Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • October 2008
  • Article
  • Strategic Management Journal

Organizational Responses to Environmental Demands: Opening the Black Box

By: Magali Delmas and Michael W. Toffel
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:29
ShareBar

Abstract

This paper combines new and old institutionalism to explain differences in organizational strategies. We propose that differences in the influence of corporate departments lead their facilities to prioritize different external pressures and thus adopt different management practices. Specifically, we argue that external constituents—including customers, regulators, legislators, local communities, and environmental activist organizations—who interact with influential corporate departments are more likely to affect facility managers' decisions. As a result, managers of facilities that are subjected to comparable institutional pressures adopt distinct sets of management practices that appease different external constituents. We test our framework in the context of the adoption of environmental management practices using an original survey and archival data obtained for nearly 500 facilities. We find support for these hypotheses.

Keywords

Environmental Sustainability; Management Practices and Processes; Decisions; Adoption

Citation

Delmas, Magali, and Michael W. Toffel. "Organizational Responses to Environmental Demands: Opening the Black Box." Strategic Management Journal 29, no. 10 (October 2008): 1027–1055.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Michael W. Toffel

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • June 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization

    By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel and Susan Pinckney
    • 2025
    • Faculty Research

    How Firms Respond to Worker Activism: Evidence from Global Supply Chains

    By: Yanhua Bird, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel
    • May 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Calyx Global: Rating Carbon Credits

    By: Michael W. Toffel and Adam Chen
More from the Authors
  • Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel and Susan Pinckney
  • How Firms Respond to Worker Activism: Evidence from Global Supply Chains By: Yanhua Bird, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel
  • Calyx Global: Rating Carbon Credits By: Michael W. Toffel and Adam Chen
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.