外文翻译---利益相关者压力和价值在环保物流中的作用.doc

装订线长春大学光华学院 毕业设计（论文）译文纸Pressure and the value of the stakeholders in environmental logisticsThe preservation of the environment has become an unavoidable variable in industrial activity.While some firms have adopted a reactive strategy, limiting themselves to the prevailing legislation, others have chosen more proactive strategies, introducing voluntarily practices focused on reducing their environmental impact. In particular, many of these practices are carried out in the area of logistics, where there is great potential for contributing to the environmental performance of firms (Wu and Dunn, 1995). It is therefore interesting to know which contingencies lead firms to develop proactive environmental initiatives in this area of activity, i.e.what circumstances favour the implementation of environmental practices in logistics.environmental logistics practices. Specifically, this paper analyses the effect of the perceived stakeholder environmental pressure and the environmental awareness of managers and explores the extent to which the interaction between these two variables exists and is relevant. In this second respect, this paper expressly analyses the extent to which the environmental awareness of managers moderates the relationship between the perceived pressure and the implementation of environmental logistics practices and the extent to which this pressure mediates the relationship between managerial values and the implementation of environmental logistics practices.First,environmental logistics practices Different authors have pointed out that the environmental proactivity of firms is manifested not only through the transformation of their internal activities (product design and production processes) but also through the introduction of new practices in the logistics of supply and distribution that link them to other participants (suppliers and customers) in the value chain . A series of environmental practices has been identified or suggested for the management of physical flows that enter and leave an industrial organization, not only in the literature focused specifically on logistics , but also from the perspective of purchasing management or from the more generic and integrating perspective of the supply chain.Transportation is another aspect of logistics with considerable environmental impact . One of the easiest measures to improve environmental performance in this area consists of prioritizing shipment consolidation in the planning and programming of flows . This allows the capacity of the vehicles used to be maximized and the emission of contaminating gases reduced. Another, more strategic measure,or the hiring of rail transport instead of road transport are some examples of environmental actions in this sense.In the logistics of storage, manipulation and distribution, the aspects related to the packing,packaging and bottling of products are the ones with the most impact on the natural environment.Thus we must distinguish between primary, secondary and transport packaging (Livingstone and Sparks, 1994). The first refers to the direct packaging of the product, which the consumer uses until the product is consumed. The second refers to any additional packaging (boxes, bags)used frequently with promotional aims or to facilitate the combined purchase of several units of the same product. Transportation packaging refers to the packaging used to facilitate the moving and storage of products (containers, boxes, pallets). Primary and secondary packaging is what most directly affects the consumers intention of purchase, and therefore its modification responds more to commercial criteria than to logistic criteria. Efforts in this sense are usually focused on reducing the packaging and using recyclable materials or containers.Second，the role of stakeholder pressure and managerial valuesIn this section we analyze the role of stakeholder pressure and managerial motivation in the implementation of environmental logistics practices. Four research hypotheses are presented.This assumption, which turns out to be quite evident for the tactical practices considered in this analysis, has received empirical support for the case of more strategic practices such as the integration of suppliers and customers .It implies that those contingencies that stimulate companies to reduce their environmental impact can also induce the adoption of environmental practices in logistics.(One)Stakeholder Environmental PressureStakeholders are individuals and groups which can affect the companys performance or who are affected by a firms actions (Freeman, 1984). Clarkson (1995) distinguishes between primary stakeholders, those without whose participation and support the organization cannot survive(suppliers, governments), and secondary stakeholders, which affect and are affected by the organization but are not engaged in transactions with it and are not essential for its survival(e.g. media, non-governmental organizations). As regards corporate social responsibility and, in particular, environmental responsibility,stakeholders demand integrity, respect, standards, transparency and accountability . In fact, the environmental commitment of a firm implies harmonizing environmental performance with stakeholders expectations .There is certain empirical evidence to this respect. Although with some nuances, the results of support the idea that environmental proactivity is associated with higher pressures from organizational stakeholders (e.g. customers, suppliers, employees,shareholders) and community stakeholders (e.g. non-governmental organizations, social groups),whereas environmental reactivity is associated with higher pressures from regulatory stakeholders (e.g. governments, trade associations) and the media. introduced the distinction between internal primary stakeholders (employees, shareholders and financial institutions) and