The Diffusion of Voluntary International Management Standards: Responsible Care,ISO 9000, and ISO 14001 in the Chemical Industry

This article analyzes the factors that explain the international diffusion of voluntary international management standards. We argue that international management standards should not be analyzed in isolation but in conjunction with other standards and their institutional environment. We present two opposite views explaining how the previous diffusion of management standards facilitates or hampers the adoption of new management standards. We test a comprehensive model of diffusion of international environmental management standards within the chemical industry using a panel of 113 different countries during the period 2000 to 2003. Our results show that the previous experience of businesses in voluntary standards such as the Chemical Industry's Responsible Care Program or ISO 9000, government commitment toward Environmental Management Systems Standards, and the level of activity of international nongovernmental organizations in the country of adoption, impact positively on the adoption of ISO 14001 by chemical firms. Unlike previous studies that focused mostly on cross industry analyses, we do not find trade‐related factors significant while explaining adoption in the chemical industry. Our results differ, therefore, from previous research and highlight the need to isolate industry effects to understand the diffusion of international standards.     

Performance-Based Vulnerability Assessment of Multi-Story Reinforced Concrete Structures Exposed to Pre- and Post-Earthquake Fire

Post-earthquake fire can potentially bring about much more damage than the earthquake itself. Performing a vulnerability assessment for a structure that has already sustained damage in an earthquake and is then exposed to fire is therefore of importance. This paper describes a performance-based investigation in which applied loads to a structure are appropriately quantified. To do so, a sequential structural analysis is performed on the Life Safety performance level of a three-story reinforced concrete frame selected from a building. For the analysis to be more realistic, the slab is also included in the frame analysis through the concept of effective length. The frame is first subjected to an earthquake load with the PGA of 0.30 g followed by a fire analysis, using the ISO834 fire curve and the iBMB fire curve. The time needed for the structure weakened by the earthquake to collapse under fire is then calculated. As a benchmark, fire-only analysis is also performed for the undamaged frame. Moreover, the effect of thermal spalling is considered in the slabs. The selected frame is evaluated under various failure criteria such as load capacity, displacement, and rate of displacement. The results show that no failure is observed when the frame is exposed to fire alone, either when using the ISO curve or the iBMB curve under various failure criteria. It is also shown that while the PEF resistance based on load capacity criteria under the ISO curve is around 120 minutes, it reduces to about 95 min under the iBMB curve. However, considering the rate of deflection failure criteria, the PEF resistance is around 103 min and 75 min under the ISO and the iBMB curves, respectively. It is then concluded that in the PEF analysis, the iBMB curve is more compatible with the concept of performance-based design than the ISO curve is.     

Do Voluntary Programs Reduce Pollution? Examining ISO 14001's Effectiveness across Countries

Voluntary environmental programs have emerged as important instruments of environmental policy. Despite considerable scholarly scrutiny, there remain debates about whether they reduce pollution among participants, and their overall impact at the country level. We present a cross‐national analysis of the efficacy of ISO 14001, the most widely adopted voluntary environmental program in the world. While several single country studies have explored the effect of ISO 14001 participation on pollution reduction at the facility level, this is the first article to assess (i) national level pollution reduction effects of ISO 14001 participation levels, (ii) across a large number of countries, and (iii) across two pollutants. We examine whether all else equal, the national level uptakes of ISO 14001 are associated with reductions in air emissions (sulfur dioxide, SO₂) and water pollution (biochemical oxygen demand, BOD). Because firms, regulators, and environmental groups tend to focus more on visible types of pollution than less visible ones, we hypothesize that ISO 14001 uptake will be associated with more pronounced reductions in air pollution (visible) in relation to water pollution (less visible). Our analyses of pollution levels for a panel of 138 (72 for BOD) countries for the 1991–2005 period suggest that a 1 percent increase in aggregate levels of ISO 14001 adoption is associated with about a 0.064 percent reduction in SO₂ emissions, all else equal. In contrast, we do not find a statistically significant relationship between ISO 14001 adoption levels and changes in water pollution (BOD).     

ISO14001环境管理体系及在中国饭店业中的应用

本文介绍了ISO14001环境管理体系及其在中国饭店业中的实施要点和延伸,试图为中国饭店业找寻一条实现可持续发展的道路.