University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

Table 1. Reasons for implementing environmental management systems in
surveyed companies
Reason
Indications
(%)
Weight
Striving to eliminate the company’s adverse impact on
the natural environment
58.36 3.61
Enhancing the company’s image 58.36 2.71
Striving towards compliance with the legal regulations in
the realm of environmental protection
54.80 3.45
Adopted strategy of company development 53.02 3.30
Striving to develop the existing quality management
system in line with ISO 9001
43.42 2.62
The clients’ expectations 28.47 3.09
The company managers’ expectations 19.22 2.91
Observing trends followed by other enterprises 18.86 2.30
The owners’ decision 18.15 3.37
Efforts to reduce costs 12.81 2.64
Efforts to enhance the company’s relations with the
central and local authorities
11.39 2.38
Striving to enhance relations with the local community 10.68 2.77
Efforts to boost sales 8.90 2.64
Requirement of the chief customer for our products 8.54 3.13
Efforts to increase market share 8.54 3.04
Opportunity to boost exports of the company’s products 4.63 2.62
The suppliers’ requirements 4.63 3.15
Source: the author’s own development based upon questionnaires.
692
An analysis of the replies also indicates that corporate environmental self-regulation
may result from stakeholder pressure which may be very generally categorized into
coercive and normative pressure. The former occurs when accompanied by any kind
of regulatory institution which imposes specific conduct on businesses. This
regulatory body may be a legislative institution (indirect pressure) as well as another
enterprise (direct pressure) placed higher in the production chain and whose
bargaining power is sufficient to impose specific conduct on the other businesses
placed lower in the production chain.
Information presented in Table 1 suggests that 54.80 % of the surveyed businesses
considered efforts towards compliance with the legal regulations in the realm of
environmental protection as a reason for implementing EMSs, 11.39 % of the
respondents mentioned endeavours to enhance the company’s relations with the
central and local authorities while 8.54 % suggested that measures were taken to
meet the expectations of the chief customer for their products. While EMSs are
voluntary, a business can me forced by another business entity to implement them. A
case in point are huge corporations in the automotive industry (e.g. General Motors)
which arrived at a situation where all the company’s trade partners and suppliers
have EMSs in place. Similarly, the growing pressure exerted by regulatory (local,
regional and state) bodies as reflected in introducing successive environmental
regulations, tightening the existing regulations, regular monitoring and control of