Environmental management in Swedish manufacturing industries

This study illustrates how Swedish manufacturing industries are managing issues that pertain to how their business activities and operations impact the external environment. This is a follow-up study of Arnfalk and Thidell ’s study Environmental Management in Swedish Manufacturing Industries? Facts or Fiction?(1991). The 1998 study was based on telephone interviews with company representatives from 300 randomly selected companies of various size and branches. The percentage of survey responses was 94.4%.

A comparison of the results of this study with that of the 1991 study shows that the environmental performance of the Swedish manufacturing industry has´improved. However, improvements have foremost been made among medium and large sized companies. The situation among smaller companies appears to be basically the same today,as it was in 1991. This reveals that larger companies have taken a leap ahead of smaller companies and that the difference in environmental performance has drastically increased since 1991. This emphasises the importance of initiating environmental projects aimed at the specific conditions under which smaller companies operate.