin, 1996. "The Impact of Environmental Management on Firm Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(8), pages 1199-1214, August.
    27. Ozusaglam, Serdal & Kesidou, Effie & Wong, Chee Yew, 2018. "Performance effects of complementarity between environmental management systems and environmental technologies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 112-122.
    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. Bing Zhou & Gong Zhang & Shulei Bi, 2023. "How Does Emissions Trading Affect the Efficiency of Enterprise Resource Allocation? Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    2. Chamila H. Dasanayaka & Nuwan Gunarathne & David F. Murphy & Padmi Nagirikandalage, 2022. "Triggers for and barriers to the adoption of environmental management practices by small and medium‐sized enterprises: A critical review," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 749-764, July.
    3. David Aristei & Manuela Gallo, 2021. "The Role of External Support on the Implementation of Resource Efficiency Actions: Evidence from European Manufacturing Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, August.
    4. Amit Kumar Gupta & Narain Gupta, 2021. "Environment Practices Mediating the Environmental Compliance and firm Performance: An Institutional Theory Perspective from Emerging Economies," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 22(3), pages 157-178, September.
    5. Venugopal Gopalakrishna‐Remani & Kyung‐Ah ( Kay) Byun & D. Harold Doty, 2022. "The impact of employees' perceptions about top management engagement on sustainability development efforts and firm performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(7), pages 2964-2977, November.
    6. Maciej Urbaniak & Piotr Rogala & Piotr Kafel, 2023. "Expectations of manufacturing companies regarding future priorities of improvement actions taken by their suppliers," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 296-310, March.
    7. Daquan Gao & Christina W. Y. Wong & Kee-hung Lai, 2023. "Development of Ecosystem for Corporate Green Innovation: Resource Dependency Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-28, March.
    8. Ndubisi, Nelson Oly & Zhai, Xin (Amy) & Lai, Kee-hung, 2021. "Small and medium manufacturing enterprises and Asia's sustainable economic development," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    9. D'Adamo, Idiano & Falcone, Pasquale Marcello & Imbert, Enrica & Morone, Piergiuseppe, 2020. "A Socio-economic Indicator for EoL Strategies for Bio-based Products," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    10. Louis Maximilian Ronalter & Merce Bernardo & Javier Manuel Romaní, 2023. "Quality and environmental management systems as business tools to enhance ESG performance: a cross-regional empirical study," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9067-9109, 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. Leonidas C. Leonidou & Paul Christodoulides & Lida P. Kyrgidou & Daydanda Palihawadana, 2017. "Internal Drivers and Performance Consequences of Small Firm Green Business Strategy: The Moderating Role of External Forces," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 585-606, February.
    2. Qiang Zhang & Yuan Ma & Qiyue Yin, 2019. "Environmental Management Breadth, Environmental Management Depth, and Manufacturing Performance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-11, November.
    3. Silvia Cantele & Alessandro Zardini, 2020. "What drives small and medium enterprises towards sustainability? Role of interactions between pressures, barriers, and benefits," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 126-136, January.
    4. Silvia Cantele & Silvia Vernizzi & Bettina Campedelli, 2020. "Untangling the Origins of Sustainable Commitment: New Insights on the Small vs. Large Firms’ Debate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-12, January.
    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. Hyundo Choi & Donggyu Yi, 2018. "Environmental innovation inertia: Analyzing the business circumstances for environmental process and product innovations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1623-1634, December.
    7. 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.
    8. Rosa Maria Dangelico & Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo, 2015. "Being ‘Green and Competitive’: The Impact of Environmental Actions and Collaborations on Firm Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 413-430, September.
    9. Sung Tae Kim & Hong-Hee Lee & Seongbae Lim, 2021. "The Effects of Green SCM Implementation on Business Performance in SMEs: A Longitudinal Study in Electronics Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, October.
    10. Curkovic, Sime, 2003. "Environmentally Responsible Manufacturing: The development and validation of a measurement model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 130-155, April.
    11. Stephen Brammer & Stefan Hoejmose & Kerry Marchant, 2012. "Environmental Management in SMEs in the UK: Practices, Pressures and Perceived Benefits," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 423-434, November.
    12. Banjo Roxas & Val Lindsay, 2012. "Social Desirability Bias in Survey Research on Sustainable Development in Small Firms: an Exploratory Analysis of Survey Mode Effect," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 223-235, May.
    13. Mengying Feng & Wantao Yu & Xingyu Wang & Chee Yew Wong & Maozeng Xu & Zhi Xiao, 2018. "Green supply chain management and financial performance: The mediating roles of operational and environmental performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 811-824, November.
    14. Ozlem Ayaz Arda & Erkan Bayraktar & Ekrem Tatoglu, 2019. "How do integrated quality and environmental management practices affect firm performance? Mediating roles of quality performance and environmental proactivity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 64-78, January.
    15. Dongsoo Kim & Jongseon Lee & Nami Kim, 2023. "Engaging CSR in SMEs by exporting: The critical factors of CEOs and markets," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 1953-1964, July.
    16. Chaudhuri, Ranjan & Chatterjee, Sheshadri & Gupta, Shivam & Kamble, Sachin, 2023. "Green supply chain technology and organization performance: Moderating role of environmental dynamism and product-service innovation capability," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    17. Rosalia Castellano & Gennaro Punzo & Giuseppe Scandurra & Antonio Thomas, 2022. "Exploring antecedents of innovations for small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises' environmental sustainability: An interpretative framework," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1730-1748, May.
    18. Liu, Junjun & Hu, Houbao & Tong, Xun & Zhu, Qinghua, 2020. "Behavioral and technical perspectives of green supply chain management practices: Empirical evidence from an emerging market," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    19. Javier Aguilera-Caracuel & Juan Aragón-Correa & Nuria Hurtado-Torres & Alan Rugman, 2012. "The Effects of Institutional Distance and Headquarters’ Financial Performance on the Generation of Environmental Standards in Multinational Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(4), pages 461-474, February.
    20. Wong, Christina W.Y. & Lai, Kee-hung & Cheng, T.C.E. & Lun, Y.H. Venus, 2012. "The roles of stakeholder support and procedure-oriented management on asset recovery," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 584-594.

    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:eee:proeco:v:228:y:2020:i:c:s0925527320301237. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe .

    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.