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Case Study

Environmental remediation - A problem to manage globally or locally?

By Stewart Hamilton and Ivan Moss

17 pages

July 2004

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Reference: IMD-3-1437

The case sets out a dilemma faced within International Paper (IP) in deciding how best to manage a particular set of environmental responsibilities and liabilities – remediation to repair past instances of environmental pollution. Remediation issues are resolved over long time-frames because of their technical and regulatory complexity. In addition, the regulatory environment has been continuing to evolve. The underlying case issue is how best to manage corporate social responsibilities where both the number of liabilities and the future costs are uncertain. In this case, the number of remediation issues faced, the costs of remediation and the impact of future regulatory inflation are all unpredictable. Consequently through this case students see the wider external and internal context within which companies must manage their corporate social and environmental responsibilities and the underlying reasons for conflicts of interests between the different stakeholders.

Keywords

Environmental Remediation, Environmental Reserves, Environmental Regulation, Centralization, Decentralization, Pulp, Paper

Settings

1998 - 2003

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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Teaching note

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