The Dynamics of the Eco-Efficient Economy: Environmental Regulation and Competitive Advantage (In Association with the Belgian-Dutch Association for Institutional and Political Economy)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1840645628 ISBN 13: 9781840645620

Publisher: Edward Elgar Pub, 2001

Entrepreneurs and managers are increasingly aware that the environment can be both a threat and an opportunity to their current economic activities. This timely book discusses the question of environmental performance versus corporate practices and finds that environmental considerations can have a positive effect on business.

The perception of the environment as a means to achieve competitive advantage for companies is a relatively recent phenomenon. The contributors address how to create institutional environments that stimulate businesses to integrate the environment in strategic decision making and thereby promote eco-efficiency. Together they build a convincing argument that the economy-environment trade-off is a false stalemate: societal and market forces may impact on the environment and on business in positive, neutral or negative ways. The authors use evidence from the United States and Europe to demonstrate that environmental considerations can have a positive effect on the competitive advantage of firms.

This book draws together three fields - environmental economics, environmental regulation and strategic management - and will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners working in these areas.

About the Author:

Emiel F.M. Wubben, Associate Professor in Strategic Management, Management Studies Group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Review:

`This book can be recommended for managers, policymakers and researchers at the same time as it gives a holistic view taking different aspects of environmental economics, environmental regulations and competitiveness from different authors into account. It provides the reader with a combination of high quality information on theoretical aspects as well as case studies. This book is an important contribution helping to resolve the apparent contradiction of being economically competitive and environmentally conscious at the same time.' -- Steffen Beerbaum, Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture