Corporate Environmentalism, Epistemological Review & Ontological Position

Abstract

Since recent past, a good number of organizations have voluntarily started accepting green practices to make contributions to the environmental well-being by reducing wastes, developing green products, constructing their buildings in the most efficient greener way, recycling their wastes into marketable products and many other ways to make themselves green. Consumers have started demanding for green products and companies are more than happy to satisfy their demand by producing environmentally friendly products. A quest to reduce cost had led to environmentally friendly innovation that has led to a “win-win situation” for all the stakeholders. By going green, companies are attracting more investors to fund them, which would have remained stagnant otherwise without any funds for expansion. In this article, we have examined the main drivers of Corporate Environmentalism (CE) on a global level such as market forces, government and civil regulations. The article discusses the relation between Corporate Environmentalism with stakeholder satisfaction and employee retention and found positive relations among them. Green firms also pressurize their suppliers and other stakeholders to engage in acts of corporate environmentalism to avoid the criticism of green wash. Corporate eco-efficiency brings the benefits of both economic prosperity and environmental protection and states that “A clean environment is actually good for business, for it connotes happy and healthy workers, profits for companies, developing conservation technologies, selling green product and efficiency in material usage”. The article also explains the environmentalism scenario in Indian subcontinent.