Sandra Rothenberg, Brian Schenck and James Maxwell
The purpose of this paper is to better understand benefits and problems with different approaches to benchmarking environmental performance in manufacturing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand benefits and problems with different approaches to benchmarking environmental performance in manufacturing.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper shares the experience of a research program developing environmental benchmarking measures for the automobile industry.
Findings
In this paper, we categorize these options into four general categories: regulatory, gross emissions, efficiency, and life cycle. We found that firms emphasized different approaches to benchmarking depending upon regulatory context and company strategy. Product type, corporate and national culture, resource costs, stakeholder demands also all played a role in influencing their preferred benchmarking approach. Overall, the most robust environmental programs will incorporate elements of all four approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The primary limitation of this study is that it draws its data from only one industry. Another limitation of this paper is that it is focused primarily on performance benchmarking. Additional research needs to be done to understand the factors that influence a firm's choice of benchmarking metrics, the relationship between the different aspects of environmental performance benchmarking, and the relationship between performance and managerial benchmarking.
Practical implications
Firms must supplement strong environmental management systems with their benchmarking strategy. Using all four provides a more balanced benchmarking effort, and minimizes limitation that single measure of environmental performance present.
Originality/value
For manufacturing firms, this paper offers a framework to think about the costs and benefits of a range of environmental benchmarking strategies. For researchers, it outlines a number of areas for future research.
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Analyses the market for rapid prototyping equipment and reports on the rapid growth that this market has experienced over the last ten years. Highlights the companies that are…
Abstract
Analyses the market for rapid prototyping equipment and reports on the rapid growth that this market has experienced over the last ten years. Highlights the companies that are winning business and the technologies that are influencing growth. Outlines how low‐cost 3D printing machines for concept modelling will play an increasing role in the marketplace.
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Brian Aveney and Luba Heinemann
Developments in the area of automated acquisitions in libraries over the past ten years have been many and varied. Libraries today have the option of choosing among a number of…
Abstract
Developments in the area of automated acquisitions in libraries over the past ten years have been many and varied. Libraries today have the option of choosing among a number of off‐the‐shelf systems including turnkey mini‐ and microcomputer‐based systems, large central network systems and, more recently, distributed systems which try to make the best of both worlds.
Rod McNutt and Phillip C. Wright
Discusses nine successful managers; most are coaches or managers invarious sports. Each has a recipe for getting the most out of people.These principles are then applied to the…
Abstract
Discusses nine successful managers; most are coaches or managers in various sports. Each has a recipe for getting the most out of people. These principles are then applied to the world of business in a section titled: “Implications for practising managers”.
This selective annotated bibliography presents a snapshot of research published between 1990 and 1999 that has studied negative political advertising, primarily in the USA…
Abstract
This selective annotated bibliography presents a snapshot of research published between 1990 and 1999 that has studied negative political advertising, primarily in the USA. Political scientists, psychologists, communication theorists and marketing scholars have used experiments, surveys, and case studies to examine the impact of this type of advertising on voter beliefs and behavior. The author categorizes the literature by broad themes such as typologies, effects of negative ads, media coverage of political campaigns, and actual candidate behavior, and provides descriptive annotations of representative articles in each category. In addition, several scholarly books that discuss negative political advertising are annotated. Since the focus of this bibliography is on social science research, articles from the popular literature are not included.
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The University of Essex are offering a new series of short “Laser Workshop” courses during the Spring of 1980, which are designed to make a number of important laser applications…
Abstract
The University of Essex are offering a new series of short “Laser Workshop” courses during the Spring of 1980, which are designed to make a number of important laser applications more widely known in industry and experts from many organisations have agreed to participate.