Session Summary

Session Number:777
Session ID:S162
Session Title:Multinational Corporations Face Global Environmental Issues: Corporate Strategies for Emerging Governance Structures
Short Title:MNC's & Global Enviro. Issues
Session Type:Division Symposium
Hotel:Swiss
Floor:4
Room:Neuchatel
Time:Wednesday, August 11, 1999 10:40 AM - 12:00 PM

Sponsors

General People

Chair Levy, David L. U. of Massachusetts, Boston levy@umbsky.cc.umb.edu 617-327-1093 
Chair Kolk, Ans  U. of Amsterdam akolk@worldonline.nl 31-20-525-4077 
Discussant Gladwin, Thomas N. U. of Michigan tgladwin@umich.edu (734)-647-4491 

Submissions

Corporate Responses to the Emerging Climate Change Regime: Institutional and Economic Determinants of Strategy in the Automobile Industry 
 Levy, David L. U. of Massachusetts, Boston levy@umbsky.cc.umb.edu 617-327-1093 
 Rothenberg, Sandra  Rochester Institute of Technology Sandra_Rothenberg@ksg.harvard.edu 617-496-0808 
MNCs and the Environment: Between Regulation and Self-Regulation 
 Kolk, Ans  U. of Amsterdam akolk@worldonline.nl 31-20-525-4077 
Multinational Environmental Standards and Increasing Globalization: Does the 'Race to the Top' Require a Referee? 
 Lundan, Sarianna M. U. of Maastricht   31-43-388-3823 
Science in International Environmental Negotiations 
 Kauffman, Joanne M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology jmkauffm@mit.edu 617-253-0769 

Abstract

Current environmental management systems are often not sufficient to cope with the needs of multiple stakeholders, the emergence of global environmental problems, and the advent of international governance structures to address these problems. Companies, states, non- governmental organizations (NGOs), and international organizations form a pluralistic setting in which governance structures and their associated regimes of regulation are developed. Companies do not just simply respond to these regimes; rather, they co-evolve in an ongoing development journey. This symposium focuses on the strategic implications for multinational corporations (MNCs) of global environmental concerns. Particular sectors (such as paper and pulp, chemicals and automobiles) are presented here as case studies to develop conceptual frameworks and illustrate broader themes. Response strategies are particularly important here, as companies have to consider their political and technological strategies under conditions of great uncertainty. MNCs are key actors in international environmental regimes because of their role as major contributors to environmental problems and therefore prominent targets of public policy. Increasingly, however, they are being recognized for their potential contribution to addressing environmental problems. MNCs take an interest in such regimes because environmental policies emanating from them rapidly ascend to the top of regulatory agendas around the world. International environmental regimes thus have the potential to affect an MNC's operations in many countries at once, challenging the MNC's traditional advantage of flexibility, mobility, and geographic diversification. Issues such as climate change present companies with potentially market transforming threats as well as opportunities for new technologies.