ISSUES IN THE I.MPLEMENTA~rION OF PROACTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES

Management consultants, environmental groups, and industry trade assodations have all recently offered guidelines Jor companies to improve environmental performance. I The guidelines suggest ways that companies can implement strategic change to move beljond compliance with regulation, assume responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products, and gain public credibility. Much of the advice offered can be useful to managers who are responding to rapidly changing environmental pressures. Nevertheless, in1plementation of son1e of the general guittelines could impose undue costs or introdtlce tlntoward organisational consequences for certain companies. WJ1ile mentioned as an issue in tIre management literattlre, companies need more systematic adllice on hOIO best to tailor these broad guidelines for environmental strategic change to the spedfic needs and capabilities of their con1panies. In addition, as many companies are comprised of diverse business units that are sometin1es linked together only throtlgh finandal controls, nzanagers nzust adapt environnzental managenlent progranls to uniqtle 'stlbstrtlctures' within the firm. These stlbstructtlres can differ dramatically in their environmental performance and their management capabilities. Elsewhere we have offered a framezoork for analysing environmental strategies and management programs.2 In this paper, we identify some of the implementation issues that confront companies when they introduce environmental strategic change. We argue that environmental strategies are most effectively implemented when they are consistent with the organisational characteristics and operating context of the company