Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
issues into business operations, such as increased
efficiency in the use of resources, return on invest-
ments, increased sales, the development of new
markets, improved corporate image, product dif-
ferentiation, and enhanced competitive advantage
(Albino
et al.
, 2009). Environmental technologies
have been purported to function as a potential
strategic resource, because they affect the value
chain at a number of points. These technologies
are capable of providing firms with unique and
inimitable advantages at each stage of the value
chain (Shrivastava, 1995).
Porter and Van Der Linde (1995) previously
demonstrated that companies may achieve com-
petitive benefits if they address the environmental
impacts via innovation offsets. These innovation
offsets are broadly divided into process offsets and
product offsets. Product offsets occur in cases in
which environmental regulation generates not just
less pollution, but also creates better performing
or higher quality products, safer products, lower
product costs, products with higher resale or scrap
value (due to ease of recycling or disassembly) or
lower product disposal costs for the user. These
process offsets might deliver a variety of benefits,
including:
•
Improvement in the product as a byproduct
of process changes
Process offsets occur in cases in which envi-
ronmental regulations not only lead to reduced
pollution, but also result in higher resource pro-
ductivity (Porter and Van der Linde, 1995). The
benefits can be gained in the following forms:
•
Higher quality, more consistent products
•
Lower product costs and packaging costs
•
More efficient use of byproducts
•
Safer products
•
Lower net costs of product disposal for
customers
•
Higher product resale and scrap value
Environmental technologies integrate envi-
ronmental considerations into many aspects of
business operations, thereby affecting the com-
petitive landscape in most sectors of the economy
(Shrivastava, 1995). By considering these possible
benefits, environmental technologies should be
aligned to harmonize technologies and businesses
with the natural environment (Shrivastava, 1995).
Thus, we determined that green IT facilitates dif-
ferent forms of competitive advantage in three
dimensions of technology: infrastructure, usage,
and strategic. Infrastructure value refers to the
nature of hardware and software platforms, annual
enhancements to these platforms, the nature of
network and data architectures, and the corporate
standards for the procurement and deployment of
IT assets (Sambamurthy and Zmud, 1999). The
usage value refers to the IT characteristics that
address the prioritization, planning, budgeting,
and day-to-day delivery of operations and services,
whereas strategic value refers to the manner in
which the companies use their IT capabilities to
generate knowledge (Sambamurthy and Zmud,
1999). We summarized the possible competitive
advantages achievable though Green IT adoption
(Shrivastava, 1995) into three value dimensions
•
Materials savings resulting from more
complete processing, substitution, reuse,
or recycling of production inputs
•
Increases in process yields
•
Less downtime through more careful mon-
itoring and maintenance
•
Better utilization of byproducts
•
Conversion of waste into valuable forms
•
Lower energy consumption during the pro-
duction process
•
Reduced material storage and handling
costs
•
Savings from safer workplace conditions
•
Eliminates activity costs involved in dis-
charges or waste handling, transportation,
and disposal
