Such transparent business practices influence the state of environmental awareness in many countries. Fortunately, many of these same economies are seeking foreign capital and technological expertise through partnerships between their state-owned national companies and foreign investor companies. When this occurs, cleanup of previously identified, acute environmental problems often takes place quickly on the property owned by the partnership. Such EMSs directly improve operational efficiency and environmental performance. Fewer hazardous wastes are created, and the costs for managing them decrease.
Workers suffering fewer injuries and illnesses produce more.
Interestingly, indirect pressures from these foreign business associations help advance the environmental cause in host countries. Business and industry leaders there, seeing associates and competitors benefit from the implementation of environmentally sensitive best management practices, adopt them for their own. The result is a self-fueling engine for increased environmental stewardship that benefits the host country and foreign business alike, and creates a rising tide of environmental protection. For certain, this concept does not play out similarly the world over. The economic and social costs of environmental management must be weighed against competing interests.