ABSTRACT
It is no surprise that the international business (IB) community is finally starting to pay attention to the environmental consequences of its behaviour and (possibly especially) to the negative impact that ecological deterioration is having on its own fortunes. The only real surprise is how long it has taken for this topic to be recognised as bona fide subset of IB studies. The chapter begins with a discussion of the long-standing estrangement between ecology and management, a phenomenon that plays out differently in various national settings depending on factors including income or culture. After exploring the main environmental problems afflicting (and caused by) multinational enterprises (MNEs) – resource depletion, pollution and to a lesser extent cross-border political inconsistency – it goes on to analyse the global value chain responses increasingly being witnessed among corporate interests whose greening initiatives involve playing either to win or else not to lose. The final section looks at the green IB opportunities opening up to varying degrees in countries across the world: in foundational sectors such as agriculture, habitat and transportation, but also, and probably above all, in clean energy.
