Proactive corporate environmental strategies:: Myths and misunderstandings

Proactive environmental strategies have been proposed as urgent, profitable and sustainable ways for firms to deal with the natural environment. This voluntary approach is said to pay off in terms of social reputation, customer preferences and generation of organisational capabilities. However, many managers and stakeholders are now finding that some proactive approaches may perpetuate or even increase environmental problems, while others have no clear payoffs. We propose a strategic framework identifying six categories of 'myths' - commonly accepted misunderstandings in the analysis, selection/implementation and control of proactive environmental strategies. These categories and specific problems are analysed in detail, and evidence presented in support of our arguments. We focus on the food industry, using secondary data of well-known (mostly American) multinational companies and a sample of 140 food factories in France and the United Kingdom. We conclude by suggesting that firms take a contingent view and generate a dynamic capability for a proactive environmental approach, rather than relying on universalistic implementation based on unreliable myths. We also make more explicit some general points about the relationships between business and society and the urgency of developing 'real' eco-sustainability measurements and strategies. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.