Exploring the locus of profitable pollution reduction

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: King, A; Lenox, M
• 署名单位: New York University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.48.2.289.258
• 发表日期: 2002
• 页码: 289-299
• 关键词: environmental strategy; waste prevention; Information economics

摘要

In this paper, we explore the locus of profitable pollution reduction. We propose that managers underestimate the full value of some means of pollution reduction and so under exploit these means. Based on evidence from previous studies, we argue that waste prevention often provides unexpected innovation offsets, and that onsite waste treatment often provides unexpected cost. We use statistical methods to test the direction and significance of the relationship between the various means of pollution reduction and profitability. We find strong evidence that waste prevention leads to financial gain, but we find no evidence that firms profit from reducing pollution by other means. Indeed, we find evidence that the benefits of waste prevention alone are responsible for the observed association between lower emissions and profitability.