Environmental Performance of the Assembly Plants Industry in the North of Mexico

The northern border of Mexico, a region with great tradition and rooting of the assembly plants industry, outstands by its specialization in the processing of electronic products and automobile parts. Also, this industry outstands by restructuring its techno‐productive capabilities derived from its integration with North America, which has aroused the interest about the resulting environmental problems. As depository of direct foreign investment, this region demands to design efficient mechanisms for an environmental management actively involving all the local actors. The deepness of liberalization of the Mexican economy has not been a condition for Mexico to specialize itself in “dirty” industries because since the North America Free Trade Agreement has taken effect, it is favoring less polluting industries as this is compliant of the environmental regulations, which are determined by the cooperation among companies and government through inspection and promotion of voluntary self‐management programs and through the environmental policy imposed by the corporation to its affiliates by means of quality and environmental international certifications (ISO 9001, 9002, 14001, and 14002). The objective of this work is to analyze the environmental performance of foreign companies operating under the assembly plants industry regime, considering the relationship between industrial upgrading and environmental performance.