The ecology-oriented management economics (also operational environmental economics) represent a subsection of the management economics. It refers not only to a function within the enterprise, but intervenes in all subranges of the creation of value chain from the procurement to the selling. Their goal is it to avoid the damage resulted from economic acting decreases or to prevent. In addition, from this ecological viewpoint economic advantages (e.g. reductions of costs by saving of resources) can result.

Development of the ecology-oriented management economics

The direct argument of the economy with the topics lastingness and environmental protection began only into the 1970er years. Substantially to it the UN-environment conference 1972 in Stockholm as well as the oil crisis 1973/74 contributed. Before there were only isolated beginnings and programs, which go back however into the antiquity.

Conversion of the lastingness to enterprises

The load of the environment results from excessive use of resources and release of pollutants. Due to the realization that many resources (e.g. ozone layer) are not only with difficulty renewable or, developed the "principle of the lastingness". This aspect of the lastingness harmoniert with the goals "economic efficiency" as well as "quality" and is not unfavorable thus (how often one states) for an enterprise. Rather success and Erfolgspotenzial can be increased by a lasting achievement production.

Environmental protection in the target system of enterprises

Environmental protection as company target

Environmental protection can be embodied as a in-confessing goal in the target system of an enterprise as a formal goal. With this integration can be generated better control of the environmental protection activities, an holistic control as well as a model function. From a positive effect can be however only proceeded, if environmental protection is operationalisiert appropriately.

Effect on classical company targets

Strategies

With an efficiency strategy the enterprise can reduce resources consumption of a product or increase the life span. Both leads to a more efficient resources use.

By the development of new, more pollution free products or procedures, which replace the old products, a substitution strategy can be aimed at.

The Suffizienzstrategie aims at a change of the life-style, in which material products play a smaller role. By the smaller production of goods fewer resources are used.

Surrounding field of the enterprise

In the surrounding field of an enterprise are different groups of requirements, also Stakeholder mentioned. A goal is it to become all demands as fair as possible which must lead inevitably to goal collision. The intensity of these demands is measured with the concept of the ecological embarrassment.

So the enterprise can e.g. extract itself from the state only with difficulty as strongest Stakeholder. By a multiplicity at laws, editions and deliveries the state forces to keep the enterprises a certain degree at ecology orientation.

Shareholders could demand an ecological orientation for different reasons. The motives are e.g. enough from social responsibility over the Aufbesserung of the image up to purely economic reasons like cost savings. The enterprise is evaluated regarding its ecology orientation by means of a Ratings. Within this evaluation above all the organization (business philosophy, environmental management, communication) becomes, which regards development as well as procurement, production and paragraph of the products.

Also the customers as users of the products have a large influence. They determine the product-relevant characteristics and concomitantly the environment-friendliness of a product. However an enterprise can positively affect the attitudes and desires of the customers by ecology-oriented marketing aimed.

Creation of value stages

A product is only as pollution free as its components. Therefore also the suppliers are to be included into ecology orientation. They should be evaluated and selected on the basis environmentalrelevant criteria. Also the attention of symbols for environmental protection is suitable for the selection.

Basis for such a view is the ecologically oriented analysis Produktlebenszyklus'. in the environmental management standard series of the ISO 14000ff (standard ISO 14040) this concept under the designation Life Cycle Assessement (LCA) is described. In addition the life cycle of a product is divided into individual phases, like e.g. development, raw material extraction, production, selling, use, disposal/recycling. For each phase the ecological effects are determined and balanced. With this procedure away product alternatives can be compared or to be recognized ecological weak points of products over all creation of value stages.

Instruments

• Ecological balance
• Ecological report

See also

• Lastingness
• social lastingness
• Environmental policy
• Environmental management
• EMAS regulation
• Symbol for environmental protection

Literature

• Martin Philip Kunig, Michael Stitzel: Environmental policy. Dietz, Bonn 1999, ISBN 3-8012-0283-6
• Heribert Meffert, Manfred Kirchgeorg: Market-focused environmental management. 3. Edition. Poeschel publishing house, 1998, ISBN 3791011472
• Gastl: Continuous improvement in the environmental management. The KVP demand of the ISO 14001 in theory and enterprise practice

Articles in category "Ecology-oriented management economics"

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