The environment is free: The quality analogy

This paper argues that quality improvement approaches can be applied in the environmental context. Although environmental issues can occasionally negatively impact an organization's core business, most environmental programs, if properly channeled, can lead to both improved profitability and increased social responsibility. It is argued that time-proven techniques that have helped reduce quality costs and improve market share can provide similar results when applied to many environmental problems. Techniques based on the Total Quality Environmental Management (TQEM) philosophy (which is based on integrating Total Quality Management (TQM) methods and environmental management methods) are already being used by many organizations. This paper builds upon the TQEM concept (which emphasizes four basic elements: customer identification, continuous improvement, do the job right the first time and a systems approach to work) by showing how other principles used in quality management can also be applied to environmental management. The issues are then illustrated through a case study of a leading German manufacturer, Bosch-Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH.     

Environmental management: from ‘fit’ to ‘stretch’

Environmental management is a budding discipline that studies the development and shaping of environmental policy in business. This article discusses what progress has been made in theory building in the field of environmental management, and what priorities should be set for future research. The level of ambition of a company with respect to its environmental performance is seen as the result of the following three variables: the coincidence of increased eco-efficiency and market opportunities; the internal structure and culture of the company (including the influence of a number of important actors in it) and the pressure from the immediate and wider social environment to take environmental measures. Research in the field of environmental management can improve our understanding of the conditions under which companies will strive for higher eco-efficiencies. It is argued that such research must concentrate on the interaction of the three variables mentioned above and on how they affect the actions of companies. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The ‘win–win’ paradigm and stakeholder integration

Firms are under pressure to invest in environmental management systems (EMSs) to reduce the environmental impacts of their activities. Many advocates of EMS adoption promote the idea of ‘win–win’ gains, where improvements in environmental performance are accompanied by financial rewards. The empirical evidence on this is mixed and suggests that the' right' conditions must exist within the firm for genuine environmental performance gains to materialize. The paper uses a survey of 129 Spanish manufacturing firms to investigate managerial perceptions about what these right conditions might be. Results indicate that enhanced environmental performance following EMS adoption is linked to managers' belief in the win–win paradigm, and that managers who adhere to the win–win story also tend to integrate other stakeholder demands into their business strategies. Policy implications conclude the paper. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

From ‘start-up’ to ‘re-boot’: Product lifecycle strategies and competitive advantage in the computer industry

The PC sector, following the packaging and car manufacturing industries, will increasingly be forced to acknowledge and account for its product base throughout the commodity's life, and beyond. The environmental problems being posed by electronic waste have been recognized and both the EU and the individual Member States are discussing solutions which may or may not include legislative action. In anticipation, product take-back programmes are beginning to emerge within the industry and the economics and logistics of re-use and recycling are at the forefront of this debate. The issues in store for this sector are examined and specific initiatives by organizations considered. It is asked whether a ‘closing of the product loop’ will generate a competitive advantage for these companies and what impact an industry-led ‘consortia’ initiative may have.     

Measuring TQEM returns from the application of quality frameworks

This study addresses one of the major perceived barriers to total quality environmental management (TQEM): cost measurement. Operations managers have difficulty assessing the impact of TQEM programs because of the lack of appropriate measures. In order for TQEM to be given serious consideration, a cost framework is required for evaluating TQEM by appropriately including all the environmental costs and savings for each investment option. At present, frameworks such as life‐cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental cost accounting (ECA) exist, but they have both been recognized as too difficult to implement at the plant level among operations managers. This study focuses on identifying and formulating a set of easy‐to‐use quantitative cost measures. The structure of these measures is taken from the operations management (OM) literature itself, and specifically the total quality management (TQM) and cost of quality (COQ) frameworks developed by Joseph Juran. However, an empirical examination of this remains untested. The findings of this study provide an important foundation for theory development and set the stage for further research in this burgeoning field of TQEM. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Delivering the ‘3-day car’—the strategic implications for automotive logistics operations

