基于成本的环境管理

ForthcomingintheAcademyofManagementJournal1EFFECTSOFBESTPRACTICESOFENVIRONMENTALMANAGEMENTONCOSTADVANTAGE:THEROLEOFCOMPLEMENTARYASSETSPetraChristmannTheDardenSchoolUniversityofVirginiaBox6550Charlottesville,VA22906-6550Tel:[phone]Fax:[phone]e-mail:[e-mail],December13,1999AcceptedforPublicationintheAcademyofManagementJournal,SpecialResearchForumonOrganizationsandtheNaturalEnvironmentThisarticleisbasedonmydissertationresearchattheAndersonSchoolofManagementatUCLA.Iofferspecialthankstomydissertationcommittee,especiallytomydissertationco-chairsJosedelaTorreandGeorgeYip.IalsowouldliketothankAlanBeckenstein,DonaldHatfield,DeviGnyawali,theco-EditoroftheSpecialIssueAnneIlinitch,andthreeanonymousreviewersfortheirhelpfulcommentsatvariousstagesofthiswork.Allerrorsandomissionsremainmyown.FinancialsupportForthcomingintheAcademyofManagementJournal2fromtheCenterforInternationalBusinessEducationandResearch(CIBER)attheAndersonSchoolofManagementatUCLAandfromtheDardenFoundationisgratefullyacknowledged.ForthcomingintheAcademyofManagementJournal3EffectsofBestPracticesofEnvironmentalManagementonCostAdvantage:TheRoleofComplementaryAssetsABSTRACTEmpiricalresearchontheeffectsofbestpracticesofenvironmentalmanagement,whichenablefirmstosimultaneouslyprotecttheenvironmentandreducecosts,onfirmperformancehassofarignoredtheroleofexistingfirmresourcesandcapabilities.Drawingontheresource-basedviewofthefirm,thisstudyanalyzeswhethercomplementaryassetsarerequiredtogaincostadvantagefromimplementingbestpractices.Usingsurveydatafrom88chemicalcompanies,resultsindicatethatcapabilitiesforprocessinnovationandimplementationarecomplementaryassetsthatmoderatetherelationshipbetweenbestpracticesandcostadvantage,asignificantfactorindeterminingfirmperformance.ForthcomingintheAcademyofManagementJournal4ThecostsofenvironmentalprotectionforfirmsintheUnitedStateshaveincreasedconsiderablysincethe1970sandareexpectedtoincreaseevenfurtherinthefuture(EnvironmentalProtectionAgency,1991;U.S.DepartmentofCommerce,1996).Thesubstantialnatureofenvironmentalprotectioncostsimpliesthatstrategiesthataffectthesecostsareanimportantdeterminantofafirm'scompetitiveposition.Theenvironmentalmanagementliteraturesuggeststhatfirmscanimprovetheircompetitivepositionandatthesametimereducethenegativeeffectsoftheiractivitiesonthenaturalenvironmentbyimplementingcertainbestpracticesofenvironmentalmanagement(Cairncross,1992;Hart,1995;Schmidheiny,1992;Smart,1992;Shrivastava,1995b).Studiesintheenvironmentalmanagementliteraturehaveidentifiedthesebestpracticesfromcasestudiesoffirmsthathavesuccessfullycreatedcompetitiveadvantagethroughtheirenvironmentalstrategies,suchas3M(Shrivastava,1995b)orDow(Smart,1992).Yet,currentresearchhasnotprovidedinsightsintopreciselyhowthesecase-studyfirmsmanagetheprocessofimplementingbestpracticesofenvironmentalmanagementtoachievethedesiredbenefits.Assuch,developingadeeperunderstandingoftheprocessofimplementingthese“bestpractices”seemskeyindeterminingwhethersuchpracticescanconfercompetitiveadvantageonalladoptingfirmsoronlyonthosefirmsthatpossessexistingassetsthatenablethemtocapitalizeonsuchpractices.Thatis,theremaybesomethingproprietaryoruniqueaboutthesesuccessfulcase-studyfirmsthatmightnotberepresentativeof,andthusgeneralizableto,alargerpopulationoffirms.Thispapertakesastrategicmanagementapproachtothisimportantimplementationissue.Whilestrategicmanagementperspectivesusedtobeabsentfromthenaturalenvironmentliterature(Hosmer,1994;Shrivastava,1994;Throop,Starik,&Rands,1993),somerecentworkappliesresource-basedstrategyperspectivestotheanalysisofenvironmentalstrategies(Aragón-Correa,1998;Hart,1995;Marcus&Geffen,1998;Maxwell,Rothenberg,Briscoe&Marcus,1997;Rugman&Verbeke,1998;Russo&Fouts,1997,Sharma&Vredenburg,1998).Specifically,Reinhardt(1998)hasarguedthatForthcomingintheAcademyofManagementJournal5notallfirmsmightbeabletocreatecompetitiveadvantagefromimplementingenvironmentallyresponsiblestrategiesandthatmoreattentionneedstobepaidtothecircumstancesunderwhichresponsibleenvironmentalstrategiescontributetocompetitiveness.Hisexamplesofenvironmentalproductdifferentiationsuggestthatwhetherornotafirmcangaindifferentiationadvantagefrombeingenvironmentallyresponsibleprimarilydependsonexternalcontingencies,suchasthestructureoftheindustryandcharacteristicsoftheproductmarketinwhichthefirmcompetes.Reinhard's(1998)externalcontingencyfocuscomplementsthispaper,whichanalyzeshowfactorsinternaltothefirmaffecttherelationshipbetweenenvironmentalpracticesandcompetitiveness.Thisstudyemploystheresource-basedviewofthefirm(Barney,1986,1991;Dierickx&Cool,1989;Rumelt,1984,1991;Penrose,1959;Wernerfelt,1984)andTeece’s(1986)conceptofcomplementaryassetstoaddressthequestionofwhetherafirm'sexistingassetsmoderatetherelationshipbetweenbestpracticesofenvironmentalmanagementandcompetitiveness.Complementaryassetsaredefinedasresourcesthatarerequiredtocapturethebenefitsassociatedwithastrategy,atechnology,oraninnovation.Whilemuchoftheenvironmentandstrategyresearchsuggeststhattherei