Research project HL/DD/09 (Research action HL)
The project promoter, and the research unit they are associated with, specialise in carrying out fundamental economic research (both conceptual as well as empirical) into the effectiveness and efficiency of government policy. We possess a wealth of expertise with regard to analysing the relation between public policy and business policy, investigating the impact of government policy on business policy, and defining elements that determine the competitive strength of businesses.
This study places the emphasis on determining the influence exerted by government environmental policy on the competitive position of businesses. The study will provide both a conceptual framework, within which the relation between environmental measures and competitive strength is to be situated, as well as the elements that should be included during such an analysis and the procedure or working method that should be pursued during such an analysis. Moreover, it will examine which evaluation method should be applied in the Belgian context: it investigates the locally changing competitive position of a selected sample of companies and business sectors in relation to their foremost OECD competitors as a result of the environmental measures which the government has made mandatory.
The three important questions raised by Porter and Van Der Linden (1995) also form the basis for this research, specifically:
(1) Which elements determine the international competitive strength of particular industries?
(2) What is the relation between the competitive strength of companies and the government’s environmental policy?
(3) What are the implications of environmental policy measures for the competitive strength of businesses?
The topic for investigation that will be central to this project can be summarised as: 'Do government measures in the environmental sphere reduce or stimulate the possibilities for businesses to compete at the international level?'
In order to answer this research question, the study comprises four phases:
1. Production of an extensive literary investigation into the relation between the environmental policy conducted by the government and the changing competitive position of businesses.
2. Proposal of a uniform evaluation procedure with regard to the effectiveness of environmental measures, with the emphasis here placed on investigating elements that determine the competitive position of companies and the role which environmental elements can play in this.
3. Production of a case study that will determine the effects on Belgian businesses of the environmental policy being pursued.
4. Definition of the policy implications from the relation discovered between the government’s environmental measures and the competitive strength of companies, as well as establishment of the future possibilities for government within the framework of a policy geared to creating sustainable development.
De impact van publieke milieumaatregelen op de concurrentiekracht van de Belgische ondernemingen: eindrapport
Verbeke, A. - Buysse, K. - Coeck, C. Brussel: DWTC, 2001 (SP0798)
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[Exhausted]
De impact van publieke milieumaatregelen op de concurrentiekracht van de Belgische ondernemingen: synthèse
Verbeke, A. - Buysse, K. - Coeck, C. Brussel: DWTC, 2001 (SP0799)
[To download]
The impact of environmental policy on the competitiveness of Belgian industry: summary
Verbeke, A. - Buysse, K. - Coeck, C. Brussels: OSTC, 2001 (SP0800)
[To download]
