The Effect of Environmental Management on the Business Performance of the Manufacturing Firms

Running head: THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ON THE BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS
The effect of Environmental Management on the business performance of the Manufacturing
Firms
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ON THE BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Abstract
This paper has been constructed in order to have an idea about the impact of environmental
management of the business performance of the manufacturing companies. The paper has
commenced by addressing the background of the study with the help of which an idea has been
obtained with the help of which effective results have been obtained. The justification for
undertaking research on this topic has even been provided in order to assist the readers in
understanding the relationship between the environmental management and the business
performance of the manufacturing companies in Australia. The paper has even provided the
research questions and the research objectives with the help of which an idea can be obtained and
accordingly the paper can move forward. The literature review has provided an insight about the
various processes that are related to this paper so that by relying on the literature provided by the
past researchers. The methodology of the paper has provided that the researcher has collected
primary data with the help of which quantitative data analysis would be undertaken. The
responses of the selected respondents have been taken by taking assistance of a close ended
questionnaire and thereby obtaining results that are suitable for this paper. The assessment of the
data that has been collected has gone through data analysis process and thereby the results have
indicated that environment management has direct and positive impact on the business
performance of the manufacturing companies in Australia.

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THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ON THE BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................6
1.1 Research Background and Justification.................................................................................6
1.2 Research Objectives...............................................................................................................7
1.3 Research Questions................................................................................................................7
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................9
2.1 Manufacturing Units..............................................................................................................9
2.2 Lean Manufacturing.............................................................................................................10
2.3 Environmental Management Practices (EMP)....................................................................10
2.4 Factors that have an influence on the implementation of the environment management
practices.....................................................................................................................................11
2.4.1 Legal requirement and regulations...............................................................................11
2.4.2 Pressure from the stakeholder.......................................................................................12
2.4.3 Capabilities and resources............................................................................................13
2.4.4 Commitment of the management..................................................................................13
2.4.5 Personal experiences and attitudes...............................................................................14
2.4.6 Size of the firm.............................................................................................................15
2.4.7 Organizational Culture..................................................................................................15
2.8 Research Gap.......................................................................................................................16
2.9 Summary..............................................................................................................................16
Chapter 3: Research Methodology................................................................................................17

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THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ON THE BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................17
3.2 Rationale for the choice of methodology.............................................................................17
3.3 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................18
3.4 Research Approach..............................................................................................................18
3.5 Research Design..................................................................................................................18
3.6 Data Collection Process and Questionnaire Design............................................................19
3.7 Sampling and Sample Size..................................................................................................19
3.8 Process of Data Analysis.....................................................................................................20
3.9 Ethical Consideration...........................................................................................................20
3.10 Conceptual Framework......................................................................................................20
Chapter 4: Data Analysis, Results and Discussion........................................................................23
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................23
4.2 Frequency Analysis.............................................................................................................23
Answer to Question No 1......................................................................................................23
Answer to Question No 2......................................................................................................25
Answer to Question No 3......................................................................................................26
Answer to Question No 4......................................................................................................28
Answer to Question No 5......................................................................................................29
Answer to Question No 6......................................................................................................31
Answer to Question No 7......................................................................................................33

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THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ON THE BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Answer to Question No 8......................................................................................................35
Answer to Question No 9......................................................................................................37
Answer to Question no 10.....................................................................................................39
Answer to Question No 11....................................................................................................41
Answer to Question No 12....................................................................................................43
Answer to Question No 13....................................................................................................45
Answer to Question No 14....................................................................................................47
Answer to Question No 15....................................................................................................49
Answer to Question No 16....................................................................................................52
Answer to Question No 17....................................................................................................54
Answer to Question No 18....................................................................................................56
Answer to Question No 19....................................................................................................58
Discussion..................................................................................................................................59
4.2 Correlation Analysis............................................................................................................60
Chapter 5: Conclusion, Recommendation, Limitation and Future Work......................................68
5.1 Conclusion (Addressing the objectives of the research)......................................................68
5.2 Recommendation.................................................................................................................69
5.3 Limitations of the Research.................................................................................................70
5.4 Future Work.........................................................................................................................70
Reference List................................................................................................................................71

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THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ON THE BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Appendix........................................................................................................................................80
Questionnaire.............................................................................................................................80

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THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ON THE BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Research Background and Justification
In the modern economy, the process of environmental management is one of the essential
elements and concerns for all the organizations that are functioning globally. The organizations
looks to develop and generate policies and plans by taking assistance of which they are able to
protect the environment along with maintaining effective performance of the business. The
manufacturing industries are the companies that look to product one of more products by making
use of the raw materials and converting them into finished products (Soto-Acosta et al., 2016).
The raw materials are collected from the neighbouring environment and therefore the companies
either directly or indirectly have been exploiting the natural resources. The organizations in order
to convert the raw materials into the final product make use of various extensive tools and
mechanisms and there are chances that these technologies that are used in order to manufacture
the final product may have adverse impact on the environment as well. The worries and the
concerns within the society is to take care of the environment and therefore several rules and
policies have been framed by the international bodies and the local government that asks the
manufacturing industries to construct environment management strategies and hence safeguard
the nature and the environment and with the help of these strategies they are able to maintain
satisfied and happy consumers within the society (Saeidi et al., 2015). In many scenarios, there
are chances that these strategies can have an impact on the business performance and hence, this
thesis paper has the intention of creating an understanding of the impact of environmental
management on the performance of the business in the manufacturing companies.
The manufacturing firms that are currently functional have their own and effective
environment management policies and there are several environmental strategies that are not

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THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ON THE BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS
ideal in accordance to the operational activities that is seen in the current time period (Laari et
al., 2016). Hence, there are opportunities for improvement and growth in the environmental
management with the help of various strategies like the mitigation of waste and other factors that
can be helpful in understanding the impact on nature and performance of the business. The
current thesis paper therefore looks to highlight the effect of environment management of the
manufacturing firms and the work of this thesis is to find out the impact of environment
management on the performance of the business and the actions that can be undertaken in order
to enhance the same.
1.2 Research Objectives
This paper tries to assess the impact of environment management on the performance of
business in the manufacturing companies. The real aim and objective of the paper is to evaluate
the effect of environment management and performance of the business in accordance to the
financial, economic and social feasibilities. The effect is evaluated in accordance to
manufacturing industry in general. The differences observed in the environment management are
seen to be different for various departments of the manufacturing companies and therefore
performance of the business varies in all the departments. The evaluation of these elements
would be supportive in ascertaining the outcome that is demanded by the researcher.
1.3 Research Questions
The research questions are the questions that have been constructed by the researcher in
order to have an understanding of the current topic and thereby find out the results that is
demanded for concluding the thesis in a precise manner. The research questions that are
constructed by the researcher are as follows: