Richard Perkins

What Explains the Uneven Take-Up of Iso 14001 at the Global Level? A Panel Data Analysis

Since its release in the mid-1990s, close to 37 000 facilities have been certified to ISO 14001, the international voluntary standard for environmental management systems. Yet, despite claims that the standard can be readily adapted to very different corporate and geographic settings, its take-up has been highly geographically variable. This paper contributes to a growing body of work concerned with explaining the uneven diffusion of ISO 14001 at the global level. Drawing from the existing theoretical and empirical literature we develop a series of hypotheses about how various economic, market, and regulatory factors influence the national count of ISO 14001 certifications. These hypotheses are then tested using econometric estimation techniques with data for a panel of 142 developed and developing countries. We find that per capita ISO 14001 counts are positively correlated with income per capita, stock of foreign direct investment, exports of goods and services to Europe and Japan, and pressure from civil society. Conversely, productivity and levels of state intervention are negatively correlated. The paper finishes by offering a number of recommendations to policymakers concerned with accelerating the diffusion of voluntary environmental standards.

Uneven Geographies of Organizational Practice: Explaining the Cross-National Transfer and Diffusion of ISO 9000

Abstract There is growing recognition that organizational innovations can have a major influence on the geography of economic activity. Yet, little is known about the mechanisms and geographic preconditions underlying their diffusion, particularly at the global level. In this article, we test a series of hypotheses about the conditions under which organizations are most likely to adopt ISO 9000, the internationally recognized set of standards for quality management, using panel data for 130 countries from 1995 to 2001. Our findings support the idea that transnational networks that connect different countries at the international level provide conduits for the cross-national transfer of new organizational practices. Thus, exports to the European Union, local involvement of transnational corporations (TNCs), European colonial ties, and the availability of telecommunications all emerge as statistically significant determinants of ISO adoptions. Our findings also underscore the importance of national environmental conditions in influencing the receptiveness of organizations to new practices. A low regulatory burden, a high share of manufacturing activity, high rates of secondary school enrollment, and low levels of productivity are positively correlated with the number of ISO 9000 certificates. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for current debates about the mechanisms, preconditions, and scales of organizational transfer, diffusion, and convergence.

Environmental leapfrogging in developing countries: A critical assessment and reconstruction

It has been suggested in recent years that developing countries need not pass through the dirty stages of industrial growth that marred the past of todays developed countries. Instead, they may be able to bypass these by leapfrogging straight to modern, clean technologies as an integral part of capacity addition. This article critically reviews existing approaches to leapfrogging. It argues that they are not only characterized by considerable ambiguity, but also based on an incomplete understanding of the technological and policy requirements of cleaner industrialization. Consequently, the article goes on to offer a number of suggestions as to how current approaches might be advanced so as to better meet the challenge of leapfrogging. Amongst these suggestions is greater clarification of the specific targets for leapfrogging and policy intervention to accelerate the development of technological capabilities needed to select, absorb and innovate leapfrog technologies.

Geographic Variations in the Early Diffusion of Corporate Voluntary Standards: Comparing ISO 14001 and the Global Compact

Despite their availability to firms across the world, uptake of global voluntary standards has proceeded unevenly across countries over time. In this paper we seek to provide new insights into how geography shapes these spatiotemporal variations, focusing on two leading examples of codified voluntarism: ISO 14001 and the Global Compact (GC). In an advance on previous quantitative studies, which have analyzed domestic and nondomestic influences separately, we examine how the internal attributes of place ‘condition’ the influence of transnational spatial dependencies. We find that higher levels of ISO 14001 certification in other economies are more likely to spill over (via transnational linkages) into higher domestic uptake of the standard in wealthier economies, while domestic receptivity to the influence of higher GC adoptions abroad is greater in more democratic countries. Another important advance on previous studies is that we examine the influence of a larger number of measures of transnational economic linkage. Providing evidence of ‘trading-up’ and ‘investing-up’ dynamics, we show that higher densities of ISO 14001 certificates and GC participants in a countrys export and inward foreign direct investment partners are associated with higher levels of domestic uptake of the respective standard. We also find tentative evidence of ‘visiting-up’ dynamics associated with the cross-border movement of businesspeople.

The International Diffusion of New Technologies: A Multitechnology Analysis of Latecomer Advantage and Global Economic Integration

Abstract The diffusion of modern, efficient technology has far-reaching consequences for the geography of economic activity, inequality, and environmental quality. This article examines two popular yet highly controversial claims about the conditions most favorable to the rapid spread of new technology. The first states that latecomer advantage allows developing countries to diffuse new technology faster than developed countries. The second claim, widely articulated by advocates of neoliberal policy reform, is that new technologies diffuse more rapidly where countries are “open” to international trade and investment. To investigate these claims we use event-history analysis to estimate the determinants of diffusion speed across a large panel of developed and developing countries for three very different technologies. These are: continuous steel casting, shuttleless textile weaving looms, and digital telephone mainlines. Our results broadly support both propositions. Countries that adopt new technology later or have a smaller existing capital stock—characteristic features of developing countries—diffuse new technology more rapidly than countries that adopt earlier or have more installed capacity—two characteristics of developed countries. Trade openness is also found to influence the rate of diffusion positively for all three technologies. Yet, consistent with recent empirical studies, we fail to find support for the idea that foreign direct investment (FDI) accelerates the diffusion of new technology in host economies. The article concludes by discussing the geographical implications of our findings.

