Environmental Management in Product Chains

The chapter aims at giving background to companies, consultants, governmental regulators, NGOs etc. for the analysis and planning of environmental management in specific product chains through: A framework for understanding environmental management in product chains as shaped by the interaction between existing resources, norms and values and external pressures for environmental management (second section). A model for the types of corporate network relations that need to be mapped and understood in order to analyze and/or develop environmental management in a product chain (third section). An overview of examples from our own research and from literature of the type and the role of environmental issues and initiatives in product chains (fourth section). A typology for characterizing corporate strategies as part of environmental management in product chains and characterizing those competencies developed or needed to be developed as part of environmental management in a product chain (fifth and sixth sections). A framework for understanding, in particular, environmental management in product chains involving companies from different countries with different regulatory frameworks and some international schemes and standards that may be applied as part of this kind of environmental management (seventh and eighth sections).