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Case Study

Better now than later

By Ulrich Steger and Shazia Ali Khan

5 pages

December 1999

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Reference: IMD-2-0085

Environmental Management Systems (EMS) have become intensively debated as a tool to reconcile economic and environmental progress. Based on extensive empirical investigations, a “typical” company was chosen to explain the options an Environmental Officer faces for the introduction of EMS. The case discusses the pros and cons of EMS and explains the longer term, often “softer”, benefits and the monetary costs involved. The availability of different variants with different cost-benefit-ratios (e.g. EMAS vs. ISO 14 000) are documented and applied to an economically driven business decision. The potential obstacles and resistance forces students to sharpen their arguments for and against EMS (therefore the case can be used as a basis of a role play).

Keywords

Environmental Officer, Eco-efficiency, ISO 14000, Corporate Sustainability Management

Settings

Europe
1999

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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