Evaluating environmentally conscious business practices

Corporate environmental management is becoming more strategically oriented. With increased emphasis on the natural environmental by organizational stakeholders, including governments, stockholders, customers, employees and communities, the need for explicit consideration and incorporation of environmental strategy within corporate strategy has never been more critical to the organization. With such programs as design for the environment, total quality environmental management, life cycle analysis, green supply chain management, and ISO 14000 standards gaining notoriety, the operational and strategic decisions for environmental managers and businesses is becoming more complex. This paper integrates these elements and their attributes into a strategic assessment and decision tool using the systems with feedback or analytical network process (ANP) technique first introduced by Saaty. The ANP technique, which has been sparingly Investigated by researchers or applied by practitioners is useful for modeling dynamic strategies systemic influences on managerial decisions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.