Increasingly, the public are becoming aware of the
interactions and conflicts between business and the
environment. Controversies, such as BSE, fox hunting and
GM crops, highlight the growing importance these issues
are assuming in everyday life. Further examples are
government transport policy and the growing tourism and
leisure industries. At the same time, the public are now
consumers of the environment, for which they are willing
to pay. Business has seen the need to take on a 'green
mantle', while at the same time the environmental
movement has refined its opinions of business.
Environment and Business examines in depth the ways in
which business, industry, the physical environment,
environmentalism and social change have evolved
alongside each other. Business responses to
environmental influences fall within a spectrum, between
attempts to ignore external pressures, to viewing the
changes as an opportunity. Business is not seen as a
uniform activity. Many books restrict their coverage to
manufacturing industries relationship with the
environment, this innovative text widens the
debate.Special attention is paid to both the primary
industries which are in close contact with the
environment and to the tertiary industries which now
make up the bulk of the economy and which are shown to
be subjected to environmental influences in numerous
ways. Business and the Environment assumes no previous
knowledge of business studies, to discuss how businesses
and the environment interact. It introduces students to
a range of beliefs, rather than advocating a single
approach. The authors use boxed case studies to
highlight how business practice and the environment
interact at levels from local to global, with examples
from multi-national companies, government bodies,
national charities and local enterprise. The book also
contains a large number of informative diagrams. |
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