Organizational mechanisms in environmental management: An evolutionary analysis confronted with empirical facts

In this paper we analyse the development of corporate environmental management systems through the core elements of the emerging evolutionary theory of the firm. The environmental management process means a process by which organizations change their structures and cultures as a result of an interlinked effort of individual learning and organizational transformation. We propose that effective environmental management capacities derive primarily from the adaptation of three constitutive mechanisms of firms: the coordination mechanisms, the cognitive mechanisms and the incentive mechanisms. Our theoretical results are supported by case studies in 12 industrial firms localized in France (Alsace) and in Germany (Baden-Würtemberg).