Environmental Management and Multinational Corporate Operations

Discussions of the international economic implications of environmental management generally focus on the ‘nation’, which pursues certain environmental policies and programmes in accordance with collectively-determined social objectives, under particular environmental conditions, while other ‘nations’ either do the same or behave differently. This sets into motion international commercial and financial flows, which in turn influence the achievement of national economic and social goals including environmental balance. This abstract view of the nation as the principal actor or decision-maker contributes to analytical neatness in the discussion, and often enables us to discern the probable direction and magnitude of the economic adjustment and adaptation that will have to result. But it also glosses over the reality of thousands of decision-makers, producers and consumers, who react in different ways to policy stimuli — and who will, in the final analysis, determine the outcome.