ABSTRACT
ISO 14001 is not really supposed to be about public relations. The voluntary environmental management system (EMS) standard is designed to help companies manage their processes to minimize their impact on the environment. It’s not really supposed to be a marketing tool, and some specialists say that it is not an actual driver behind most companies’ decisions to implement the standard. But inevitably, public relations or an enhanced corporate image appears on almost everyone’s list of business benefits of an ISO 14001 EMS. The good publicity a company receives for being environmentally proactive seems almost unavoidable — even if it is not the reason a company invests time and energy into changing its entire organization. But does this intangible, nebulous benefit have staying power? Or, in other words, does a company’s ISO 14001 program bring it only fleeting recognition? The answers to those questions can be found in the organizations that have implemented ISO 14001, thereby forever changing their relationship to their communities. The answers can also be found in those companies that have turned their good neighbor reputation into a business advantage.
