Environmental regulation and innovation driving ecological design in the UK automotive industry

The theory of ecological modernization asserts that economic and environmental goals can be integrated within a framework of industrial modernity. Its central tenet is that environmental regulation can stimulate the application of ‘clean’ technologies or techniques. Ecological modernization also contends that environmental regulation can offer business benefits from innovation through improved product design and economic performance. The EU End of Life Vehicles Directive (ELVD) reflects many of these principles, as it compels all car manufacturers to ‘take back’ and dismantle vehicles at the end of their useful lives and to remove the hazardous substances from the production process. Each component will then be either reused or recycled. The legislation forces designers to introduce ‘clean design’ and ‘design for disassembly’ practices. In light of this, we examine the impact of the directive on UK automotive component manufacturers. We find limited evidence that the EU ELVD Directive has driven product innovation beyond short‐term, incremental technological trajectories. We therefore conclude that a more radical approach, in line with the ‘dematerialization’ thesis by Dobers and Wolff (1999), is needed to generate more radical, ecological design solutions within the UK automotive industry. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The Importance of the Diverse Drivers and Types of Environmental Innovation for Firm Performance

Today, firms are faced with a number of environmental challenges, such as global warming, pollution control and declining natural resources. While there is increasing pressure to deliver environmentally friendly products and services, little is known about what drives the many different types of environmental innovation, or how such pursuits' impact firm performance. Using a sample of 2181 firms, this paper examines the factors that drive nine different types of eco‐innovation in Ireland, and assesses how such innovations impact firm performance. We find that, while demand‐side, supply‐side and regulatory drivers impact on the likelihood of a firm engaging in eco‐innovation, the relative magnitudes of these impacts vary across the types of eco‐innovation considered. Moreover, we find that only two of the nine types of eco‐innovation positively impact firm performance. The results point to regulation and customer pressure as viable mechanisms through which firms can be encouraged to eco‐innovate. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Driving sectoral sustainability via the diffusion of organizational eco‐innovations

Using insights from institutional literature, the resource‐based theory of the firm, and internationalization, we explain variations in the diffusion of organizational eco‐innovations. Studies have previously reported that the drivers of eco‐innovation are regulatory pressures, technology push, market pull, and firm factors. But relatively little attention has been paid to nontechnological forms of eco‐innovation, such as environmental management systems (EMS). Consequently, how exactly to encourage EMS adoption across sectors is still unclear. We attempt to address this question by combining sectoral panel data (2009–2014) from a number of sources in Spain. The econometric analysis reveals that environmental policy is driving the adoption of ISO 14001 largely due to differences across sectors in energy and pollution intensity. In addition, the adoption of ISO 9001 increases the use of ISO 14001 in industry because of complementarities between the two systems. Third, in highly internationalized sectors, firms adopt a greater amount of ISO 14001.     

Environmental Strategies,Upgrading and Competitive Advantage in Global Value Chains

The literature is increasingly focusing on how firms are improving their environmental performances and promoting green strategies to transform environmental constraints into new drivers of competitive advantage. This paper contributes to the literature by expanding knowledge about environmental management at the value chain level by exploring the concept of environmental upgrading and its implications in terms of economic upgrading and greening of industries. Leveraging on the global value chain and environmental managerial literature, the paper develops an integrated theoretical framework to analyse environmental upgrading trajectories and their implications in terms of firms' green strategies based on case studies in the Italian home‐furnishing industry. Empirical evidence suggests that firms develop green strategies to reduce environmental impacts while achieving economic benefits and competitiveness, which may be internal to the firm but also apply to value chains, with different implications in terms of bargaining power and value appropriation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

浅谈初期环境评审的内容

在建立和实施ISO14001环境管理体系的过程中,做好初期环境评审工作十分重要。本文对初期环境评审的主要内容进行了探讨。     

Outcomes of Environmental Management Systems: the Role of Motivations and Firms’ Characteristics

This article analyzes the influence of the sources of motivation that lead companies to adopt environmental management systems (EMSs) on the outcomes of these systems. A set of hypotheses derived from an extensive review of the literature is analyzed using cluster analysis – in order to identify groups of companies – as well as correlation and regression analyses, with data obtained from a survey of 361 Spanish organizations that have environmental certification. The results reveal that, for the groups identified, companies from the holistic cluster (with high levels of both internal and external drivers) and from the internal focus cluster (with more intensive internal sources of motivation) secure greater benefits from the process of adopting an EMS. This article also sheds light on the influence on the outcomes of some variables that have been under‐researched, such as the economic resources invested in an EMS and whether or not the certified companies belong to a sector with high environmental pressure. The findings help to characterize the firms with environmental certification and may also help managers, policy makers and other stakeholders to anticipate the potential benefits of EMSs. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

