ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses that challenge and discusses the various barriers to change that have been identified in the companies studied here. It highlights practical methods for overcoming critical barriers to environmental change. Conceptualising organisational purpose in terms of sustainable economic and environmental performance signals a major shift in thinking about the impact and significance of ecological factors. The importance of environmental matters is reinforced by the multitude of signals that send the message to business. Three distinct forms of environmentalism appeared between the 1970s and the 1990s, each emphasising a different mixture of legal, market and value-based or ethical considerations. The result is a transformational change model-the 'corporate greening model'-with three phases or stages of organisational change and learning. Companies in the chemical, electric utility, steel, mining and pulp and paper industries face the toughest challenges in overhauling operations to promote environmental sustainability.