It is now becoming apparent that the current ‘stock-push’ vehicle supply in the automotive industry by fulfilling the large majority of orders from existing stock is no longer a viable proposition. Cost pressure from rising stock levels in the market and high discounts needed to sell these vehicles have forced vehicle manufacturers to rethink their order fulfilment strategy in favour of stock-less ‘build-to-order’ systems. More responsive order fulfilment at vehicle manufacturer level however will not only require flexible and responsive component supply and vehicle assembly, but will also have wide ramifications for all logistics operations in the auto supply chain. Based on findings of the 3DayCar research programme, this paper compares the implications on inbound, outbound and sea transportation logistics, leading to the development of a strategic framework for future automotive logistics operations.     

Stage models of corporate ‘greening’: a critical evaluation

Corporate ‘greening’, i.e. the process by which companies can become more environmentally responsible in their operations, has attracted considerable interest lately. Largely born out of hands-on consultancy experience, various models have been proposed which describe a series of ‘stages’ by which companies become progressively more environmentally conscious and reduce their impact on the natural environment. The present article critically analyses some of these ‘stage’ models of corporate ‘greening’ from both an empirical and a management theoretical point of view. The empirical analysis is based on four case studies of the ‘greening’ efforts of companies in the UK water and electricity industries. Environmental strategy and management in these companies is found to fit poorly into the stage models of corporate ‘greening’. The article concludes that more comprehensive and interpretative explanations of organizational ‘greening’ are needed, including contextual and process oriented analysis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The Management of ‘Highflier’ Executives In France: the Weight of the National Culture

Frank Bournois is Maître de Conférences (Senior Lecturer) in Human Resource Management at the Université Jean Moulin-Lyon III, and Sylvie Roussillon is Head of the Human Resources Group at ESC Lyon (Lyon Graduate School of Business). These authors report here, for the first time, the results of a recent study into the particular practices used by French companies to identify and manage highflying executives. As preceding articles in this issue have shown, managerial élites are a key part of the French management system. This research reveals that the management of the highflier process is subtle, relatively unstructured, and informal – there is very little use made, for example, of assessment centres. A number of practical recommendations are made for those senior managers who are currently charged, or may in the future be charged, with the responsibility for the operation of this process.     

‘A Land of Milk and Honey’? Reengineering the ‘Past’ and ‘Present’ in a Call Centre*

ABSTRACT This article explores how managers, in the Call Centre of a Bank, (re)defined, and drew boundaries around ‘past’ cultural conditions, in relation to the introduction of a Business Process Reengineering (BPR) regime. Managers represented the ‘past’ negatively, in terms of conflict and coercion, whilst the ‘present’ was largely described as a Shangri‐La of teams and consensus. This eschewing of the ‘past’ and sublimation of the ‘present’ stood in opposition to the representations of the staff. Both the ‘staff’ and ‘managers’ seemed to reject or embrace discourses that challenged or coincided with their understanding of how things are or should be. In view of this, their understanding of the past/present is inseparable from a consideration of power and identity. The article examines the interplay between discourses and individuals, arguing that it is bound up with fear and anxiety, hope and aspiration, memory and nostalgia, among other, everyday life experiences.     

构建QEO一体化管理体系势在必行

质量管理体系(QMS)、环境管理体系(EMS)及职业健康安全管理体系(OHSMS)越来越受到企业的重视和青睐,为了在激烈的市场竞争中取得有利地位,组织积极构建QMS、EMS和OHSMS。而如何让这三个独立的体系在组织内有效运转,实现预期管理目标,也随之成为企业界和理论界关注的焦点问题。论文提出构建QEO一体化管理体系是解决上述问题的有效的方法,并分析了构建QEO一体化管理体系的必要性和可行性。     

An ‘incitement to discourse’: benchmarking as a springboard to sustainable development

