國際營造廠之環境管理與公司業績表現

Abstract

隨著環境課題日益受到關注，營建業無可避免的必須在組織治理上做出改變。數份研究證實國際營造廠在環境管理上顯得比較積極主動，但是在環境管理，財務表現，及國際化之間關係的分析卻顯得不足。這項研究將針對國際營造廠為研究對象，主要研究目的是要探索環境管理策略和國際化之間的關聯、檢驗各個環境管理方式和財務之間的關係、並且進一步檢驗區域多元化是否會調節環境管理和財務之間的關係。 理論上，本項研究採用三項主要管理理論。資源基礎理論強調環境管理如何強化公司的競爭優勢，交易成本理論和組織學習理論則解釋國際化對財務表現的影響。 本研究從Engineering News-Record (ENR) 2012年度的頂尖營造廠表單中，採用其中 61家國際營造廠為研究對象。接著通過內容分析法來分析各家廠商的環境報告，以此方式摘錄和評估各家的環境管理模式及其積極度。財務表現資料的主要來源是通過Datastream資料庫獲取的次級資料。國際化資料則是依據營造廠的國外銷售佔總銷售額比例，投資的地域擴張度，及地理集中度三方面來鑑定。 另外，此項研究採取三種不同的分析法解析資料以達到前述三個目標。其中包括：反差分析及其他類似分析法、多元逐步回歸分析法、及調節回歸分析法。 在K均值聚類演算中歸類出三種不同積極度的環境管理策略，分別命名為被動策略、預防策略、及積極策略。其後，從反差分析法得到結論是採用較積極環境管理策略的國際營造廠有助於其公司國際化，但是環境管理策略對國際化的影響是有局限的。相比採用被動和預防策略的營造廠，研究結果顯示採取積極策略的營造廠在國際化上並沒有顯著的不同，但是採取積極策略的營造廠在國際地理分佈上會傾向投資在發達國家中。 在財務表現的回歸分析中，有五項環境管理方式與公司財務表現明顯相關。其中包括實地污染處理、營業環境掃描、環境管理系統、環保相關的創新、及利益關係方參與。此外，實地污染處理和環保相關的創新都對財務表現呈現非直線型的關係。實地污染處理是U型曲線，另外環保相關的創新是倒U型曲線的關係。這發現有助於營造廠確立哪種環境管理方式會對財務造成影響，並且積極加強以增加公司的競爭力。 調節回歸分析法引用地理集中度為調節變數，並與實地污染處理、營業環境掃描、及環保相關的創新三種環境管理方式形成交互作用變數，檢驗它們對財務表現的影響。研究結果發現地理集中度對環境管理方式呈現正負不一的影響。地理集中度的影響是有賴於國際化的益處是否超越其成本。 綜上所述，本研究除了提供適當的理論來解釋環境管理、國際化、及財務表現三者之間的關聯，也進一步通過量化的實驗證明其關係。對於營造廠來說，永續環境的發展對公司治理會顯得越來越至關重要，營造廠必須採取適當的策略性環境管理來應對挑戰，並通過強化環境管理來提高其在國際市場的競爭優勢。

Growing attention on environmental protection has triggered drastic changes in the corporate practices of construction firms. Several studies have shown that multinational construction firms have been relatively proactive in environmental management. However, the relationships between environmental management, degree of internationalization, and financial outcomes are not fully comprehended. This study targets on multinational construction firms and the main goals of this study are to explore relationship between environmental strategy and degree of internationalization; examine the relationship between environmental practices and financial performance; and examine the moderating effect of regional diversification on the relationship between environmental practices and the financial performance. Primarily, these relationships were established drawing from three profound management theories, Resource-based view explain how firms acquire competitive advantages from environmental management, transaction cost and organizational learning are two main perspectives that articulated firm performances with internationalization. In total, 61 samples of multinational construction firms are drawn from the Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top International Contractor list published in 2012. Content analysis was used to extract and measure the degree of proactivity of environmental management disclosed through environmental reporting. Financial and accounting information is collected through secondary data disclosed in Datastream database. Degree of internationalization is measured based on investment intensity, geographical extensity, and geographical concentration. In addition, the study adopted three different analysis approaches to achieve the targeted goals. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and other similar extension methods, stepwise regression, and moderated regression analysis are consecutively carried out to analyze the relationships that related to the goals. Three clusters of environmental strategies have emerged from the statistical clustering which depict reactive, preventive, and proactive postures in strategic environmental management. The results denote that construction firms which are proactive in strategic environmental management would have improved internationalization to an extent where further proactivity would deem irrelevant to internationalization, and proactive firms would more likely to have greater geographical portfolio distribution in developed countries. In regards of financial performances, five environmental management practices have been revealed to significantly associated with financial performances. These practices include pollution abatement on-site, environmental scanning, management systems and procedures, environmental innovation, and stakeholder engagement. Nonlinear relationships have been detected on both pollution abatement on-site (U-curve) and environmental innovation (inverted U-shaped). These findings can assist construction firms in determining the key environmental management practices that are able to enhance their competitive edge. Furthermore, regional diversification is adopted as a moderator, forming interaction terms with environmental management practices such as pollution abatement on-site, environmental scanning, and environmental innovation to examine the impacts on financial performances. The results suggest regional diversification can be either positively or negatively moderate the relationships between environmental management and financial performances, and it depends on whether the benefits of internationalization outweigh the costs of internationalization. In a nutshell, this study provides theoretical support and empirical evidences on the linkages between environmental management, internationalization, and financial performances. Besides, it also contributes to the growing body of evidence that environmental sustainability is becoming increasingly vital to the operations of construction firms, and proper strategic environmental management can enhance a firm’s competitive advantage in the global market.