Environmental management

This chapter introduces the basic concepts of environmental management, and extends the discussion to the selected topics in green supply chain management, environmental disclosure, and environmental reputation. Environmental management is a management practice of reducing environmental impacts of organizations, which includes practices such as eco-design, waste reduction, recycling, reuse, adoption of cleaner technologies, and green logistics. The diffusion of environmental management systems across different organizational functions plays a key role in driving environmental management practices. Organization that has higher capability of environmental management can achieve better financial performance. Successful environmental management also requires vertical coordination and cooperation between suppliers and customers in supply chain. A positive environmental reputation is a valuable intangible asset of organizations that reflects successful fulfillment of stakeholders’ expectations. Although green advertising may be detrimental to organization by bringing about costs, there are also beneficial effects of publicizing information related organizational efforts on environmental protection. Overall, environmental management helps organizations to sustain economic viability without depleting environmental resources, and have been prioritized in the business world including big brands in electronics, consumer goods, transportation, and other industries.