The Challenge of Environmental Responsibility and Sustainable Development

1. The Challenge of Environmental Responsibility and Sustainable Development

2. Environmental Responsibility within the Global Business Community • The topic has become more prominent • Not uniformly adopted • Environmentally responsible firm is: • One which seeks to limit or prevent damage to • Or consciously improve the existing environment

3. What can a firm do? • Reduce, recycle, and reuse raw materials and waste materials • Minimize the impact on • Transportation • Energy • Water usage • Donate to environmental groups • Adopt formal environmental policies

4. ISO 14,000 Summary • The ISO 14000 series of environmental standards includes the following standards: • Environmental Management Standards • Environmental Auditing • Environmental Labeling • Environmental Performance Evaluation Standards • Life Cycle Analysis Standards • Inventory Analysis • Impact analysis • Environmental Aspects in Product Standards

5. Environmental Responsibility • Is just one part of Sustainable Development • Sustainability involves • Economic growth • Environmental responsibility • Social Responsibility • It is a long-term “win-win” situation not a competition between these areas

6. United Nations World Commission On Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission 1987) • Defined sustainability as: • “Development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” • This concept has been evolving over the last 50 plus years • Concerns developed in the 1960s • Government regulations and policies began to respond to the concerns in the 1970s

7. Business Managers and Leaders • Began to respond in the 1980s and 1990s • Began to accept the need for sustainable business practices • Accepted the legitimacy of stakeholder environmental issues and needs • Started philosophy of Market Based Environmentalism • Being Green could be a source of: • Innovation • Competitive Advantage • New business generation • The most effective way of protecting the environment was to provide economic advantage to do so

8. Greening Business • Has become an established body of research • Regular conferences • Industry groups • Academic Groups • However, mostly focused on large corporations

9. Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) • Often overlooked in this area • Larger companies have more noticeable impact • SMEs • Levels of waste, energy use are small • More service sector so no dirty footprint is obvious • While they are small in size • Their collective impact is huge because of their numbers • They are approximately 95% of all businesses

10. Common Issues for SMEs • Most owners believe the environment is important • 80 to 90% support environmental protection • However awareness is small of: • Environmental regulations • Laws • Management systems • Remediation processes • They are less likely to embark on environmental improvement programs

11. SMEs cont. • Significant discrepancy between personal viewpoints and business activities • Similar to asking consumers about environmental issues • Tend to be reactive in programs rather than proactive

12. Issues in fixing the problems • Little quantifiable data available to base programs on • Issues are hard to measure • Consideration should be given to measuring the impact of Micro-Businesses • No clear understanding of the “SME Gap” (the differences between attitudes and actions) • Need to understand what drives businesses to become greener

13. So how do we foster positive change? • Need to point out the advantages • Economic • Competitive advantage • What is the difference between and Ecopreneur and a standard entrepreneur? • How do you measure it? • Is there a difference in success rates? • Where do you find advocates? • What barriers or triggers are there? • Is there a relationship between innovation and sustainability?

14. Where does education fit in? • What is the role of the university and other learning institutions? • Can they create greater awareness among students? • Few university programs really address these issues and their relationships to SMEs • So it is fertile ground for universities

15. Support Services and Policy Frameworks • Appropriate regulations can spur development • Most regulations aimed at large corporations and exempt SMEs (to spare them costs) • May reduce pressure on them to become more environmentally conscious • There needs to be: • More easily available information • It needs to be practical • In a form which can be applied quickly

16. Conclusions • Adoption of green policies can pose significant challenges • They also can provide opportunities • For the SMEs • For Academics • The businesses and the planet both stand to succeed if these issues are prosecuted successfully!

17. Source • Michael Schaper,The Challenge of Environmental Responsibility and Sustainable Development: Implications for SME and entrepreneurship academics, http://www1.kmu.unisg.ch/rencontres/band2002/F_09_Schaper.pdf