Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2. Green IT conceptual framework
Strategy
Key resources
Institutional isomorphism
Expected Competitive
advantage
Tactical green IT Strategy
IT infrastructure
Coercive isomorphism
Cost reduction
Strategic proactive green IT
strategy
+ IS human and organizational
capital
+ Mimetic isomorphism
+ Knowledge creation
Sustained green IT strategy
+ IS partnership quality
+ Normative isomorphism
+ long-term sustained competi-
tive advantage
responsibilities (Broadbent and Weill, 1993). In
this case, we argued that companies making no ef-
forts to address or respond to environmental issues
are adopting no Green IT strategy, considering the
definition of strategy as “a plan of action designed
to achieve particular goals by allocating resources
necessary for carrying out these goals” (Chandler,
1997). Thus, we excluded the reactive/passive
strategy formulation found in previous strategic
research, and focused on the formulation of proac-
tive strategy. According to the key IT resources
under institutional isomorphism, we subdivided
Green IT strategy into three categories: tactical
green IT strategy, strategic proactive green IT
strategy, and sustained green IT strategy (Table 2).
coercive isomorphism (Powell and DiManggio,
1991). Coercive pressures on organizations may
be affected by a variety of sources, including
resource-dominant organizations, regulatory
bodies, and parent corporations, and are also built
into exchange relationships (Teo
et al
., 2003).
Regulations operate as a form of buffer until
new technologies become proven and learning
effects become less expensive (Porter and van
der Linde, 1995).
Investments in pollution reduction technology
can reduce material, energy, and service costs, and
can also improve efficiency (Porter and van der
Linde, 1995; Hart, 1995). Hart (1995) has dem-
onstrated that the negative impacts of pollution
can be reduced via either prevention or control.
Pollution control refers to efforts to trap, store,
treat, and dispose of emissions and effluents. This
includes the clean-up of damage from previous
operations, the addition of devices to existing
processes to capture/treat pollutants (e.g. end of
pipe technologies) and the disposal of hazardous
wastes. On the other hand, pollution prevention
refers to efforts to reduce, change, or prevent the
creation of pollutants and wastes throughout the
production cycle (Christmann, 2000). Via pollu-
tion prevention strategies, companies may realize
significant savings, resulting in cost advantages
relative to their competitors (Hart and Ahuja,
1994). Pollution prevention may also save not
only the cost of installation and operation of end-
of-pipe pollution control devices, but may also
increase productivity and efficiency (Hart, 1995).
Moreover, it may reduce the costs of raw materials
1. Tactical Green IT Strategy
Previous studies have demonstrated that cost re-
duction is the initial objective of a firm attempting
to incorporate green strategies. Enterprise with
technology and vision to provide products and
services that address environmental issues is likely
to achieve a competitive advantage by reducing
energy costs (Vykoukal
et al
., 2009). Tactical
green strategies can be selected by investing in
IT infrastructure with the principal initiative be-
ing to reduce costs, and can also be regarded as
an effort to mitigate government regulations. The
investment in physical capital of environmental
management practices, including environmental
technology, can enable the firm to achieve superior
performance (Lucas 2009). As a regulation mitiga-
tion effort, this is consistent with the concept of
