Implementering av miljöledningssystem i private & kommunala bolag – En studie om vilka faktorer som påverkar användingen av ISO 14001 I Volvo Cars & Göteborgs Hamn AB

Abstract

Background: Today there is no doubt whether companies should work with environmental issues, it is rather a question of how. Environmental management system, such as ISO 14001, are tools to handle these questions. Both the maritime industry and the automobile industry have a comprehensive environmental impact, which makes Port of Gothenburg and Volvo Cars interesting companies to analyze in their use of ISO 14001. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to gain a better insight into how two different companies implement and work with ISO 14001. Which is the role of ISO 14001 in the company’s environmental activities, which stakeholders influence it and what improvements have the system led to. Methodology: This thesis is designed as a qualitative comparison study between Volvo Cars and Göteborgs Hamn AB. The method used to collect primary data is semistructured interviews. Through literature studies of previous research in the areas of stakeholders, legitimacy, environmental management system, criticism against ISO 14001 and crucial factors for a successful use of ISO 14001. We have chosen to structure both the empiricism and the analysis in five categories; ISO 14001’s function in the company, Advantages and disadvantages of ISO 14001, Stakeholder influence of environmental work, Environmental improvement and ISO 14001 's contribution to economic benefits. Conclusion: Both companies in the study use ISO 14001 as a tool for systematizing its environmental work, which demonstrates a strategic approach to the management system. Through our investigation we observed the clear environmental improvements ISO 14001 have resulted in enterprises, this applies primarily to resource efficiency. However, there were no other clearly observed improvement, which follows the criticism of the ISO 14001. Different stakeholders influence the corporation's environmental activities and use of ISO 14001. In this case the different forms of ownership and industry's variations seem to have an impact.