The adoption of environmental and risk management practices: Relationships to environmental performance

The Strategic Goals Program sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency which focuses on the Metal Finishing Industry is used to investigate some pertinent issues related to small manufacturing enterprises' environmental performance. Results from the initial years of this program are used to evaluate a number of hypotheses related to the relationship between environmental performance and adoption of environmental and risk management practices, especially among smaller organizations. The methodology uses unique structuring of data to determine temporal environmental performance using data envelopment analysis. Results show that early and increased investment in these practices and programs may not provide for better performance benefits. The findings have implications for environmental managers in smaller organizations and policy makers overseeing these types of organizations.