Do environmental regulations harm international competitiveness? In answer to this question, this book focuses on the impact of regulatory policies on competitiveness and employment at the firm level. It investigates the trade-off between environmental regulations and competitiveness across countries and regions throughout Europe, using the food processing industry as a case study.The authors compare and contrast the experiences of similar firms across Europe to examine the different costs firms face in applying environmental regulations and the different levels of competitiveness they achieve as a result. The investigation includes a detailed and thorough comparison of the European food processing industries using 67 company case studies. The results show that firms can achieve national or international levels of competitiveness even when they face a relatively unfavourable level of regulatory costs. These important findings will almost certainly have general application to small and medium sized firms in other industries. This book will be welcomed by policymakers, practitioners, researchers and academics interested in industrial economics, environmental management and environmental economics.

The environmental performance of SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises) is an area of major policy concern. SMEs in Europe reports on factors influencing the environmental performance of SMEs across four European countries: the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy. While there are a range of factors which are expected to influence the take up of clean technology, this book focuses on three key hypotheses, namely firm competitiveness, culture and use and availability of information and advice. The book is unique as it is based on in-depths interviews conducted in 300 SMEs and an additional postal survey with more than 800 replies.

This study focuses in detail on the environmental compliance/competitiveness relationship with respect to the regulation of packaging waste. An important and innovative feature of the study is its emphasis on backward and forward linkages. An entire supply chain is considered: packaging manufacturers and suppliers, food processors and the food retail sector, to study the competitive effects of environmental standards on manufacturing companies and the vertical links and supply responses. A variety of regulatory regimes is represented by including within the study companies from Germany, Italy, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. While it is of note that the relatively strong regulation in Germany has indeed had effects on company behaviour, there is no evidence that environmental regulations hindered companies from achieving competitive performance.Analyses consider: the response of individual firms to different levels of regulation; the cost of compliance; impact on employment; the influence of the supply chain on environmental and competitive performance; the importance of firm size and ownership; and the impact of regulation on competitiveness, and firm competitiveness on the efficiency of adjustment to regulation.

The environmental performance of SMEs (Small and Medium sized Enterprises) is an area of major policy concern. SMEs in Europe reports on factors influencing the environmental performance of SMEs across four European countries: the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy. While there are a range of factors which are expected to influence the take up of clean technology, this book focuses on three key hypotheses, namely firm competitiveness, culture and use and availability of information and advice. The book is unique as it is based on in-depths interviews conducted in 300 SMEs and an additional postal survey with more than 800 replies.