【经岚传递】德国化工产业可持续发展的历史根源（1950-1990）

【经岚传递】16L67

德国化工产业可持续发展的历史根源（1950-1990）

编译/ZQ

本期【经岚传递】所介绍的是来自于Geoffrey Jones, Christina Lubinski发表在Havard Business School, working paper14-018(August 30, 2013)上的“Historical Origins of Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s-1980s”一文。

本工作论文主要探讨了1950年代到1980年代之间，西德化工产业企业环境保护主义的崛起。文章主要聚焦在两个化工企业，Bayer和Henkel，文章介绍了这两个化工企业在面临公众的环境政治压力后所逐步采取的环境保护战略，尽管德国的商界被当作为企业环境保护主义的引领者，但本研究却发现德国和美国的化工产业在1970年代前在环境保护上其实有着很大的相似性。而在1970年代后，这两个德国企业通过公共关系积极推动环境保护，从而与美国的同行“分道扬镳”。他们不仅接受了来自于公众的批评，而且还借此机会改变了企业文化。本工作论文认为并没有证据表明在德国企业为何更早采取可持续发展战略的原因中，是各种形式的资本主义（capitalism)发挥了作用。作者认为，这一方面与地区本身在环境保护上所发挥的重要作用有关，而另一方面，从组织社会学理论来看，也与企业绿色战略的公开性有着紧密的关联。

Abstract

This working paper examines the growth of corporate environmentalism in the West German chemical industry between the 1950s and the 1980s. It focuses on two companies, Bayer and Henkel and traces the evolution of their environmental strategies in response to growing evidence of pollution and resulting political pressures. Although German business has been regarded as pioneering corporate environmentalism, this study reveals major commonalities between the German and American chemical industries until the 1970s, when the two German firms diverged from their American counterparts in using public relations strategies not only to contain fallout from criticism, but also as opportunities for changes in corporate culture. The working paper finds no evidence for variety of capitalism explanations why German firms should have been early in their sustainability strategies, partly because of the importance of regional as opposed to national influences, but the study is supportive of organizational sociology theories which have identified the importance of visibility in corporate green strategies.

备注：经岚坊将定期追踪、介绍和传递国际学术界最新而有趣的环境经济学论文文献，希望推动环境经济学的学习和创新，如有兴趣加入到【经岚传递】的行列，请给本微信号留言，或者致信[e-mail]，我们将尽快给予回复。