Corporate Response to Environmental Issues: Packaging

Abstract

Among the environmental issues that have come to dominate social concerns, the amount of packaging sent for disposal in landfills has gained increased prominence in Canada, with the issuance in 1990 of the National Protocol on Packaging (NAPP). Recognizing the increased demands for improved environmental performance on the part of corporations, this study seeks to understand why some companies respond more quickly than others to concerns about packaging-waste reduction. The paper links concepts found in the Corporate Social Responsibility and Innovation Theory literatures, in order to explore corporate response patterns to pressures for change and to develop a measure of corporate performance with regards to packaging-waste reduction efforts. Bivariate and linear logit analyses of data were undertaken, and confirm that variations in a company's response pattern can be explained in terms of factors such as company size, product orientation, and existence of an environmental affairs function, as well as external policies, such as NAPP.Sonia Labatt is an associate at the Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Toronto.

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