Environmental Protection and the Social Responsibility of Firms

Comment on Reinhardt

Opportunities for and Limitations of Corporate Environmentalism

David J. Vogel

Forest Reinhardt addresses a number of important issues. One of the most important has to do with the potential for improved environmental management strategies to enhance economic performance. He critically examines three potential ways in which firms can gain competitive advantages from being “greener”: namely, by product differentiation, lowering production costs, and reducing financial and political risks. He correctly notes the limitations of the first of these: at least in the United States, there are remarkably few documented cases of successful ecomarketing. Notwithstanding their responses to publicopinion polls, few consumers appear ...