NEWS RELEASE
November 22, 2002
Corporate
environmentalism as a strategic issue
(or why
warm fuzzy pictures of dolphins don’t cut it)
Over the
last 30 years as companies increasingly feel the pressure to be seen as
environmentally responsible ‘corporate citizens’, the number of
organisations purporting to be green has grown exponentially.
Consumers are bombarded with ads
by everyone from the Body Shop to Shell spruiking their environmental
credentials – but how do we know which companies are genuine? And how do
businesses that are serious about developing and maintaining a green image
integrate environmental concerns into their decision making?
The answer, says UniSA’s
Professor Bobby Banerjee, is to shift current thinking about corporate
environmentalism. Instead of seeing it as merely an ethical issue,
companies should acknowledge it as a strategic one that affects
profitability.
Professor Banerjee will speak at a
free public seminar, Managerial perceptions of corporate
environmentalism, on Monday, November 25 at
5.30pm
at UniSA’s City West Campus, as part of the Division of Business and
Enterprise’s
Working Links program.
“Companies like to portray
themselves as having an environmental ethic but most have the attitude ‘we
will be ethical only if it makes money for us’,” says Banerjee, a
Professor of Strategic Management at UniSA’s International Graduate School
of Management.
“It’s much easier to manufacture
the kind of platitudes that appeal to people who care about the
environment – or ‘green-wash’ – than it is to implement uniform policy
with real environmental benefits.”
Professor Banerjee says it’s a
better idea to convince corporates to go green by focussing on economic
and strategic benefits, rather than just ethical ones.
“I think it’s more effective to
focus on corporate environmentalism as a strategic issue, recognising that
it can be a real advantage, creating many benefits such as increased
production efficiency, competitive advantage, customer loyalty, better
relationships with government and non-governmental organizations.”
Professor Banerjee has recently
completed research looking at 240 US companies and their motivations for
introducing ‘green’ policy.
He says the most important factors
making companies take notice of environmental issues are legislation,
public concern, and commitment by top management.
Professor Banerjee says that while
in Australia public concern is high, our laws governing corporate
accountability on environmental issues are weaker with Australia
definitely behind the US and Europe in terms of legislation, and corporate
environmentalism.
He says it’s
only when companies are forced to factor the environmental costs into
their products that we will start to see a meaningful form of corporate
environmentalism.
“The implications of my research
is what we need is stronger legislation. We need to start measuring
environmental impact rather than putting pictures of dolphins on
products…we need to start putting the effect of the environment into the
costing of products.”
“In Germany
when you buy a car the manufacturer has to sign a contract saying they
will take the car back at the end of its life – which means they’re
starting to build cars for disassembling, where more parts can be recycled
and waste is kept to a minimum.”
Background on
the presenter
Bobby Banerjee
joined UniSA’s International Graduate School of Management as Professor of
Strategic Management in April 2002. He received his PhD from the
University of
Massachusetts in 1996 and has since held academic positions at the
University of Woolongong where he headed the doctoral program, and
RMIT
University where he was a Director of the Doctor of Business
Administration program.
Media Contacts
Professor Bobby Banerjee ph: (08) 8302 0876 mobile: 0425
733 657 home: 8339 1310 email: bobby.banerjee@unisa.edu.au
Charlotte
Knottenbelt (Media Officer, UniSA) Ph: (08) 8302 0578 Mobile: 0439 807 004
Fax: (08) 8302 0977 Email:
charlotte.knottenbelt@unisa.edu.au