external primary stakeholders (customers and suppliers) and observed that only the former group motivates environmental proactivity. This result was explained by arguing that the sample studied consisted of producers of intermediate products and had scarce consumer contact.environmental practices in the hotel industry responds to a higher stakeholder pressure. influence as a contextual variable which was measured by two constructs: public interaction, which assessed to what extent managers gather opinions from and provide environmental information to the public; and awareness of environmental regulation, which assessed to what extent plant personnel are informed regarding environmental regulation and evaluated on regulatory compliance. Both constructs showed positive effects on the degree of environmental proactivity.Another justification of the importance of stakeholders as motivators of the environmental strategies of firms is that among the benefits attributed to environmental proactivity there is precisely improvement in the relationship with the different stakeholders and even the possibility of influencing some of them .(Two)Managerial Values: Environmental Awareness of ManagersSeveral papers point out the importance of the support and commitment of top management for the development of proactive environmental strategies . Other authors consider that the key question is not simply the existence of top management support for environmental initiatives.Rather, they propose that, depending on the managers beliefs, expectations, perceptions and opinions, the company will become inclined to implement a certain set of environmental practices. Thus, the environmental awareness of managers,understood as the degree to which they consider imperative the active participation of industry in achieving sustainable development, might influence the environmental behaviour of a firm.In the case of logistics, the implementation of environmental practices requires additional effort since, as mentioned earlier, in many cases it requires not only an internal effort but also the collaboration of other agents participating in the value chain. Success does not depend only on the organization itself and putting these practices into effect often requires great effort at negotiation. Previous empirical evidence in this respect has not been found in the literature on logistics,although, in the related fields of corporate social responsibility and purchasing management,Carter and Jennings (2004) found evidence of a positive relationship between the individual values of purchasing employees and purchasing social responsibility. Since one dimension of corporate social responsibility is environmental commitment, this result is consistent with the idea that the values and beliefs of people within the organization affect the development of environmental initiatives in purchasing.(Three) Mediating Role of the Perceived Stakeholder PressureSome authors consider that the implementation of certain environmental practices and strategies depends on whether the management perceives environmental pressure and topics as opportunities or as threats. That is,these works suggest that the same environmental pressure or problems can be perceived differently and give rise to different responses according to how they are interpreted. In light of these considerations, it makes sense to ask ourselves what variables affect two fundamental questions: the perception of pressure and the response to these perceptions. Below we argue that the beliefs and values of the management (their level of environmental awareness, in particular) can affect environmental management in both aspects.As refers to the first question, the perception of pressure, it could be thought that the values and beliefs of the management affect the effort made to perceive the opinions and demands of the milieu, i.e., the capability of perceiving signs in environmental matters affecting . In particular, managers who are more environmentally aware will be more open and receptive to environmental demands and will be more concerned with sounding out the stakeholders in this sense. They will make a greater effort to perceive the environmental demands of the stakeholders。(Four) Moderating Role of Managerial ValuesAs regards the second question, the response given to perceived pressure, it might be thought that the most environmentally aware managers would be more likely to introduce environmental practices in the face of greater demand from the milieu. Those least environmentally aware will resist the pressure of the stakeholders, will look for alternatives to distract them and delay any type of environmental changes, or will simply not consider these kinds of actions as a priority. Third， methodology (One)DataThe approached population consisted of medium and large Spanish companies in three industrial sectors: chemical products, electronic and electrical equipment, and furniture and fixtures. The purpose was to choose sectors subjected to different environmental problems and pressures, and companies large enough to assure that the implementation of the diverse practices considered in the analysis makes sense. All the entries with more than 100 employees in each of the selected industrial sectors were extracted from the Dun & Bradstreet census of the 50,000 largest Spanish companies. Thus, the target population finally consisted of 428 companies, 156 of which were in the chemical sector, 211 in the electronic and electric equipment sector, and 61 in the furniture sector.After a pre-test on 9 companies, an extensive postal questionnaire covering different aspects of environmental management was addressed to the production and operations manager of each company. In all the cases, the questionnaire was preceded by a phone call to identify the appropriate addressee, to announce the sending of the questionnaire and to ask for collaboration.A presentation letter was attached to each questionnaire and, some days after the mailing, a second phone call was made to all the companies that had not replied. This procedure yielded a total of 186 valid responses which represent a global response rate of 43.38%, which in turn corresponds to rates of 40.38%, 45.50% and 44.26% for the chemical, electronic equipment and furniture industries, respectively.