Environmental management and business strategy: Towards a new strategic paradigm

Abstract

There has been considerable debate in recent years regarding the direction in which environmental business strategy can be expected to develop in the future. This article seeks to investigate the extent to which firms have sought to change the basis of their strategic decision making, from a shareholder value paradigm to one reflecting an environmental focus. The results of a 1994 survey are reported and evaluated in the light of previous survey findings. Despite an increasing coverage in the literature of how individual firms have been responding to the environmental challenge, the findings of the present survey do not lend support to the view that there has been an underlying transformation in the process of strategic management. The findings tend to support the view that such a paradigm shift is more likely to take place in a legislative rather than a voluntary context.