Greening the Firm: The Politics of Corporate Environmentalism [Paperback]

Aseem Prakash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2000

Over the past two decades environmental issues have become important in public and business policy. This book asks why firms sometimes voluntarily adopt environmental policies that go beyond legal requirements. Prakash argues that existing explanations, especially from neoclassical economics, concentrate on external factors at the expense of internal dynamics. His argument is supported by analysis of two firms, Baxter International Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company, including interviews with managers, and access to meetings and documents. The book will be of interest to students of business and environmental studies, as well as political economy and public policy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Prakash should be commended for providing a wealth of valuable research questions for the future." Administrative Science Quarterly

Book Description

Over the last two decades environmental issues have become important in public and business policy. This book asks why firms sometimes voluntarily adopt environmental policies which go beyond legal requirements. Prakash argues that existing explanations, especially from neoclassical economics, concentrate on external factors at the expense of internal dynamics. His argument is supported by analysis of two firms, including interviews with managers, and access to meetings and documents. The book will be of interest to students of business and environmental studies, as well as political economy and public policy.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (April 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 052166487X
• ISBN-13: 978-0521664875
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,969,859 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Previews and Book Description, September 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Greening the Firm: The Politics of Corporate Environmentalism (Hardcover)

Previews:

"Greening the Firm makes an important and original contribution to the literature on corporate environmentalism. This well-researched and theoretically sophisticated analysis links the study of environmental management to both organizational theory and political science. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in better understanding the dynamics of the business response to environmentalism." ---- David Vogel, University of California, Berkeley

"A 'must' reading for political scientists, business strategists, economists, and all others interested in corporate responses to environmental challenges. Aseem Prakash shows how a combination of disciplined empirical inquiry guided by insightful theoretical probes generates new understandings transcending the common wisdom. This book contributes to the theory of the firm as well as to the emerging literature at the intersection of environment, business, and policy analysis." ---- Nazli Choucri, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"Greening the Firm shines the light of analysis where it has seldom been -- inside the "black box." It explores and explains why some firms pursue beyond compliance environmental activities while others do not based upon their internal processes, players, and politics. The book helps advance the debate about corporate greening beyond "one-size-fits-all" prescriptions based upon external pressures alone." ---- Stuart Hart, University of North Carolina

Book Description:

Greening the Firm examines why firms selectively adopt "beyond-compliance" environmental policies, the ones that are more stringent than the requirements of extant laws. It employs a new-institutionalist perspective and also draws insights from sociological institutional theory and stakeholder theory. It argues that existing explanations, especially neoclassical economic theory, based on factors external to firms are under-specified and a focus on internal dynamics is also required. "Beyond-compliance" policies are adopted, if at all, due to two types of intra-firm processes: power-based and leadership-based.

It focuses on ten cases in two firms: Baxter International Inc. and Eli Lilly and Company. Data was collected by interviewing numerous managers, attending environmental policymaking meetings, and examining internal documents. Consequently, this book is one of the select few that actually examine the internal working of firms on environmental issues in a theoretically rigorous way. It makes a significant theoretical contribution to a broader set of literature often subsumed under the "theory of firm" and its findings and conclusions are generalizable across firms and issue areas.

Aseem Prakash is Assistant Professor, Department of Strategic Management and Public Policy at the School of Business and Public Management; Department of Political Science; and The Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University, Washington, DC