Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and may cause other environmental problems.
The second one focuses on the improvement of
environmental performance by using pollution
prevention activities such as good housekeeping,
process improvements, waste management, etc.
The last one is related to how companies select
cleaner sources and input material during their
operations and production processes. By measur-
ing the ability of the aforementioned three areas,
the environmental performance of a company
can thus be evaluated. In addition, Sroufe (2006)
gave another 30 examples of environmental per-
formance indicators, as shown in Table 6. Sroufe
(2006) also indicated that managers should pay
attention to corporate environmental reports, as-
sessment of second tier suppliers, and documented
processes for managing hazardous waste, pollu-
tion, environmental management systems (EMS),
and reverse logistics.
for the industry or they earn higher profits than
other competitors under the same production costs
(Hill and Jones, 2001). If the company sustains
competitive advantage for many years, it achieves
“sustainable competitive advantage”.
A competitive advantage is achieved by of-
fering consumers greater value, better services
and products, or owning a lower price/cost for its
production compared to their competitors. Barney
(1991) indicated that if a firm has a competitive
advantage, the firm can implement a strategy in the
specific market when currently other competitors
are not competing in the same market. Moreover,
Porter (1991) identified that competitive advan-
tage often comes from providing customers with
better value than competitors.
In addition, if a company can produce a prod-
uct at a lower opportunity cost (better economic
value) than competitors, then the company has a
competitive advantage in the market (Peteraf and
Barney, 2003). According to the authors, there
are two different types of competitive advantage.
One is differentiation-based competitive advan-
tage which has a greater benefit at the same cost
when producing products and services compared
to competitors, another one is efficiency-based
competitive advantage which has the same ben-
efit but at lower cost in production compared to
Competitive Advantage of Firms
It is important to enhance a firm's competitive
advantage because it means the company has better
market opportunities compared to its competitors.
The definition of the competitive advantage of a
firm is that the company produces their product
with the cost under the average production costs
Table 6. Examples of environmental performance indicators (Source: Sroufe, 2006)
1. Biodegradable / compostable (%)
2. Commitment to periodical environmental auditing
3. Contains no ozone depleting substances
4. Emissions and waste (per unit of product)
5. Energy efficiency label
6. Environmentally-responsible packaging
7. Global application of environmental standards.
8. Hazardous air emissions
9. Hazardous waste
10. Involvement in Superfund site.
11. ISO 14000 certification
12. Landfill - tons of waste per year
13. Longer shelf life than industry standard.
14. Number of hours of training on environment per employee.
15. Use of less hazardous alternative (% of weight/volume).
16. On Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hazardous
chemicals list.
17. Ozone depleting chemicals.
18. Participation in voluntary EPA programs.
19. Pre/post consumer recyclable content(%)
20. Public disclosure of environmental record.
21. Received any EPA/(RCRA non-compliance fines).
22. Resources and energy (per unit of product).
23. Secondary market for waste generated.
24. Second tier supplier environmental evaluation.
25. Solid waste.
26. Take-back or reverse logistics program.
27. Third party certification (eco labelling)
28. Total energy used.
29. Toxic pollution
30. Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) content (%).