投资者认知、审计质量与公司价值

投资者认知是决定市场资源配置的重要因素,认知水平越高,公司价值越大。审计作为一种降低信息不对称的制度安排,能够影响公司信息传递,进而正向调节认知效应;审计还具有缓解代理冲突的功能,而代理成本与审计质量存在对应关系,因此审计质量也体现为对认知效应的负向调节。我国股市目前主要体现为后一种情况,表明审计提升公司价值的主要路径是缓解公司的代理冲突,公司对高质量审计的需求动机远比满足投资者信息需求的动机更为强烈。聘用大型事务所能够向市场投资者传递积极信号,对认知提升公司价值的效应有正向调节作用。审计模式选择需要考虑公司的信息传递特征,并与投资者对公司的认知水平相契合。     

管理体系整合的问题与对策

阐述了体系整合中存在的兼容性问题、范围问题、文化问题,并分析了这些问题对体系整合的影响。     

Environmental management systems and environmental product innovation: The role of stakeholder engagement

Environmental product innovation (EPI) is an imperative for contemporary business as it enhances firm competitiveness and provides significant societal benefits. Arguments that the use of environmental management systems—such as ISO 14001—may enhance EPI have not been empirically supported. In this study, we argue that the environmental management systems–EPI relationship is contingent upon the level of a firm's engagement with three groups of stakeholders, namely, suppliers, customers, and the local community. Using a sample of 1,314 manufacturing firms for the period 2003 and 2014, we find empirical evidence that supports our hypothesis for all three groups of stakeholders. Further analysis reveals that for firms with prior experience with quality management systems, engagement with local communities becomes the critical condition. We discuss the implications of these results for both theory and practice.     

Setting Strategies outside a Typical Environmental Perspective Using ISO 14001 Certification

The scope of this research is to evaluate whether ISO 14001 certification could be used as a strategic vehicle for achieving objectives that are not strictly linked to a technical and operative perspective, and to determine what these objectives are. In order to find these objectives, a review of the literature was first conducted to determine what they were and seven hypotheses emerged. The hypotheses concerned the possibility of using ISO 14001 as a strategy for achieving objectives related to finance and turnover, customer satisfaction, community satisfaction, employee satisfaction, health and safety in the workplace, and growth and skills of employees. The validity of each hypothesis was tested via a survey of 164 managers of European manufacturing companies. This research produced interesting findings, some of which contradicted the findings of other research, in particular for financial and turnover objectives. In addition, the research revealed interesting relationships between employees' skills and issues such as Design for the Environment and Sustainability. Furthermore, some limitations of ISO 14001 with respect to the Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme regulation emerged. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

浅析环境管理体系的持续改进

持续改进是环境管理体系的核心思想,是建立充分、适宜和有效的体系的关键。本文探讨了组织要做好五方面的评价工作,及时更新体系要素,并对改进环境管理体系、更有效地实施该体系提出了一些看法。     

Impact of Environmental Performance on Firm Value for Sustainable Investment: Evidence from Large US Firms

This research examines the impact of environmental performance on firm value, applying the event study methodology to Newsweek’s ‘Green Rankings’ announcement of 2012 for large US firms. Specifically, it analyzes the impact of the absolute green score and green rank of firms on their performance in the stock market. We found that investors perceive the announcement as positive news, leading to significant positive standardized cumulative abnormal returns (SCARs). After controlling for industry‐ and firm‐specific effects, we observed that firms with repeated green rankings for enhancing environmental performance showed significantly higher SCARs than those with either reduced or unchanged environmental performance. In addition, the environmental impact score measuring environmental damage from a firm's operational activities was found to be the most influential factor in improving the firm's value. Our findings are beneficial to managers in allocating resources to different types of environmental initiative, and provide valuable insight for sustainable environmental investment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

