綠色績效與企業經營之關聯性實證研究 －以美國企業為例

Abstract

過去環保與永續始終被企業認定為不符經濟效益的社會責任，無法為企業帶來利潤上的好處卻只會增加營運成本。然而綠色投入真的無法為企業擴大獲利嗎? 難道公司的成功與社會的福祉真的無法雙贏嗎? Porter與Van der Linde提出了「綠色競爭力」概念，指出傳統觀點認為追求環保會增加成本，反而削弱企業之競爭力是錯誤的觀念。並認為企業若能從核心業務出發追求永續將得以激發創新，在產業中取得領先，才是長久經營的關鍵。公司透過創新，不僅是為了符合各樣環境及永續的要求，更可利用這些挑戰轉化為提升企業成長及創造新的競爭優勢的動力。 本研究旨在探討綠色績效與短、長期財務經營績效之間的關聯性。投資綠色與追求永續的企業能否從財務面回收? 綠色投資所產生的效益是否存在時間遞延性?並進一步研究不同屬性的企業如全球化與本土企業、製造業與非製造業的美國公司其綠色績效是否有所差異。本研究利用Newsweek公布的Green Score Ranking進行實證探討美國企業的綠色績效與財務績效的關聯性。實證結果顯示企業綠色績效與長期經營績效呈顯著正相關，綠色績效並具有遞延效果，因此綠色的長期效益值得企業及早投資；此外，美國全球化企業較本土企業綠色績效顯著較佳，然而製造業與非製造業則無顯著差異。

In recent years, global warming and resources scarcity have provoked the rise of environmental awareness issues in the society. The environmental regulations in each country are also becoming more stringent, forcing the enterprises to manage their impact on the environment in their daily operation activities. Larger companies often work with their partners in the supply chain to achieve the requirements in environmental protection to meet their customer’s demand. Also, a globalized enterprise will need to comply with different regulations in various countries. Therefore, environmental issues have always been recognized as a corporate social responsibility issue which only increase costs without any benefits in the financial numbers status. However, does green really pay nothing in return? Porter and Van der Linde (1995) had proposed a "Green Competitiveness" concept, which pointed out that the traditional view of “green doesn’t pay” was a misconception. On the opposite, by simultaneously stimulating more green innovation during the pursuit of environmental sustainability, enterprises gain more competitiveness and business opportunities. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between an enterprise’s environmental performance and its short/long-term financial performance. Will enterprise be paid off after the investment on green issues? Can enterprise’s better green performance bring a justified financial return in the long run? In this thesis, we use the database from Newsweek Green Ranking U.S. Companies 500 to conduct the empirical study to confirm these viewpoints.