Environmental Management in the Dutch Food and Beverage Industry: A Longitudinal Study into the Joint Impact of Business Network and Firm Characteristics on the Adoption of Environmental Management Capabilities

Because of the growing societal concerns regarding industrial environmental pollution, it is essential to get a deeper understanding of the factors influencing firms to reduce their environmental impact. This book considers these concerns by evaluating the importance of these factors in reference to environmental management in the Dutch food and beverage industry. It develops an integrated research framework building on the insideout and outside-in perspectives on environmental management. Empirical data were gathered in 2002 and 2005.This book provides interesting insights into the developments in this period showing that the impact of the business environment has extended from the traditionally important stakeholders, such as government and societal groups, to include commercial chain and network actors as well, including buyers and suppliers, but also bank and insurance firms. Furthermore, the analyses demonstrate that public-private voluntary agreements can be an effective policy instrument. Firms with a proactive business strategy appear to pay more attention to environmentally friendly product (re)design, which is crucial to reduce environmental impact from a cradle-to-cradle perspective. This book is of interest to environmental and general management in firms that want to reach environmental excellence. Policy implications are drawn for environmental policy-makers, environmental agencies and environmental interest groups that aim for stimulating firms to clean up.