(Two) MeasuresEnvironmental Logistics Practices: Each company was asked to score the degree of implementation of each environmental logistics practice included in Figure 1 according to a six-point scale . Only one factor resulted with an eigenvalue greater than 1. The indicators of reliability and validity (factor loadings) were appropriate.Perceived Stakeholder Environmental Pressure: Each manager was asked to score the environmental pressure exerted by the stakeholder groups included from 1 to 6 . Principal components analysis was applied to the 10 items and two factors turned out to have eigenvalues higher than one,together accounting for 57.20% of the variance.All the items except governments and regulatory agents load on the first factor. Therefore, factors were labelled as governmental pressure and non-governmental pressure, respectively. This result indicates that those companies in the sample that perceive high pressure from any non-governmental stakeholder tend to perceive high pressure as well from the other non-governmental stakeholders. In other words, all the non-governmental stakeholders tend to be perceived as a homogeneous group.Managerial Environmental Awareness: To measure environmental awareness, operations managers were asked to mark their degree of agreement or disagreement with 3 statements on a six-point Likert scale. These statements consisted of assertions about the need for higher voluntary and unselfish implication of companies for the achievement of sustainable development(see Table 3). The 3 items were reduced to a single measure through principal components analysis. Construct validity (factor loadings) and reliability (Cronbachs ) were acceptable.(Three) Analysis Company size, measured as hundreds of employees. This variable was included to control the effect of scale economies on the implementation of environmental practices and the advantages derived from the superior availability of resources in large companies. Several papers reveal the relevance of this variable in explaining environmental proactivity . Internationalization, formalized as a binary variable that differentiates firms integrated in international business groups. This variable was included to control the effect of corporate size as well as the effect of knowledge transfer between different divisions and plants. The industrial sector, which required the introduction of two binary variables distinguishing the chemical and electronic and electrical equipment sectors, respectively.The use of advanced production and operations management (POM). This variable was built through principal components analysis from the degree of implementation rated on a six-point Likert scale of five advanced production and operations management practices: Total Quality Management, advanced manufacturing technologies, Just-in-Time, information-technology-based integrated management systems such as ERPs, and collaboration with suppliers . This variable reflects the proactivity of the companys manufacturing strategy and, to some extent, the strategic importance the company gives to the production and operations function, which is often responsible for many of the environmental practices implemented by companies . Thus, this variable has been included to control the effect of the capabilities derived from the implementation of advanced manufacturing practices, which can facilitate the environmental transformation of companies. Several authors have provided evidence of the importance of the implementation of advanced manufacturing practices to explain environmental issues and there is also some evidence in the particular case of green supply chain management.Fouth，discussion of results Incorporates only the control variables. The explanatory power (R2) is significant, which suggests that the inclusion of these variables in the analysis is correct. The implementation of advanced POM practices stands out as the variable that positively and significantly affects the implementation of environmental logistics practices. This supports the idea that environmental management is strongly rooted in the production and operations function and that the proactivity of this function is hence determinant for the development of environmental practices in logistics. Furthermore, this result might indicate that advanced POM practices generate certain capabilities that are useful in facing environmental challenges in logistics. Although the other control variables do not appear as significant,the implementation of advanced POM practices is higher in large companies integrated into international groups and working in the electrical and electronic equipment industry. Therefore, the significance of the implementation of advanced POM practices might be to some extent capturing the importance of company size, internationalization or industrial sector.Fifth，conclusions In this work we have empirically studied the role of perceived stakeholder pressure and managers environmental awareness in the implementation of environmental practices in the management of logistics. The analysis of data provided by medium and large Spanish companies in three industrial sectors has led to three major findings. Firstly, both studied variables play a relevant role. The results indicate that companies perceive two different sources of environmental pressure: governmental and non-governmental. However, only the latter is able to explain the implementation of environmental logistic