The Enviroclub initiative was developed by three federal government agenciesCanada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, Environment Canada and the National Research Council Canadaand launched in 2001 to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in improving their profitability and...

Twenty years ago, Harvard Business School economist and strategy professor Michael Porter stood conventional wisdom about the impact of environmental regulation on business on its head by declaring that well designed regulation could actually enhance competitiveness. The traditional view of...

This text presents ten Quebec examples on green profitability. Managers concerned with the quality of the environment may find new ideas and arguments to convince their colleagues in being proactive in this matter. However, before presenting these examples, we must put the issue in a more...

We analyze 17 studies of the use of sustainable development indicators (SDI) in an urban setting. The analysis reveals a lack of consensus not only on the conceptual framework and the approach favored, but also on the selection and optimal number of indicators. First, by performing different...

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between the stringency of environmental regulation and total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the Quebec manufacturing sector. This allows us to investigate more fully the Porter hypothesis in three directions. First, the dynamic...

This paper explores the effects of effluent regulatory activity on firm behavior in the pulp and paper industry in Ontario. The model uses instrumental variables to attempt to distinguish between that correlation between emission limits and emissions coming from regulatory capture and that...

This paper evaluates five recent experiences of worksharing in Québec since 1994: Bell Québec, Alcan, Scott Paper, the Ministère de l'Environnement et de la Faune and Sico. Participation in voluntary worksharing programs was high where workers' sacrifice (lost wages) was not great and where...

We investigate the impact of occupational safety and health (OSH) and environmental regulation on the rate of growth of total factor productivity (TFP) in the Quebec manufacturing sector during the 1985-88 period. Our results show that environmental regulation and OSH protective reassignments (a...

In this paper, we develop and estimate an explanatory model of Human Resources Outsourcing. Six HR activities are analyzed: Payroll, Benefits, Recruiting, Training, Labor Relations, and Human Resources Information Systems. The determinants of outsourcing are drawn from two fields: the field of...

Jaffe and Palmer (1997) present three distinct variants of the so-called Porter Hypothesis. The weak version of the hypothesis posits that environmental regulation will stimulate certain kinds of environmental innovations. The narrow version of the hypothesis asserts that flexible environmental...