企业财务管理如何以全新模式提升企业价值——价值管理与市值管理的整合

本文将从介绍价值管理与市值管理以及两者的整合为主要内容,在为企业挑选出最适合的财务评估方法的同时,为相关企业提升企业价值、规避潜在的财务风险,进行更好的财务管理提供借鉴。     

股权结构、隧道挖掘与公司价值的实证研究

本文应用大小股东之间代理冲突的理论分析框架,研究了股权结构对于大股东隧道挖掘行为以及公司价值的影响。研究发现,大股东的隧道挖掘行为与其持股比例成显著的倒U型关系,股权制衡能够抑制隧道挖掘行为和缓解大、小股东之间的代理冲突;公司价值与第一大股东持股比例成显著的U型关系,股权制衡能在一定程度上提升公司价值,但效果不显著。研究结果证明,投资者能够识别股权结构所代表的代理问题,并给代理问题较大的公司予以较低的定价。     

整合绩效管理与企业价值提升战略的实现

基于价值的管理是伴随着现代企业制度与资本市场的发展而逐步产生和确立的理论体系和实践方法,现已成为西方企业界一种主要的企业管理模式。本文借鉴整合绩效管理的管理控制理念,主张运用整合绩效管理的管理理念来保证企业价值提升战略的实现,达到股东价值最大化的管理目标,从而实现企业价值提升策略,完善从策略提出到策略实现的企业价值管理模式。     

论多元化经营对企业价值的影响

对多元化经营与企业价值之间的关系进行了论述。并结合国内企业多元化经营的实施效果,就如何将多元化经营与提高企业自身价值紧密结合起来进行探讨,希望能对中国企业经营的价值取向有所启示。     

国有企业实施ISO14001标准的现状与难点

国有企业实施ISO14001标准的效益显著,但目前实施该标准的相对较少。分析了国有企业存在的困难,提出了改进建议。     

Pains and gains of environmental management system certification for the sustainable development of manufacturing companies: Heterogeneous effects of industry peer learning

Environmental sustainability is a growing global concern. Environmental management systems (EMS) could be an effective strategic tool to help firms deal with their sustainable development. However, whether EMS certification pays off financially and how it takes effect can be debated. Thus far, these questions remain largely under‐researched. In particular, the effects of EMS certification on financial performance are inconclusive, and the reasons explaining the effects are underdeveloped. This study aims to enrich the current research by exploring the mediating and moderating roles from the perspective of cost‐efficiency trade‐offs to reveal how EMS certification affects financial performance. Applying a PROCESS procedure analysis and causal mediation analysis to a sample of 1,751 Chinese listed manufacturing firms from 2008 to 2016, this study shows that the effect of EMS certification on firms' financial performance is insignificant because their operating costs burden increases while their marketing efficiency and managerial efficiency improve. For the first time, this study demonstrates the moderating role of industry peer learning, as the mediating effects decrease with the growth of industry peer learning.     

抵押房地产的公开市场价值、抵押价值及变现价值

在金融机构发放抵押贷款时,抵押房地产的价值是确定房地产抵押贷款的贷款额的一个重要参数。我国《房地产抵押估价指导意见》规定:房地产抵押估价采用公开市场价值标准,房地产抵押价值等于假定未设立法定优先受偿权利下的市场价值减去房地产估价师知悉的法定优先受偿款。但是,金融机构通过变卖或拍卖方式行使处置权和收益权得到变现净值或清算净值,因而金融机构房地产抵押所追求的是“变现净值”或“清算净值”标准,不是公开市场价值标准。所以,金融机构要防范金融风险,科学确定房地产抵押贷款的贷款额,就必须准确界定抵押房地产的市场价值、抵押价值和变现价值。     

ISO 14001, EMAS and environmental performance: A meta‐analysis

The adoption of voluntary environmental certifications such as ISO 14001 and Eco‐Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) has gained momentum in the last two decades. The scholarly literature has analyzed in depth the performance implications of the adoption of these certificates. Yet the findings are scattered and inconclusive. This article aims to shed light on this issue by meta‐analyzing the influence of the adoption of voluntary environmental certifications on corporate environmental performance, drawing on a sample of 53 scholarly studies analyzing a total of 182,926 companies. The findings show a positive influence of ISO 14001 and EMAS certifications on corporate environmental performance. A set of underlying moderating effects are also identified, such as a more pronounced positive effect for adoptions based on environmental innovation and for firms with a more mature certification. Implications for scholars, managers, and other stakeholders are discussed.