An assessment of the EMAS standard in developing an effective environmental strategy: an analysis of certified companies in Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Federica Murmura ◽  
Laura Bravi ◽  
Gilberto Santos
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Benefits ◽  
Critical Areas ◽  
Heterogeneous Effects ◽  
Mail Address

PurposeThe study provides an overview of the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) standard and its potential in helping a company to improve its environmental performance. The work aims to investigate a company's perception towards the implementation of the EMAS environmental management system with the benefits and the critical areas derived from it, the overall assessment of the certification and its possible future developments.Design/methodology/approachThe study develops an empirical analysis of Italian EMAS III certified companies, through the administration of a questionnaire to all those Italian companies that were EMAS certified and that provided a valid e-mail address on the EMAS register. Overall, 231 Italian companies took part in the survey.FindingsThe results confirm the heterogeneous effects of an Environmental Management System depending on the company profile and highlight the positive influence of certification on environmental management. It emerges how the EMAS certification is approached more for internal reasons, and therefore gives more internal benefits to companies that implement it. Moreover, the time from which companies have been certified turns out to be a relevant factor for obtaining environmental and organizational benefits connected with EMAS certification.Originality/valueThe recent decrease in EMAS registrations has not been sufficiently studied, leaving unsolved questions for scholars, practitioners and policy-makers. Previous studies used a negativist perspective, identifying the barriers that led to the non-renewal of the certification. The present study aims to focus on the positive factors, which have led still active companies to renew the certification.

scholarly journals Environmental management system (EMS)

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 1233-1253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azilah Kasim
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Management System ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
Organization Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The paper aims to discuss the link or relationship between environmental management system (EMS) adoptions with organization learning (OL). It postulates that EMS adoption has the potential to catalyze organizational learning in hotels to make them more dynamic and competitive. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviewed the literature to link the purpose and steps involved in an EMS adoption with the benefit of managing organizational knowledge and OL. It also uses the literature to identify phases of learning in EMS adoption and the level of employees exposed to the learning. Findings – There are two reasons why more hotels should not be hesitant to adopt EMS: flexibility – EMS does not dictate the level of environmental performance a firm should achieve, thus giving hotel firms the flexibility to determine the level of sophistication of their environmental management; and the building of company’s dynamism – EMS facilitates organizational learning, leading to enhanced organizational performance. Research limitations/implications – The proposed link between EMS implementation with OL in this paper can only be proven by means of empirical studies. Practical implications – Understanding the OL value of EMS adoption may persuade more hotel practitioners to adopt it. Originality/value – This paper proposes a link between a systematic approach to managing environmental responsibility with knowledge management in hotels.

Analysis of the barriers in implementing environmental management system by interpretive structural modeling approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 1316-1335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan Yang ◽  
Xiongfei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Panel Discussion ◽  
Structural Modeling ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Interpretive Structural Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Textile And Apparel ◽  
Apparel Companies

Purpose This paper aims to identify the most influential barriers for environmental management system (EMS) adoption and determine the interactions of these factors in the context of Chinese textile and apparel industries. Design/methodology/approach The study has conducted two different research phases, namely, the identification of 13 barriers from the extensive literature available and expert panel discussion and using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) to investigate the complex relationships among these barriers and partition the barriers into a hierarchical structure to facilitate strategic analysis. Findings The obtained result demonstrates that insufficient information about customer’s demand is the most influential barrier. Furthermore, by analyzing the interrelationships among the barriers, management will become more aware of the barriers’ relative importance and focus on the barriers with stronger influence. Originality/value This work may help practitioners, academicians and regulators to focus their efforts toward implementation of EMS on various levels in business, especially for these textile and apparel companies operating in China.

scholarly journals Costs, Benefits, and Motivations for ISO 14001 Adoption in China and Around

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Susan Summers Raines ◽  
Tan Rong ◽  
Xu Fei
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
National Level ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
Iso 14001 ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Voluntary Standards ◽  
Iso 14001 Certification

In an attempt to overcome barriers to trade posed by numerous and often contradictory national-level enveironmental requirements, the International Orgnaization for Standardization (ISO) has created a voluntry set of uniform environmental management system guidelines for firms, formally known as ISO 14001. Firms may decide to implement an ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) and become third-party certified in order to improve their environmental management and to increase their marketability. This study examines the relative costs, benefits, and motivations for ISO 14001 certification for China compared to other economically developing and developed countries. These comparisons allow us to better understand the ways in which the unique economic and political conditions within China affect the incentives for Chinese firms to join in voluntary self-regulatory measures. Survey results indicate that ISO 14001 certified firms in China and experiencing benefits equal to or greater than their peers in other countries. Benefits to environmental management appear to be significant and they generally outweigh the costs of implementation and certification. However, as with most voluntary standards, the potential for abuse remains. Therefore regulators and policy makers are advised not to grant regulatroy relief or reduced inspections except on a case-by-case basis.

scholarly journals Characterisation of the drivers of environmental management system implementation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olugbenga Timo Oladinrin ◽  
Lekan Damilola Ojo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Management System ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Cultural Strategies ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
Large Enterprises

