Environmental strategy
Environmental strategy describes the way to implement environmental protection as a corporate goal .
The natural environment is becoming an economically and ecologically scarce factor. Companies perceive this state either themselves or through the requirements of their stakeholders , e.g. customers or the public. Depending on the perceived intensity and type of ecological impact , companies will define ecological orientation as a corporate goal to varying degrees. In order to be able to successfully implement this corporate goal, it is necessary to translate it into a concrete, suitable environmental strategy. Ecological orientation can be understood as the orientation of business decisions towards ecological scarcity.
definition
Environmental strategy is the sub-strategy of the corporate strategy for mastering the challenges that arise in connection with the ecological environment. The environmental strategy serves to achieve the corporate goal of ecological orientation and can therefore be understood as a link between this and the operational measures.
Systematization
Typology according to Steger
For its systematization, Steger chooses a matrix display that combines market opportunities and risks. The ordinate shows market opportunities through environmental protection (as external future factors) and the abscissa the risk exposure through environmental protection (as an internal condition factor).
- Indifferent strategy
Ecological orientation is not a strategic alternative if a company is neither exposed to risks nor market opportunities through environmental protection.
- Risk-based strategy
If a company sees no market opportunities, but is exposed to medium to high risk, risk management is the focus. Any environmental protection initiatives emanating from the company are primarily aimed at securing the company's continued existence.
- Opportunity-oriented strategy
If a company is faced with medium to high market opportunities with simultaneously low to medium risk exposure, the benefit from market opportunities is paramount for the company. For example, environmental friendliness can be seen as an additional product benefit for the customer.
- Innovation-oriented strategy
If a company is faced with both high market opportunities and high risk exposure through environmental protection, innovations help to reduce environmental pollution and take advantage of market opportunities.
Typology according to Meffert and Kirchgeorg
Heribert Meffert and Manfred Kirchgeorg derive five basic environmental strategies based on strategy features:
- resistance
With regard to the ecology-oriented adaptation intensity, resistance strategies are to be classified as passive. In order to maintain the status quo , a confrontation with social and market-related environmental protection demands is sought. Resistance strategies basically counteract the achievement of ecological objectives in the sense of avoiding and reducing environmental pollution and in the long term can endanger the social legitimacy of companies.
- passivity
Passivity is characterized by “non-behavior” and ignorance of environmental problems. However, since this ignorance is not actively conveyed to the outside world, it is likely that the legitimacy of the companies will be less affected than with the resistance strategy.
- Relocation or withdrawal strategy
Here, the companies are aware of causing environmental problems, but do not see any adequate adaptation options for solving them. Rather, they try to evade stricter environmental protection requirements, either by relocating abroad or by completely withdrawing from the affected area.
- Adaptation strategy
As part of this strategy, environmental protection requirements are taken into account in response to legal regulations. This means that the resulting adaptations are developed reactively and in isolation for specific current environmental problems. Environmental protection opportunities are therefore not met in an innovative way.
- Anticipation and innovation strategy
With this strategy, companies localize ecological problem areas independently of social or market-related environmental protection requirements, which are countered with an integrated innovative strategy. In this way, ecological competitive advantages can be achieved to a particularly high degree.
literature
- H.-G. Baum, AG Coenenberg , T. Günther: Strategisches Controlling Stuttgart 2004
- E. Günther: Ecology-oriented management. Environmental (world-oriented) thinking in business administration , Stuttgart 2008
- H. Meffert, M. Kirchgeorg: Market-oriented environmental management , Stuttgart, 1993
- H. Meffert, M. Kirchgeorg: Market-oriented environmental management , Stuttgart, 1998
- U. Steger: environmental management. Experiences and instruments of an environmentally oriented corporate strategy , Wiesbaden, 1993