Internal determinants and effects of firm-level environmental performance: Empirical evidences from Vietnam

Abstract

The paper explores the internal determinants of a manufacturing firm’s environmental performance indexed by acquiring government or ISO 14001 certificate and its impacts on the firm’s competitiveness in Vietnam, using a panel logistic and a modified Cobb-Douglas model respectively. It is found that firm size; environmental management system (EMS), foreign ownership, environmental staff, high technology level and middle age are factors increasing a firm’s possibility conforming to the ISO 14001 standards while domestics’ private ownership and low-or medium technology levels are constraints. There is no conclusive relationship between firm’s environmental performance, state ownership and old, young age. Firm’s environmental performance has no significant impact on its competitiveness measured by labor productivity.