Shades of Green: Business, Regulation, and EnvironmentHow much does regulation matter in shaping corporate behavior? This pathbreaking, in-depth study of fourteen pulp manufacturing mills in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand reveals that steadily tightening regulatory standards have been crucial for raising environmental performance. But while all firms have shown improvement, some have improved more than others, many going substantially beyond compliance. What explains the variation in compliance? It's not necessarily the differences in regulation in each country. Rather, variation is accounted for by the complex interaction between tightening regulations and a social license to operate (especially pressures from community and environmental activists), economic constraints, and differences in corporate environmental management style. Shades of Green provides the most extensive and systematic empirical study to date of why firms achieve the levels of environmental performance that they do. |
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achieve analysis AOX emissions attitudes average BC2corp bleaching bleaching chemicals BOD and TSS British Columbia Chapter chlorine dioxide chlorine-free Committed Compliers companies concerns constraints corporate environmental performance corporate managers correlation costs demands dioxin economic license effluent enforcement envi environ environmental activists environmental groups environmental management style environmental regulation Environmental Strategists example external facilities firm's firms Greenpeace impact improved innovative investments Kagan laggards license to operate ment mental management mill managers mill-level mill's nomic oxygen delignification paper industry percent permit limits pollution production profit pulp and paper pulp mills reduce regulatory jurisdiction regulatory license regulatory permits regulatory regimes regulatory requirements relationship Reluctant Complier reputation response ronmental performance sample significant social license pressures social pressures standards substantial tion Toxic Release Inventory True Believers U.S. EPA U.S. mills United vironmental WA4 managers wastewater win-win Zealand