PurposeThe detrimental impacts of the construction industry activities, namely, toxicity of cement and concrete to the health of construction workers and the general public, have been reported in previous studies. Several environmental management measures were put in place by international organisations to reduce these impacts on humans and the entire ecosystem. Sadly, such environmental management measures are not widely embraced in the construction industry of developing countries. This contributes to the poor quality of life of construction stakeholders, amongst other outcomes. Therefore, this study investigated the drivers to facilitate an environmental management system (EMS) in the Nigerian construction industry (NCI).Design/methodology/approachquestionnaires retrieved from construction professionals in the micro, small, medium and large enterprises were used to conduct both descriptive and inferential statistics, namely, mean score, standard deviation, Kruskal–Wallis H test, post hoc test and factor analysis.FindingsThe analyses show that the drivers of EMS implementation in the NCI could be grouped into intellectual enhancement strategies, documentation and cultural strategies, and motivation and tracking strategies. The study concluded that training and education of relevant stakeholders, tracking compliance levels of organisations and recognising firms acting in compliance with stipulated “environmental” policy are essential. It was recommended that the collaboration of all construction stakeholders be upheld to aid EMS implementation in the NCI.Originality/valueThis paper investigated the drivers of EMS with the opinions of construction professionals in the mainstream of the NCI through survey using to ensure wide coverage of respondents. Investigating the view of construction professionals in the micro, small, medium and large enterprises helped determine possible significant differences. Thus, practical implications of the study were also provided in a systematic manner.

scholarly journals Environmental Performance Improvements and External Stakeholder Pressures in Companies with Certified Environmental Management System

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 76-83
Author(s):  
Tiberio Daddi ◽  
Sara Tessitore ◽  
Francesco Testa ◽  
Fabio Iraldo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Management System ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Performance Improvements ◽  
External Stakeholder ◽  
Stakeholder Pressures ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between environmental performance and Environmental Management Systems has been widely investigated by international researches. Despite this, our paper adds new perspectives to the current literature framework. First, it is focused on companies with an Environmental Management System registered according to EMAS Regulation, while many previous studies considered also ISO14001 certified companies. Second, to achieve the objectives of this paper, a wide sample of Italian companies was considered, and the results of a questionnaire survey filled out by 143 organizations are reported. In addition, this study points out the relationship between environmental performance and stakeholder pressures which have not been thoroughly investigated in previous papers. The results show that EMAS positively influences performance on some environmental aspects such as water consumption and emissions into the atmosphere, while this positive influence is not confirmed for other aspects. The Public Authorities represent the stakeholder identified by the survey as the main external pressure to improve environmental performance.

scholarly journals Student-led environmental management system in Chiba University

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1358-1375
Author(s):  
Sakiko Okayama
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Social Evaluation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Skills ◽  
Making Friends ◽  
The University

Purpose This paper aims to explain the student-led environmental management system (EMS) based on ISO14001 which Chiba University has continued for 15 years. It describes its structure “Chiba University Method”, the students’ activities and their collaboration with companies. It also analyzes the advantages and the issues. Readers can reconsider these mechanisms and results to examine whether they could introduce the student-led EMS in their own university. Design/methodology/approach Four critical points are explained concerning the “Chiba University Method”. The advantages are analyzed by the data and the questionnaire survey. Findings It has been found that student-led EMS has an effect of practical education on the students and an improvement of social evaluation on the university, as well as a reduction of environmental burdens. For students, in addition to the direct merit of obtaining credits, they receive a sense of accomplishment through gaining practical experience, thereby realizing improvements in business skills and making friends through activities. These are good incentives to participating in various activities. However, there are also problems that occur due to student-led EMS, and it is necessary for faculties to be aware and correspond with them. Research limitations/implications This paper is based on the experience of one Japanese University. Social implications As this case falls under the practical case of active learning, it is expected that other universities could also introduce this system. Originality/value It is rare that the students manage the EMS based on ISO14001 with educational effects included in the results. At Chiba University, moreover, students are making environmental contributions to local communities through collaboration with companies.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the integration level of quality and environmental management systems in a tire manufacturer

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thais Coutinho Gonçalves Silva ◽  
Rosley Anholon ◽  
Izabela Simon Rampasso ◽  
Osvaldo Luiz Gonçalves Quelhas ◽  
Walter Leal Filho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Management System ◽  
Quality Management System ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Environmental Management Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Integration Data

PurposeThis article aims to evaluate the integration level of a quality management system (QMS) and an environmental management system (EMS) in a tire manufacturer and propose a guide to evaluate the integration of these systems in companies.Design/methodology/approachThe methodological strategies used in this research were literature review; and case study, with interviews to verify professionals' perception about benefits from integration. Data from interviews were analyzed through Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS).FindingsThe results showed that the studied company has a simple level of integration, observing only some low intensity benefits. Thus, it was recommended that the company partially integrate its management systems (MSs) before evolving into something more complex. The literature and the findings of case study were used as basis for proposing a guide to evaluate MS integration.Originality/valueLessons learned throughout the study and the suggested guide can support other companies to assess the integration level of their QMS and EMS. Thus, the findings presented here can be useful for researchers and managers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document