Benchmarking, while belonging to the array of instruments associated with eco‐efficiency, eco‐modernism and ‘political sustainability’, provides a way in which corporations can be held to account in terms of their environmental and social responsibility. New Zealand lacked such benchmarks until the annual Survey of Corporate Environmental Responsiveness was introduced for top companies by turnover in 1999, exposing the myth of ‘clean and green’ New Zealand as far as environmental management of business was concerned, but providing a measure that has become a driver for many companies. The paper discusses outcomes of the benchmarking survey and describes how it has been employed as a Foucauldian ‘incitement to discourse’ with a focus group of participating companies, engaging them in a more dialectical discourse of sustainable development based in Critical Theory and perspectives from Foucault. Maori speak of their ‘turangawaewae’–having a ‘place to stand’. The survey provided the broader research programme with that place to stand in terms of creating a meaningful position for the researchers, and a degree of legitimacy, within the business context. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.     

The ‘New Agenda’ and Human Resource Management: A Roundtable Discussion With John Edmonds

John Storey and Nick Bacon discuss trade union reactions to HRM initiatives with John Edmonds and Phil Wyatt. John Storey and Nick Bacon are respectively Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Research Fellow at Loughborough University Business School. John Edmonds is General Secretary and Phil Wyatt Research Director of the General, Municipal and Boilermakers’ Union.     

Exploring the business benefits of environmental stewardship

Environmental sensitivity has gained much attention in business organizations; however, there is little empirical evidence on the business benefits from environment-oriented measures. Some of the many promised benefits from environmental sensitivity are categorized and rated. The framework proposed by the Management Institute for Environment and Business is used to assess company environmental stewardship. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data from 133 business organizations known to have undertaken at least some ‘green business’ activities. The results from Pearson correlation analysis suggest that companies showing higher degrees of environmental stewardship will derive greater business benefits than organizations which aim at minimum compliance with government regulations in this area.     

From ‘Great’ Leaders to Building Networks: The Emergence of a New Urban Leadership in Southern Europe?

This article reviews the changes that have taken place in local government leadership in France and Spain. It has been argued that political leadership in local government in Southern Europe is characterized by major political leaders who are able to obtain resources from central government through their political connections. However, both French and Spanish local governments have evolved while developing new forms of leadership that are more connected to territory, its people and local issues than to the respective administrative capitals. The article argues that the development of new policies at the local level, the opening of new avenues of citizen participation and the introduction of new methods of public management have changed the relationship between elected representatives and the people. Institutional innovations at the supra‐municipal level have also created a space between regions and municipalities for local leaders to develop their capacity as project leaders and network creators. Cet article examine les changements survenus au niveau de l'autorité gouvernementale locale en France et en Espagne. L'autorité politique dans un gouvernement local du sud de l'Europe se caractérise, assure‐t‐on, par de grands leaders politiques capables d'obtenir des ressources du gouvernement central grâce à leurs relations. Pourtant, les gouvernements locaux français et espagnols ont évolué tout en élaborant des formes originales de leadership, plus proches du territoire, de sa population et des affaires locales que les capitales administratives concernées. La conception de politiques publiques novatrices au plan local, l'ouverture d'autres accès à la participation des citadins et l'introduction de nouvelles méthodes de gestion publique ont modifié le rapport entre représentants élus et population. De plus, des innovations institutionnelles au niveau supra‐municipal ont généré un espace entre régions et municipalités permettant aux leaders locaux de développer leurs aptitudes en tant que chefs de projet et créateurs de réseaux.     

LIFE IN THE CELL: SUPERVISION AND TEAMWORK IN A ‘MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS ENGINEERING’ ENVIRONMENT

David Buchanan, Professor of Human Resource Management and Diane Preston, Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour, at the University of Loughborough Business School present the findings of a case study which explores the implications of manufacturing systems engineering (MSE) for the role of foremen and for shopfloor autonomy in an engineering company, Moore Components. MSE is a currently fashionable socio-technical systems approach to production facility design, combining aspects of group technology, cell autonomy, ‘facilitative’ supervision, and just-in-time workflow. The case is used to identify key aspects of emerging new manufacturing methods, to indicate the potential of these methods for developments in work organisation and management practice, and to demonstrate how specific HRM policies can inhibit or facilitate the changes in supervision and teamwork which MSE ostensibly encourages.     

