Strategic Response Patterns

Abstract

In Chapter 6, we witnessed evidence indicating that MNCs are bounded by various contextual factors in their responses to SHE protection demands. The complexity of business policy formation in MNCs were briefly discussed, but their impacts on the strategic benefit of a response is best represented by the interview excerpts presented in this chapter. Based on the modes of motivation, strategic responses of MNCs fall into two broad categories – passive and proactive. Passivity implies little deviation from the institutional demands, while proactivity presumes active choice behaviour. The organisation of this chapter assumes the presence of these two mechanism and adheres to two main lines of presentation – response to structures and response to institutions.

In general, the big corporations have more resources, knowledge expertise, and clear commitment to environmental protection. We are not having an easy time responding to different demands (EPA, public, etc.) and yet we are considered to be resourceful. If I run into problem, I can always consult Thomas and Stefan in Taipei, or else, I can consult Niesler UK. I have no idea how small corporations can cope with all the demands. Thomas is an experienced SHE Manager. He is in charge of both internal and external affairs, including public relations, maintenance and running of systems, data storage and management, audit, collection of samples, feedback and updates. We are quite good at this kind of thing. If it’s a small corporation or state-owned enterprise, the promotion of SHE activities can encounter severe difficulty. We have been actively promoting Responsible Care since two years ago. Last year, in our plant, we organised seminars for assistant managers and above to better implement Responsible Care programme, including a transportation safety module. In general, we organise quite a few SHE seminars every year. We send our SHE out to attend classes and increasingly we are also sending our line managers. In this way, we are not disconnected from the state-of-the-art practice and the managers can realise the relative importance of SHE. All these help to improve our internal practice.

Plant General Manager, Niesler Taiwan