Environmental management has become a strategic business
issue . Environmental management as
a competitive priority for manufacturing by using the 3R principles:
reduce, recycle and reutilization . There are
many opportunities for companies to create innovative solutions
that reconcile prosperity with environmental protection. Wally and
Whitehead (1994) argue that the environment is no longer a cost
of doing business, rather it is a catalyst for constant innovation, new
market opportunity and wealth creation. The study by Denton
reveals that if a company considers the environment as a cost, rather
than as a chance to achieve a competitive advantage, perhaps it
would miss its greatest opportunity. Thus, business organizations
have already begun incorporating environmental aspects into their
marketing strategies to remain competitive in the marketplace Some companies are now
using environmental issues to strengthen their market position and
to access new markets. Korean industries integrated environmental
issues into their corporate strategies in response to external business
atmosphere. China witnessed a rapid increase
in the number of ISO 14001 certification (Qi et al., 2011).