Engaging Hong Kong businesses in environmental change: drivers and barriers

Abstract

Hong Kong's businesses have been slow to embrace environmental management principles, particularly in the SME sector. This article analyses key barriers and incentives to engaging Hong Kong businesses with voluntary environmental initiatives and compares their relevance for companies of different sizes. As in other countries, SMEs show a much lower uptake of such activities than larger companies. Their approach towards environmental management is predominantly reactive, and legislation remains the key driver for engaging them with environmental change. Inadequate government policy and support, societal attitudes and corporate culture all contribute significantly to the comparatively poor development of corporate environmental management among Hong Kong companies. As long as most SMEs regard voluntary environmental activities as costly and unnecessary 'extras' that endanger their competitiveness and detract resources from their core business without offering any tangible benefits, fundamental improvements in their environmental performance will be difficult to achieve.

A Review of Interventions to Encourage SMEs to Make Environmental Improvements

“…(Bradford and Fraser, 2008;Pimenova and van der Vorst, 2004;Studer et al, 2006;Williamson et al, 2006), and whether these regulations are enforced fully among all SMEs by authorities (Mir and Feitelson, 2007;Revell and Blackburn, 2007). Environmental commitment Extent to which SME owner-managers or employees believe they have a responsibility to engage in environmental improvement (Collins et al, 2007;Masurel, 2007;Pimenova and van der Vorst, 2004;Simpson et al, 2004), proactively undertake environmental improvement actions (AragonCorrea and Cordon-Pozo, 2005;Roy and Therin, 2008) and believe their business has an environmental impact (Bradford and Fraser, 2008;Drake et al, 2004;Mir and Feitelson, 2007).…”

“…Environmental commitment Extent to which SME owner-managers or employees believe they have a responsibility to engage in environmental improvement (Collins et al, 2007;Masurel, 2007;Pimenova and van der Vorst, 2004;Simpson et al, 2004), proactively undertake environmental improvement actions (AragonCorrea and Cordon-Pozo, 2005;Roy and Therin, 2008) and believe their business has an environmental impact (Bradford and Fraser, 2008;Drake et al, 2004;Mir and Feitelson, 2007). Business performance commitment Extent to which the direct and indirect costs of and resources needed for environmental improvement are exceeded by the short-term economic benefits of and competitive advantage for the business from such actions (Bradford and Fraser, 2008;Clement and Hansen, 2003;Collins et al, 2007;Drake et al, 2004;Revell and Blackburn, 2007;Simpson et al, 2004;Studer et al, 2006). Financial incentives Extent to which financial support or incentives are provided to offset the costs or increase the shortterm benefits of environmental improvement (Mir and Feitelson, 2007;Studer et al, 2006), or taxes/charges/fines are introduced to discourage negative environmental impact by making it financially unattractive (Revell and Blackburn, 2007;Simpson et al, 2004;Studer et al, 2006).…”

“…Business performance commitment Extent to which the direct and indirect costs of and resources needed for environmental improvement are exceeded by the short-term economic benefits of and competitive advantage for the business from such actions (Bradford and Fraser, 2008;Clement and Hansen, 2003;Collins et al, 2007;Drake et al, 2004;Revell and Blackburn, 2007;Simpson et al, 2004;Studer et al, 2006). Financial incentives Extent to which financial support or incentives are provided to offset the costs or increase the shortterm benefits of environmental improvement (Mir and Feitelson, 2007;Studer et al, 2006), or taxes/charges/fines are introduced to discourage negative environmental impact by making it financially unattractive (Revell and Blackburn, 2007;Simpson et al, 2004;Studer et al, 2006). External demand Extent to which customers demand environmental improvement of their suppliers or demand products/services with reduced negative environmental impact, and are willing to pay for this (Collins et al, 2007;Drake et al, 2004;Mir and Feitelson, 2007;Revell and Blackburn, 2007;Simpson et al, 2004).…”

“…External demand Extent to which customers demand environmental improvement of their suppliers or demand products/services with reduced negative environmental impact, and are willing to pay for this (Collins et al, 2007;Drake et al, 2004;Mir and Feitelson, 2007;Revell and Blackburn, 2007;Simpson et al, 2004). This in turn influences the perception by SME owner-managers of potential image enhancement (Borga et al, 2008;Collins et al, 2007;Pimenova and van der Vorst, 2004;Studer et al, 2006), competitive advantage (Borga et al, 2008;Clement and Hansen, 2003;Drake et al, 2004;Pimenova and van der Vorst, 2004;Revell and Blackburn, 2007;Studer et al, 2006) and new business opportunities (Simpson et al, 2004) from environmental improvement. SME environmental knowledge Extent to which SME owner-managers or employees have knowledge about how to engage in environmental improvement and the time to acquire this knowledge (Bradford and Fraser, 2008;Collins et al, 2007;Hoevenagel and Wolters, 2000;Masurel, 2007;Pimenova and van der Vorst, 2004;Roy and Therin, 2008;Tilley, 1999).…”

“…SME environmental knowledge Extent to which SME owner-managers or employees have knowledge about how to engage in environmental improvement and the time to acquire this knowledge (Bradford and Fraser, 2008;Collins et al, 2007;Hoevenagel and Wolters, 2000;Masurel, 2007;Pimenova and van der Vorst, 2004;Roy and Therin, 2008;Tilley, 1999). Assistance / education Extent to which SMEs have easy access to assistance and education programmes on how to engage in environmental improvement (Bradford and Fraser, 2008;Pimenova and van der Vorst, 2004;Simpson et al, 2004;Studer et al, 2006).…”