Moving Ahead with ISO 14000 addresses environmental qualitymanagement standards from the business manager's point of view. Itexamines the costs and benefits of conformance in terms ofcompetitiveness, market share, and return on investment. Numerouscase studies describe how other companies are responding to the newstandards and help companies benchmark how close their ownoperations are to conformance.
Moving Ahead with ISO 14000 also helps business managers answer thefollowing questions:
* How are businesses around the world responding to ISO 14000?
* Should our firm bother to seek ISO 14000 registration?
* What are the business benefits of ISO 14000?
* What does it take to comply with ISO 14000?
* Does ISO matter to our customers?
* Will these new standards help improve operations or bog them downin paperwork?
* Can a company adhere to the new standards and develop acompetitive advantage at the same time?
* Should we self-certify?
* Can we integrate ISO 14000 with our current environmentalmanagement policies and resources?
With the release of the final series of international environmentalquality management standards, thousands of companies worldwide arepoised to jump onto the ISO 14000 bandwagon. But responsiblemanagers need to answer a number of serious questions beforeinvesting in and launching such a major undertaking: What does ittake to conform with ISO 14000? Will the benefits justify thecosts? Does ISO 14000 conformance matter to our customers? Will ithelp increase our market share?
In Moving Ahead with ISO 14000 more than 30 leading environmentalmanagement authorities answer these questions and many more with akeen eye on business performance relative to the global goal ofsustainability. These experts offer timely insights, case studiesof leading-edge companies, and essential guidance to help companiesensure that improvements in environmental performance areaccompanied by enhanced trade opportunities. They look at thestandards from a management perspective and focus on five majoraspects of ISO 14000, including
* Responding to the new standards from a global businessperspective
* Integrating environmental factors and investment decisions
* Optimizing resources to make conformance cost-effective
* Leveraging current resources and systems to maximize return onthe ISO 14000 investment
* Crafting new tools for business and environmentaldecisionmaking.
A special section on life cycle assessment (LCA) surveys currentLCA use in large corporations, compares its use in Japan to that inthe United States, demonstrates market applications of LCA, andpresents a case study of life cycle management at ChryslerCorporation.
For environmental managers, EH&S professionals, seniorcorporate managers, and government policymakers, this book is notjust another introduction to ISO 14000 but the ultimate guide forcoping with the critical business issues that must be faced beforesustainability can become a global reality.