The Impact of Clusters on Firms’ Environmental Strategies: Case Study of Antwerp’s Chemical Cluster

Tim Jans and Elvira Haezendonck ()
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Tim Jans: Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
Elvira Haezendonck: Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)

Chapter Chapter 5 in Sustainable Port Clusters and Economic Development, 2018, pp 103-137 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gone through incremental changes during the last decades (Carroll in Business & society, 38: 268–295, 1999). The importance of the environmental component of CSR increased during this evolution. Initially, firms limited their actions to product innovations that reduce the final product’s environmental impact. This gradually evolved to process innovations, improving production processes and logistical systems. A new phase commenced when firms sought improvements beyond their own firm boundaries and collaborated vertically with their partners in the supply chain. The firms evaluated the environmental impact of their products during their whole life cycle to reduce these products’ environmental damage. A more recent and less discussed phenomenon is horizontal collaboration between firms. Firms seek environmental improvements in collaborative initiatives with competitors. Sharing resources, capabilities, and competencies are ways of building jointly on new competitive advantages.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Supply chain; Horizontal collaboration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-96658-8_5

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