Ir. D.J. Haverkamp: "Environmental management in the Dutch food and beverage industry"

Industry is increasingly showing interests in environmental issues, which is partly fed by the public debate on global warming. However, not all firms are equally environmentally active. Important questions to answer are: Which actors are influencing the attention for environmental management? And how can government stimulate firms to develop it? This thesis provides an answer on these questions by evaluating the development of environmental management in firms in the Dutch food and beverage industry in the period 2002 till 2005. In addition to government and societal groups, commercial chain and network actors, such as suppliers and buyers, but also bank and insurance firms, appear to have become increasingly important. In order to improve environmental performance, public-private cooperative initiatives (e.g. environmental covenants) and subsidies for environmental product innovations turn out to be effective policy instruments. Furthermore, the present study demonstrates that firms striving for environmental excellence pay more attention to the whole product life-cycle implementing environmentally friendly product (re)design from a cradle-to-cradle perspective. However, these practices are found in a few firms only.

Title thesis:  "Environmental Management in the Dutch Food and Beverage Industry. A Longitudinal Study into the Joint Impact of Business Network and Firm Characteristics on the Adoption of Environmental Management Capabilities"