Entrepreneurs and managers are increasingly aware that the environment can be both a threat and an opportunity to their current economic activities. This timely book discusses the question of environmental performance versus corporate practices and finds that environmental considerations can have a positive effect on business. The perception of the environment as a means to achieve competitive advantage for companies is a relatively recent phenomenon. The contributors address how to create institutional environments that stimulate businesses to integrate the environment in strategic decision making and thereby promote eco-efficiency. Together they build a convincing argument that the economy-environment trade-off is a false stalemate: societal and market forces may impact on the environment and on business in positive, neutral or negative ways. The authors use evidence from the United States and Europe to demonstrate that environmental considerations can have a positive effect on the competitive advantage of firms. This book draws together three fields - environmental economics, environmental regulation and strategic management - and will be of great interest to scholars and practitioners working in these areas.

This book examines the ongoing transformation of public utilities, also known as network-based industries, in Western Europe and the United States. Examples are telecommunications, energy, and water distribution. Most of these network-based industries were until recently natural monopolies. Over the last two decades national governments have embarked upon privatization, deregulation and liberalization of their public utilities. The contributors in this volume examine the many related aspects, including: * key characteristics and regulation of network based industries * the emerging EU regulatory framework * corporate strategies, industry dynamics, and organizational performance * case studies from the telecommunications and water industries * engineering competition versus engineering regulation. This book provides a non-ideological and multidisciplinary overview of recent views and experiences with the liberalization, privatization and regulatory reform of public utilities in Europe and the United States. As such it will be of interest to scholars and researchers of institutional economics, and organizational studies, as well as regulators, policymakers and consultants involved in both studying and governing network-based industries.

Realizing institutions and regulations that foster economic growth is an essential asset for contemporary economies. This book investigates practices and options for steering individual and firm behaviour that prevents unacceptable externalities and boosts public interests. These multi-dimensional interactions are investigated in three areas; innovativeness, especially in terms of IP rights; food safety requirements and the impact on EU-competitiveness; and economic stability, particularly within the banking industry. The book provides complementary views and offers clear and relevant conclusions. Students and researchers of regulatory affairs, IPR, industrial organization and political impact studies will find this book comprehensive and essential to their studies.