Title: Organisational mechanisms in environmental management: an evolutionary analysis confronted with empirical facts

Authors: Arman Avadikyan, Daniel Llerena, Katrin Ostertag

Addresses: BETA, Universite Louis Pasteur, 38 Bld d'Anvers, 67070 Strasbourg, France. IREPD, Universite Pierre Mendes France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble, France. CIRED, 45 bis, ave de la Belle Gabrielle, 94736 Nogent sur Marne, France

Abstract: In this paper, we analyse the development of corporate environmental management systems through the core elements of the emerging evolutionary theory of the firm. The environmental management process means a process by which organisations change their structures and cultures as a result of an interlinked effort of individual learning and organisational transformation. We propose that effective environmental management capacities derive primarily from the adaptation of three constitutive mechanisms of firms: the coordination mechanisms, the cognitive mechanisms and the incentive mechanisms. Our theoretical results are supported by case studies in 12 industrial firms located in France (Alsace) and in Germany (Baden-Wurtemberg).

Keywords: environmental management; theory of the firm; incentive; cognitive and coordination mechanisms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2001.000739

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2001 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.45-60

Published online: 17 Jul 2003 *

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