How companies respond to impending regulations is a signifi cant aspect of corporate strategy. Regulations, especially environmental regulations, are expanding quickly and increasingly important to fi rm success. The threat of impending environmental regulation forces companies to choose levels of strategic responses on a continuum from passive to active. Using practitioner oriented research and existing theoretical models of corporate response, this study fi nds that the type of strategic response is negatively related to size, positively related to state uncertainty and negatively related to effect/response uncertainty. Based on existing literature and the results of this study, the paper suggests that simplifying the uncertainty construct could lead to more defi nitive fi ndings in future research. The study results also suggest that a curvilinear relationship may exist between managerial perception of infl uence and level of strategic response.Most importantly, the fi ndings could have a signifi cant impact on fi rm decision making regarding environmental investments. For example, it is hoped that fi rms will be able to use the fi ndings of this study to further understand and anticipate their competitors' decisions. Practitioners may also benefi t from the conclusions on uncertainty in that they may be able to more cleanly parse the types of uncertainty immersed in impending environmental regulations. Finally, fi rms may be better able to understand decisions by their own managers and their competitors' managers in terms of their perceived infl uence over the regulatory process.
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