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  • 2003
  • Article
  • Corporate Environmental Strategy

Developing a Management Systems Approach to Sustainability at BMW Group

By: Michael W. Toffel, Natalie Hill and Kellie McElhaney
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Abstract

This article describes how Designworks/USA, a subsidiary of BMW Group, developed a Sustainability Management System (SMS) by integrating the management of environmental, social, and traditional business issues. After several months of deploying the SMS throughout its business operations, this industrial design company became the first organization in the world to achieve third-party certification of a SMS. An article in the next issue of CES Journal will describe the preliminary outcomes of the SMS and challenges Designworks/USA faces in its ongoing SMS development efforts. In addition, that article will describe how the SMS is facilitating BMW Group's commitment to implement the United Nations Global Compact's human rights, labor, and environmental principles.

Keywords

Environmental Sustainability; Management Systems; Standards; Operations; Auto Industry

Citation

Toffel, Michael W., Natalie Hill, and Kellie McElhaney. "Developing a Management Systems Approach to Sustainability at BMW Group." Corporate Environmental Strategy 10, no. 2 (2003).
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About The Author

Michael W. Toffel

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

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  • David Crane’s Clean(er) Energy Strategy at NRG By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Tom Quinn
  • Building a Mishap-Free U.S. Navy By: Amy C. Edmondson, Herman B. Leonard, Michael W. Toffel and Michael Norris
  • FIJI Water: Carbon Negative? (Abridged) By: Michael W. Toffel, George Serafeim, Francesca Gino, Stephanie Van Sice and Tom Quinn
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