A study on the ISO 14000 certification and organizational performance of Indian manufacturing firms

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical factors (CFs) of ISO 14000; to determine if ISO 14000 certification results in improved organizational performance; and to analyze the levels of and changes in these CFs and levels of and changes in the indicators of organizational performance (IOPs) in relation to firm attributes considered in the present study. Design/methodology/approach -The study employs questionnaire-survey approach to obtain the practitioners' perceptions of ISO 14000 certification, levels of presence of CFs and changes in CFs due to certification, levels of presence of IOPs and changes in IOPs due to certification. The data collected have been analyzed by using statistical techniques. Findings -The firms regard the preparation for emergencies as an integral part of environmental management system (EMS), and they seem to initially struggle to identify environmental issues that are to be given higher importance. Further, the certified firms find it difficult to continuously improve their environmental management processes. There are significant changes in all the CFs and IOPs due to ISO 14000 certification. Furthermore, more-experienced firms have higher mean values of levels of all CFs, in comparison with less-experienced firms. In the course of time, these firms appear to understand the EMS and effectively implement it in order to realize long-term benefits. Research limitations/implications -Results of the study are dependent on the nature and number of respondents, i.e. on the perceptions of the top management responsible for quality certification, and the sample size (number of respondents in the current study is 36 due to limited response rate and other operational constraints). Practical implications -The present study would enable the practitioners to benchmark their organizations (in respect of levels of presence of CFs and levels of presence of IOPs) with those of their competitors, with the best-in-class, and also with the industry's mean level. The study also enables one to compare different categories of firms (e.g. firms with low, medium and high levels of turnover; national and international firms; etc.). Since, there is a significant improvement in the organizational performance due to certification, the study provides a strong empirical justification for non-certified firms to go in for ISO 14000 certification. Originality/value -The study conceptualizes ISO 14000 as a seven dimensional framework. Further, it has also identified several IOP related to ISO 14000 certified firms. A questionnaire has been developed to obtain the perceptions of top management about the ISO 14000 certification and related factors and indicators; the proposed instrument can be used for several purposes such as functional benchmarking.

Promoting Sustainability through EMS Application: A Survey Examining the Critical Factors about EMAS Registration in Italian Organizations

“…The impacts on firms of the application of ISO 14001 have been deeply investigated by scholars. Recent works concerning benefits of ISO 14001 implementation are [27,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. Scholars also investigated barriers and constraints to ISO 14001 adoption and maintenance [25,27,30,33,34,37,39,[41][42][43][44][45].…”

Insights into the state of ISO14001 certification in both small and medium enterprises and industry best companies in India: the case of Delhi and Noida

“…Both, India's recently released 4th census report on MSMEs 1 (DCSME, 2009) and the 2011 ISO survey (ISO Survey, 2011) have documented a significant uptake in ISO14001 certifications among small and medium-sized Indian companies. This positive trend is somewhat surprising in that previous studies on environmental management systems in India have identified a number of obstacles affecting their uptake and effectiveness in Indian firms (Dasgupta, 2000;Padma et al, 2008;Qadir and Gorman, 2008). These obstacles include a lack of transparency, weak regulatory compliance and certification schemes and the large costs associated with 1 Enterprises in India are classified into micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) based on their investment in plant and machinery (for manufacturing enterprises) or on equipment (for service providers) (see DCMSME, 2009, p.2).…”

“…For cost is a key certification issue, unsurprisingly many studies found ISO uptake to occur primarily among larger firms with the requisite financial means (del Brio et al, 2001; Hillary, 2004; Khanna, 2010; Lagodimos et al, 2007;Nishitani, 2009). Also, larger and more experienced firms are seen to be more likely to achieve effective EMS implementation and to realize long-term benefits from ISO14001 certification (Padma et al, 2008).…”

“…Similarly, Blackman (2012) identifies only three studies undertaken on the drivers of ISO14001 in developing nations, all of which reported that larger firms trading internationally were more likely to adopt ISO14001. Against this background, the aim of the research underlying this paper was to test the adequacy of critical factors (Padma et al, 2008) such as nature of business, size, year of establishment and internationalization as the basis for classification of firms for an analysis of the state of ISO14001 in developing countries based on a sample of ISO14001 certified companies located in the cities of Delhi and Noida.…”

“…For cost is a key certification issue, unsurprisingly many studies found ISO uptake to occur primarily among larger firms with the requisite financial means (del Brio et al, 2001; Hillary, 2004; Khanna, 2010; Lagodimos et al, 2007;Nishitani, 2009). Also, larger and more experienced firms are seen to be more likely to achieve effective EMS implementation and to realize long-term benefits from ISO14001 certification (Padma et al, 2008).Overall, there is general support in the literature for the uptake of ISO14001 certification by industry despite mixed results concerning the environmental performance of ISO certified firms (see Hamschmidt and Dyllick, 2001; Hertin et al, 2008; Lesourd and Schilizzi, 2001; Melynk et al, 2003; Rodinelli and Vastag, 2000;Yoxon and Sheldon, 2008). Certification on the whole is seen to drive environmental improvements as found by Potoski and Prakash (2013) who identified a 1% increase in aggregate levels of ISO14001 adoption being associated with 0.064% reductions in air pollution (SO2) but not water pollution (BOD (biochemical oxygen demand)) in 138 countries for the period 1991-2005.…”