Multinational Retailers in China: Proliferating ‘McJobs’ or Developing Skills?*

abstract Much has been written on the nature of skills and the extent to which there is increased skills development or a deskilling of workers in modern workplaces. This paper broadens the debate and explores these issues in the novel context of UK‐ and Japanese‐
invested retailers' operations in China. Data derived from over two hundred interviews at twelve retail stores in six Chinese cities and questionnaires completed by almost eight hundred employees elicited contextualized accounts of interactive service workers' own perceptions of their training and skills development. It was found that these firms made a substantial contribution to skills development, fostered and enhanced both directly by company training and also through experiential workplace‐based learning. It might be, however, that this constitutes an essential but ‘one‐off’ increase in skills in transitional economies such as that of China.     

The ‘greening’ of tourism micro‐businesses: outcomes of focus group investigations in South East Cornwall

The response of micro‐businesses to sustainability issues, and their use of environmental management tools and systems, are often presented as simply scaled‐down versions of those of larger businesses in the small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) sector as a whole. This paper presents the findings of a series of focus groups with the owners of tourism micro‐businesses in South East Cornwall about their awareness, understanding and adoption of sustainable tourism practices. The results reveal a complex and diverse response to the concept that resists such generalizations. A genuine need for measures to increase awareness and integrate sustainability issues within business practice is highlighted. Initiatives that do not account for the heterogeneity of the sector are likely to have only limited success. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment.     

Is there a ‘California effect’ in US environmental policymaking?

What determines state environmental policymaking in the US? Vogel (Trading Up: Consumer and Environmental Regulation in a Global Economy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1995; J. Eur. Pub. Pol. 4 (1997) 556–571) argues that California has been a de facto leader since the early 1970s in terms of automobile emissions standards. In this paper, we investigate the generality of California’s leadership role with respect to changes in overall pollution abatement expenditures. We present a simple model of yardstick competition in abatement costs. Using state-level panel data from 1977 to 1994 on abatement costs, our results indicate at best a minor role for California. Other states, in particular California’s immediate neighbors, do not appear to use California as a guideline.     

Caveat emptor – let the buyer beware! environmental labelling and the limitations of ‘green’ consumerism

In recent years, the idea of ‘green’ or ‘political’ consumers expressing their political beliefs in everyday life has been widely embraced. Eager to satisfy the needs of this new market segment, firms have allocated substantial resources to environmental management, social accountability, corporate citizenship, occupational health and safety etc. During the 1990s, the industrialized world also witnessed a growing number of environmental labels, expected to guide the political consumers in their shopping decisions. Evaluations of these environmental labelling (eco‐labelling) programmes indicate that some labels and product groups receive a great deal of attention while others remain in obscurity. To understand these differences, the paper will discuss some of the factors that determine the market impact of environmental labelling. It is concluded that the concept of the ‘green’ consumer is over‐simplified and fails to capture the actual complexity of consumer values, attitudes and behaviour. The results are based on existing literature and our own empirical findings. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Benefits of Environmental Stewardship

Abstract

Environmental sensitivity has gained much attention in business organizations; however, there is little empirical evidence on the business benefits from environment oriented measures. Some of the many promised benefits from environmental sensitivity are categorized and rated. The framework proposed by the Management Institute for Environment and Business (MEB) is used to assess company environment stewardship. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect data from 66 business organizations in the United States and from 31 organizations in Pacific Rim nations. These organizations were known to have undertaken at least some “green business” activities. The results suggest that companies showing higher degrees of environment stewardship will derive greater business benefits than organizations which aim at minimum compliance with government regulations in this area. While, compared with American organizations, on the average the Pacific Rim companies show significantly less environmental stewardship and derive significantly less benefits from it, “their efforts in the area have also been rewarded.”