Does the ‘California effect’ operate across borders? Trading- and investing-up in automobile emission standards

The ‘California effect’ hypothesis posits that economic integration may lead to the ratcheting upwards of regulatory standards towards levels found in higher-regulating jurisdictions. Although a number of previous large sample quantitative studies have investigated such convergence dynamics for public environmental policies, their results have been based exclusively on geographically and sectorally aggregated data. Our contribution advances on these studies. We provide the first large-N, geographically disaggregated evidence consistent with a trading-up effect: exports of automobiles and related components from developing countries to countries with more stringent automobile emission standards are found to be associated with more stringent domestic emission standards. Investing-up dynamics are also apparent, with aggregate inward foreign direct investment into host developing economies’ automotive sector increasing the likelihood of more stringent emission standards domestically.

Transnational linkages and the Spillover of Environment-Efficiency into Developing Countries

Arguments about the “positive” influence of growing transnational linkages have typically focused on their role in diffusing environmentally superior innovations which help to raise countries’ environment-efficiency. The present article empirically tests these claims by examining whether developing countries’ linkages with more CO2- and SO2-efficient economies contribute to domestic improvements in CO2- and SO2-efficiency. Our large-N, statistical findings caution against some of the efficiency-oriented optimism voiced by supporters of globalization. Although imports ties with more pollution-efficient countries are found to spillover into improved domestic CO2- and SO2-efficiency, neither transnational linkages via exports, inward foreign direct investment (FDI) nor telephone calls appear to have any influence on domestic pollution-efficiency.

Fostering environment-efficiency through transnational linkages? Trajectories of CO2 and SO2, 1980-2000

Recent optimism about sustainability has centred on the opportunities for improvements in environment efficiency through the international diffusion of environmentally beneficial innovations. This paper investigates two claims about the conditions under which countries are most likely to realise these gains. First, ‘dirtier’ economies should improve their environment efficiency faster as they adopt environmentally sound technologies and policies similar to those in ‘cleaner’ countries, resulting in catch-up and convergence over time. Second, transnational linkages accelerate the international spread of environmentally beneficial innovations and, therefore, improvements in environment efficiency. To test these claims, we use econometric techniques to examine the dynamics and determinants of two pollutants—CO2 and SO2—using a panel comprising up to 114 countries over the period 1980–2000. Our empirical findings broadly support both claims. Applying tests of unconditional convergence, we find robust evidence for convergence in levels of CO2 and SO2 efficiency, indicating catch-up by less pollution-efficient economies over time. Similarly, confirming claims about transnational linkages, we find that imports from more pollution-efficient countries and telecommunications connectivity are associated with faster improvements in domestic CO2 and SO2 efficiency. Results also suggest that inward foreign direct investment is positively associated with CO2 efficiency. Yet we find that exports to countries with high levels of pollution efficiency have no discernable effect on domestic pollution efficiency.

Implementing Multilateral Environmental Agreements: An Analysis of EU Directives

While a number of different theoretical models have been advanced to explain why states implementor, indeed, do not implementmultilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), very little empirical work has been undertaken to validate their predictions. With a view to narrowing this gap, the present article adopts a large-N, econometric approach to test the explanatory power of four distinct models of compliancedomestic adjustment, reputational, constructivist and managerialin the context of European Union (EU) environmental policy. Using data on the number of ofcial infringements received by 15 member states for non-implementation of environmental directives over the period 19792000, we nd that all four models make a statistically signicant contribution to explaining spatio-temporal differences in legal implementation. Thus, our results suggest that the implementation of MEAs is shaped by a combination of rational calculations of domestic compliance costs and reputational damage, domestically institutionalized normative obligations, and legal and political constraints. We conclude by suggesting a greater need for multi-causal theoretical models of supranational legal compliance.

Governing sustainability: Rio+20 and the road beyond

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, more widely known as ‘Rio+20’, was a significant global political event, but it left many important questions relating to the future of sustainability governance unanswered. This paper introduces a theme issue on “Governing sustainability: Rio+20 and the road beyond”. It is organized around three themes which are addressed at greater detail in the different papers: (i) the current status of governance for sustainability in the aftermath of Rio+20; (ii) whether or not sustainable development still has political and institutional relevance; and (iii) institutional and political opportunities and obstacles for governing sustainability in the future. The paper argues that both sustainability governance and the sustainable development concept are under growing pressure amid a perceived failure to deliver change, but identifies three opportunities to advance sustainability: (i) by reframing the way in which problems of unsustainability are described and approached; (ii) via the formulation of effective sustainable development goals; and (iii) by identifying novel ways to open up the sustainable development debate to more actors and interests.