Study on the Relationship between Environmental Policy and Corporate Behavior in the New Era of Corporate Environmental Management

Abstract

As a consequence of the shift of corporate behavior toward proactive environmental management since the late 1990s, a new structure has emerged for the relationship between environmental policy and corporate environmental performance. Changes in consumer behavior and markets become important factors mediating the relationship. Amid the transition to a new era of corporate environmental management, the paper argues that a signal of sufficient changes in consumer behavior and markets would propel firms to shift toward proactive environmental management, and thus new attention should be given to the mediating effects of consumer behavior and markets in policy formulations for corporate environmental performance.