1.1 Research Background
Environmental ethics is generally defined as the ethical relationship between human beings and the environment in which we live. There are numerous ethical decisions that human beings make with respect to the environment. For example: From a nation’s level, should our country sign the Kyoto Protocol to make efforts on CO2 reduction? From a region’s level, should we allow continuing to clear cut the forests for the sake of region’s GDP growth? From a business level, should our company make gasoline powered vehicles to deplete fossil fuel resources, and ignore the new-tech vehicles which can create less emission?
Environmental ethics is a new field of moral philosophy, primarily because of the recent emergence of awareness (domestically and internationally) and inter-field research regarding humanity's impacts upon nature and the future.
Economics and ecology should be mutually reinforcing to attain sustainable development in modern society. With the increasing awareness of environmental problems and the demand placed by industrial activities on environmental quality, the control of pollution has become more important for nations, regions, as well as individual companies than ever.
Increasingly protective environmental legislation and international agreements with an emphasis on conservation and sustainability of our resources are being introduced in most parts of the world. With this trend of global consciousness and behavior to achieve a cleaner earth, the pressure on each level of organization to improve their ways creating wealth is tightened accordingly. As a result, as a member of global village, we must rethink to change our ways of living completely if the global economy is to become sustainable.
1.2 Research Objective
The object of this thesis is to study the performances for multiple organization levels from nation, region, to business taking environmental factors into consideration, with efficiency perspective. In the following article, both empirical studies as well as a conceptual framework for evaluating integrated development for a nation, a region and a company are presented. A perspective of efficiency looking at an entity’s work value created in terms of input-output is introduced and applied.
This dissertation starts by the basic concept of estimation methodology used for the following empirical studies in chapter three and four. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach and Malmquist productivity index will be introduced to measure technical efficiency and productivity changes for each decision making unit, say for example a country or a region.
Alternatives to cope with undesirable outputs are also listed.
The third part of this dissertation investigating the economic-environmental performance from a nation’s level. In the first part of this dissertation, productivity growth of ten Asian countries, namely, China, Japan, the NIEs, and the ASEAN-4, are analyzed by examining their outputs from economic performance and environmental impact standpoint.
Productivity growth and its components are calculated using the Malmquist index without/with CO2 emissions. Considering CO2 emissions, a cross-country comparison analysis is also made accordingly.
The forth part of this dissertation is from a region’s level. Taking China for example, this country has seen the fruit of its rapid economic growth over the past two decades, but severe environmental problems have accompanied this, such as the looming danger of Asian Brown Clouds. This part analyzes the regional development of China by examining economic performance as well as environmental emissions. Technical efficiency and productivity changes of thirty-one regions in China during the period 1997-2001 are
computed. This part also tests if the fast-developing east (coastal) regions experience higher technical efficiency and productivity growth than the inland central and west regions when both economic growth and environmental factors are concerned.
Ultimately, the economic growth of a nation and its regions are powered from its private sector, say the business operating within. Environmental destructions thus occur with these economic activities to influence our living habitat. In the forth part, a new conceptual framework for evaluating corporate integrated development through the perspective of efficiency is introduced. Under the proposed framework, businesses, investors, and society can conveniently understand and evaluate corporate holistic performance including its operational competence, financial health, and environmental friendliness. Therefore, decisions of different levels and groups can be made with programmed consideration on this pure analytical ground.
1.3 Organization of the Dissertation
This dissertation is organized in the following manner as Figure 1.1 shows: Chapter 1 presents the motives and objectives of the study. Chapter 2 gives a brief introduction of estimation methodology. Chapter 3 is an empirical analysis taking ten Asian economies as example to investigate the relationship of economic performance and environmental impact.
Chapter 4 narrows our scope to the regional performance to a specific country, China.
Chapter 5 provides fresh insight on introducing a new framework for the evaluation of corporate integrated development and illustrating its application. Chapter 6 concludes this dissertation.
Chapter 1 Introduction
►Research Background
►Research Objectives
Figure 1.1 Research Flow Chart Chapter 3 Nation’s Level
► An Empirical Analysis
► 10 Asian Countries as Sample
► CO2 Emissions as Environmental Factor
Chapter 4 Region’s Level
► An Empirical Analysis
► 31 Regions in China as Sample
► 3 Types of Emissions as Environmental Factors
Chapter 5 Business Level
► A Conceptual Framework
► Efficiency Perspective
► Indicator Pyramid