Study Finds Management-Based Strategies Can Improve Environmental Performance, But No Panacea
Improvements in environmental quality depend largely on changes in private-sector management. In recognition of this fact, government and industry have begun to focus on shaping the internal management practices of private firms to supplement traditional regulatory approaches, such as using environmental technologies or setting emissions targets.
In January's ELR News & Analysis, Cary Coglianese and Jennifer Nash offer the first sustained treatment of both public- and private-sector initiatives to improve firms' environmental management in their article "Management-based Strategies for Improving Private-Sector Environmental Performance."
Synthesizing the results of a conference of leading scholars and policymakers organized by the Regulatory Policy Program at Harvard University, Coglianese and Nash consider whether management-based strategies can lead to improved environmental outcomes and, if so, how they can be designed to maximize effectiveness. Their findings show that management-based strategies can yield improvement in environmental outcomes. Nevertheless, the authors caution policymakers and scholars not to overstate the effectiveness of management-based strategies, as they will not always lead to significant improvement in firms' environmental performance.
The authors conclude that while management-based strategies cannot replace pure regulation as an approach to environmental protection, they are effective supplements to such regulation, and deserve greater consideration and research.
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