ABSTRACT
Fifteen different categories of factors hindering companies’ success in their attempts to be ‘green’ manufacturers have been identified. One of the most common factors hindering the success of ‘green’ companies has been difficulty in gaining access to finance, either for capital works or to cover cash flow problems. Another major hindrance to the ‘greening’ of companies is the lack of consistency in environmental standards and regulations and their enforcement. One of the smaller locally-based companies, which manufactures and markets erosion control and revegetation products, supported the view that ‘green’ industry is inhibited by lack of consistency in regulation. One of the large Australian companies indicated that whilst it has been highly successful in business terms, its success as a ‘green’ manufacturer has been limited by several internal factors. Among the issues identified through the case studies as hindrances to the ‘greening’ of industry were cultural factors (ie. factors relating to the degree to which norms and values are shared).
