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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
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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

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