Ateneo de Naga University

College of Business and Accountancy

Business Management Department

Can Large and Small Modern Businesses Be Environmentally

Friendly?

A Statistics Research Proposal

In partial fulfillment in the course of Statistics Lecture

S/Y 2018- 2019

Respectfully submitted by:

HERNANDEZ, Kyle Virgil T.

Respectfully submitted to:

Ma’am Jessica Temwat

Professor
I. 1.1 Introduction

In our world today one of the biggest ways of every person to make ends meet is to

engage in business. Little do we know that by engaging in such ways of living creates a huge

impact to the environment, may it be positively or negatively. Understanding and managing

the impact that the business has on the environment today is crucial due to the reason that

environment is closely related with business. There is a constant ‘give and take’ relationship

between environment and business. The business receives inputs, information and technology

from the environment and gives it back in the form of outputs but at the expense of these

outputs we increase the risk of further damaging our environment. This research should be

done in order to truly know if the effects of these business for whatever positive impact they

make could be improved and for the negative effects to be mitigated in order for all

individuals to enjoy the benefits that Earth may have to offer.

Nowadays companies need to be adaptive, resilient, and must embrace change constantly

as key to deliver the satisfaction and value their organizations need, in the process these

companies may resort in different activities that may greatly damage our economy. As people

who all benefit from earth, we need to eradicate the given problem at hand which is the fact

that a large portion of the world as we know it is controlled by a number of big companies

The results of the research would mean a huge step for all living beings. Knowing where

the problem is and knowing how the given problem would be eradicated. An environmentally

friendly business that uses resources efficiently is more sustainable and more likely to

minimize the impact of environmental risks.

 1.2 Statement of The Problem

Businesses are estimated to contribute a significant proportion of global pollution, yet there is

little empirical evidence to support this claim. The main aim of this research is to conduct an

exploratory analysis of business’s environmental impact s.

Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:

1. What kind of businesses emit most pollution?

a. Food businesses

b. Lodging Businesses

c. Merchandising Businesses

d. Manufacturing Businesses

2. What is the level of the following attributes of the residents in relation to Businesses and

Pollution?

a. Awareness

b. Knowledge

c. Willingness

d. Values

3. Who are the most affected by these businesses?

a. Students

b. Families

c. Employees

d. Children

4. What are its implications towards educating the community to help alleviate economic

pollution of businesses?
 1.3 Objectives

To determine the positive and negative effects of small-scale and large-scale businesses in

To determine the different pollutants of different businesses

To find out methods of mitigating such pollutions

To find out how educated the community is in regards of the effects of these businesses

II. Literature Review

Environmental management has primarily been practiced in large transnational companies

(Luetkenhorst, 2004). For this reason, corporate social responsibility and environmental

management practices are predominantly understood from a large business perspective (Burns,

1996; Keats & Bracker, 1988). In fact, along with Governments it is those in large businesses

that are called upon and trusted to take leadership on these issues (Karp, 2003; Revell and

Rutherfoord, 2003). Large businesses have several advantages when looking to engage

voluntarily in environmental management practices. They have more resources, greater ability to

influence policy and regulations, they frequently use formal systems approaches to manage their

activities and they have a greater ability to achieve benefits from these practices due to

economies of scale (Child & Tsai, 2005; Luetkenhorst, 2004; Simpson, Taylor & Barker 2004).

Thus, voluntary engagement in environmental management can be seen as an attractive

opportunity for large businesses.

Small businesses make up the largest business sector in every economy in the world and

produce the majority (up to 60%) of the world’s economic output (Gerstenenfeld & Roberts,

2000). Small businesses (those with less than 20 employees) alone employ 3.7 million people or

46% of the private non-agricultural sector workforce (ABS, 2004) Thus, they are clearly an
extremely significant sector that must be engaged in the environmental agenda if any real change

is to occur. When analyzing the literature, it was apparent that there has been more focus this

decade placed on engaging small business in environmental management. However, few

empirical studies found specifically measured their environmental impact. The few studies which

do exist were conducted on a small number of local businesses. For example, one study provided

a measurement of energy consumption derived from meter readings from small retail industries

(Bustamante & Jennings, 2001).

III. Proposed Study

This research proposes for businesses to take appropriate mitigating measures for

environmental pollutions such as secreting hazardous wastes into oceans, emitting dangerous

smoke, and other activities that would threaten our economy. Businesses should monitor their

every action and not only focus on their personal income as business people.

A. Data to Be Collected

The key research questions which articulate the limitations of the existing literature and which

support the two objectives of this paper are:

Question 1: Is there evidence that collectively businesses can have a substantial negative impact

on the environment?

Question 2: To what extent does the local context of businesses influence their environmental

response?
 B. Method of Data Collection

To answer the research questions the research design incorporated both quantitative and

qualitative methods to collect statistical as well as more in-depth responses from the businesses.

A 7-item survey will be developed consisting of a mixture of qualitative and quantitative

questions and included questions related to the business (e.g. what type of business?), the

environment (e.g. how do you rate your interest in the environment?), waste management (e.g.,

what type and approximate volume of waste is produced and disposed of during your business

operations each week?)

C. Procedure

An examiner would proceed to different establishments and then ask their corresponding

managers if they could be interviewed for an estimated 5 to 10 minutes. He would then educate

the manager with a brief introduction about the research and proceed to give the questionnaire to

be answered. This would be done to 80 to 100 establishments for the results to be accurate and

concise

D. Methods Analysis

After finishing the survey, the frequency of each response will be computed and

summarized. There will be several tables and charts constructed to assess the responses from

participants. All the statistics tests will use the standard alpha level (α = .05). The analysis of the

data will provide a general idea about consumers’ and owner’s attitudes to the business

environment. It would be fruitful for owners and managers of the different businesses to find

appropriate ways to improve consumers’ satisfaction and to increase profits all the while

protecting their environmental area of businesses

 IV. Discussion of The Proposed Study

In conclusion to this the proposed study would help out both the business itself together with

the economy in knowing the different ways that one could pollute the environment and help

implement the different mitigating circumstances to their pollutants. The type of questions used

were sufficient to gain the necessary knowledge for the study, together with the number of

respondents to ensure that there is accuracy in the results

 V. References

References
Luetkenhorst, W., 2004. Corporate social responsibility and the development agenda.
Intereconomics. 39 (3), 157-166.

Karp 2003 ‘Socially responsible leadership.’ Foresight, 5(2), 15-23.

Revell A Rutherfoord R 2003 ‘UK environmental policy and the small firm: broadening the focus’
Business Strategy and the Environment 12 (1) 26-35.

Rutherfoord, R., Blackburn, R.A., & Spence, L.J. (2000). Environmental management and the small firm.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 6 (6), 310-325

Child H Tsai T 2005 The Dynamic Between Firms’ Environmental Strategies and Institutional Constraints
in Emerging Economies: Evidence from China and Taiwan. Journal of Management Studies 42:1
January 2005

Gerstenenfeld, A. & Roberts, H. (2000). Size matters: barriers and prospects for environmental
management in small and medium enterprises. In Ruth Hillary (Ed). Small and medium
enterprises and the environment. (pp.106-118). Sheffield: Greenleaf

Bustamante L & Jennings S 2006 Report on regional greenhouse gas abatement –business program
stage 3: local centres pilot project