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This article aims to provide an analysis of the joint impact of the business network and the company's internal resources on the level of environmental management (EM) deployment.

Correlation, regression and cluster analyses of data gathered in 2005 in the Dutch food and drink (F&D) industry were carried out.

The deployment of managerial capabilities that support ecological modernization (such as supply chain cooperation and network information exchange, or product‐redesign) in the Dutch F&D industry is low. The results show that different company profiles are connected with specific drivers and barriers for environmental pro‐activeness. Prospector companies (a minority) are more pro‐active with respect to environmental capability building than defenders.

Comparative longitudinal studies of environmental management drivers in subsectors could improve the understanding of the factors that stimulate environmental performance.

Optimism that industry will enhance EM‐performance through radical market‐induced innovation is misplaced. Instead, a contingency approach is in place. Public environmental policy with respect to the F&D industry should be adjusted to discernable managerial patterns and categories of companies. Voluntary cooperation, self‐governance, and market‐induced environmental innovation are only effective with respect to a minority of the companies.

The research opposes the existing foundation of public environmental policy on generic attributes assigned to the whole F&D‐industry and, consequently, of generic policies to improve environmental management performance. A differentiation of public policy should be based on the understanding of the drivers of managerial behavior.