Gluch P, G M and Thuvander L, B H (2013) Corporate environmental strategies and performance: A longitudinal study. In: Smith, S D and Ahiaga-Dagbui, D D (eds.) Proceedings of 29th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2013, Reading, UK.
Abstract
This paper focus on four environmental strategy aspects: 1) stakeholder relations, 2) management systems, 3) environmental staff, roles and responsibilities and 4) integration of environmental work. The paper aims to identify trends related to these four aspects and explores the relationship between them and environmental and business performance. The paper is based on a longitudinal and cross-sectional empirical study covering all Swedish construction companies with at least 50 employees (for architects 20 employees). Questionnaire surveys covering environmental attitudes, management practices and performance was carried out in 2002, 2006 and 2010. Respondents were environmental manager/officers in each company. Response rates for the three surveys were between 41-45%. The results show that the environmental work is on its way to be institutionalized as a strategic part of the companies. Environmental staff is increasing and environmental managers are part of top management and often also members of the management board. We can also see that communication and cooperation with stakeholders is getting more intensified and more diverse. So is the use of EMS as driver for a more active environmental work. It is concluded that a key to successful environmental and business performance is that environmental work is integrated with a variety of other corporate business areas/issues.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | environmental management; integration; stakeholder; performance; questionnaire survey; Sweden |
| Index terms: | management system, manager, Sweden, survey, construction company, strategy, questionnaire, business performance, architect, empirical study, integration, management practice, top management, environmental management, cooperation |
| Subjects: | psychology, practitioner, organization, data collection methods, profession, organizational analysis, Geography, research methods, management, sustainability assessment, performance measurement |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Quality Management, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Business Strategy, Geographical Context, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here