Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T02:10:21.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Small Business and the Environment in the UK and the Netherlands: Toward Stakeholder Cooperation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

Laura J. Spence ,
Ronald Jeurissen  and
Robert Rutherfoord
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

In this paper, the approaches of a sample of small firms to environmental issues in the UK and the Netherlands are compared. The study makes a contribution by addressing the lack of research on small firms and the environment, as well as offering insights into the influence that cultural, institutional, and political frameworks can have on small firm owner-managers’ attitudes to external issues. The environment is considered here as an ethical issue, drawing on work on the environmental responsibility of business by both Bowie (1990) and Hoffman (1991). It is argued that the approaches to the environment identified in this study by Dutch and UK small firm owner-managers do not fit in with the positions of either Bowie or Hoffman. The concept of stakeholder cooperation is proposed as a more realistic alternative.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , October 2000 , pp. 945 - 965
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barber, B. 1984. Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age. Berkeley: California University Press.Google Scholar
Bowie, N. 1990. Morality, money and motor cars. In Business, Ethics and the Environment, ed. Hoffman, W. M.Frederick, R. and Petry, E. S Jr. New York: Quorum Books.Google Scholar
Curran, J. and Blackburn, R. 1994. Small Firms and Local Economic Networks. London: Paul Chapman.Google Scholar
Dunne, J. M. van, ed. 1993. Environmental Contracts and Covenants. New Instruments for a Realistic Environmental Policy? Lelystad: Koninklijke Vermande.Google Scholar
Enderle, G. 1996. A comparison of business ethics in North America and Continental Europe. Business Ethics: A European Review 5(1): 33–46.Google Scholar
ENSR (European Network for SME Research). 1997. The European Observatory for SMEs Fifth Annual Report. Zoetermeer: EIM Small Business Research and Consultancy.Google Scholar
Eurobarometer. 1997. Eurobarometer: Public Opinion in the European Union, Report No. 46, May 1997, European Commission, Directorate General 10, Brussels.Google Scholar
Eurostat Yearbook. 1997. Bureau of Official Publications of the European Union, Luxembourg.Google Scholar
Gibbs, D. 1996. On course for a sustainable future? European environmental policy and local economic development. Local Environment 1 (3).Google Scholar
Hillary, R. 1995. Small Firms and the Environment: A Groundwork Status Report. Birmingham.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. 1991. Business and environmental ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly 1 (2): 169–184.Google Scholar
KPMG Environmental Consulting. 1997. The Environmental Challenge and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Europe. Report for the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment. The Hague: KPMG.Google Scholar
Luijk, H. van. 1994. Rights and interests in a participatory market society. Business Ethics Quarterly 4(1): 79–96.Google Scholar
Moberg, D. J. 1997. On Employee Vice. Business Ethics Quarterly 1 (4): 41–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NEPP2. 1994. The National Environmental Policy Plan 2, The Environment: Today’s Touchstone. The Hague: Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment.Google Scholar
North, D. C. 1994. Economic performance through time. American Economic Review 84: 359–368.Google Scholar
Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis. 1997. Challenging Neighbours. Rethinking German and Dutch Economic Institutions. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Rutherfoord, R. and Spence, L. J. 1998. Ecological modernisation: The case for small business. Paper presented at Ecological Modernisation, Helsinki, Finland, 10–12 September.Google Scholar
Spence, L. J. 1999. Does size matter? The state of the art in small business ethics. Business Ethics: A European Review 8 (3): 163–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spence, L. J. and Rutherfoord, R. 1998. Small Firms and Environmental Issues: An International Comparison. Report for the London Borough of Merton, Small Business Research Centre, Kingston University, SBRC 2–98.Google Scholar
Spence, L. J.; Rutherfoord, R.; and Blackburn, R. 1998. Literature Review: Small Business and Environmental Issues: an International Comparison of the UK and the Netherlands. Small Business Research Centre, Kingston University, SBRC 5–98.Google Scholar
Streeck, W. and Schmitter, P. C. 1991. Community, market, state—and associations? The prospective contribution of interest governance to social order. In Markets, Hierarchies and Networks, ed. Thompson, G.Frances, J.Levacic, R. and Mitchell, J., pp. 227–241. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Winstanley, D.; Woodall, J.; and Heery, E. 1996. The agenda for ethics in human resource management. Business Ethics: A European Review 5 (4): 187–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar