Environmental Management: Principles and practice

Corporate visions of stewardship—a paradigm shift to
environmental management ethics?
‘Fordism’ of the 1920s to 1960s emphasized mass production, mass consumption,
corporate control and resource exploitation (Amin, 1994:2). Since the 1960s various
thinkers, ‘barefoot economists’ and environmentalists have questioned growing

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CHAPTER THREE
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consumerism, i.e. excessive consumption, stimulated through marketing (Elkington
and Hailes, 1988; Adams et al., 1991). The problem is, how will people (consumers)
and business (supplying the consumers) shift to something more supportive of
environmental goals? Hawken (1993) in The Ecology of Commerce argued that free
market capitalism, the economic and social credo of most of the world, must rapidly
shift to a ‘restorative economy’ based on ‘industrial ecology’ (see later this chapter).
Only business, he argued, and no other human institution, has the power to make
adequate changes. Allenby and Richards (1994) also saw industrial ecology as a
means of integrating environmental concern with economic activity.
Whether it is termed post-Fordian, postmodern or post-industrial, what Hawken
and others argue is that the world’s future economy should be organized with guiding
principles coming from industrial ecology. These post-Fordians seem convinced that
the profit motive will be replaced by a more environmentally sensitive approach.
Some even suggest that environmental management values are supplanting
shareholder interests and a paradigm shift is beginning. However, there is a risk that
‘greening’ of business is appearance rather than substance, simply the adoption of
environmental management tools to improve profits and public relations (Garrod
and Chadwick, 1996).
While there might seem to be few incentives at present to encourage a shift to
better environmental management, there have been efforts to promote it (Greeno
and Robertson, 1992:224; Welford, 1996; 1997). One of the more significant moves
has been the publication in 1991 of a Business Charter for Sustainable Development
by the International Chamber of Commerce at the 1991 World Industry Conference
on Environmental Management (see Box 3.1). One of the first questions asked by
business of such proposals is ‘can they improve financial performance as well as
lead to sustainable development?’. Klassen and McLaughlin (1996) put this to the
test, and concluded from studies of firms’ performances that the adoption of
environmental management did increase profits.