Search

This research topic evaluates the effectiveness and importance of environmental protection in the 21st century in light of the increasing demand on the earth’s natural resources and the pressures on economic and industrial development to provide dynamic power. As the world and our fellow citizens become more conscious of environmental protection, companies are under greater pressure whilst pursuing economic growth. Therefore, domestic manufacturers have been devoting efforts to promote environmental management. This research conducts survey using questionnaires on the operational performance of the manufacturers who have ISO 14000 series accreditation and certification. The survey considers five dimensions/functions within a manufacturer, financial management, human resource management, production management, and marketing management. A total of 35 indices are used for analysis of the effects that the location, history, industry, number of employees, amount of capital, and revenue may have on the performance. This research targets the manufacturers approved of ISO 14000 series certification by Environment Adminstration Association. The statistical methods deployed are descriptive statistics, T‐test, and single factor analysis of variance used for analysis. The conclusions reval that a certain level of performance has been achieved in every dimension. After T‐test, all the indices have reached a significant level. The indications are that ISO 14001 benefits all manufacturers the level of benefits however varies from company to company.

The implementation of management systems such as the quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management systems to the national and/or international standards I 9000, ISO 14000 and AS/NZS 4801 has been well researched and studied in the past. However, since the release of the completely revised quality system standard ISO 9001 in December 2000, there has been only few publications and studies about the integration of these three management systems. This paper discusses not only the methods that can be used for ingtegration of management systems but also gives practical examples of its impelementation and benefits to the organisations. It is not the intention of this paper to investigate the similarities and differences of the three standards. However, the above mentioned standards also include some information and references on compatibility, if further study is required.