Diffusion of ISO 14001 environmental management system: global, regional and country-level analyses W.M. To a, * , P.K.C. Lee b a Macao Polytechnic Institute, Rua de Luis Gonzaga Gomes, Macao SAR, People’s Republic of China b The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China article info Article history: Received 30 April 2013 Received in revised form 24 September 2013 Accepted 29 November 2013 Available online 7 December 2013 Keywords: ISO 14001 Diffusion Logistic growth Global Regional and country levels abstract This paper explores the diffusion patterns of the ISO 14001 environmental management system worldwide. By using the data obtained from the ISO Survey of Certifications, the diffusion of ISO 14001 was investigated at global, regional, and country-specific levels. The results showed that both global and regional patterns resembled a typical logistic growth curve. The parameters of logistic curves were identified using nonlinear regression estimation, and the total number of ISO 14001 certificates issued was projected. At the country-specific level, correlation analysis was performed and three distinct groups were identified. The three groups resembled logistic growth curves with different growth rates. The spatialetemporal analysis showed that the diffusion of ISO 14001 was from west to east due to supply chain dynamics and change in the volume of total exports. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Green production is a business strategy and an innovation that focuses on effectiveness and profitability through environmentally friendly design, procurement, production, and delivery processes. The ISO 14000 family of standards is designed to enable worldwide adoption of green production (ISO, 2012a,b) and covers various aspects of environmental management, assessment, and auditing at organizational, process, and product levels. In particular, the certification standard ISO 14001 has been widely adopted in a wide variety of organizations across the world since its creation in 1996. ISO 14001 has been widely researched in different disciplines in the past twelve years (Albuquerque et al., 2007; Bansal and Bogner, 2002; Bansal and Hunter, 2003; Boiral, 2007; Corbett and Kirsch, 2001; Delmas, 2001, 2002; Gavronski et al., 2008; González- Benito and González-Benito, 2005; Heras-Saizarbitoria and Boiral, 2013; King et al., 2005; Lagodimos et al., 2007; Marimon et al., 2011; Morrow and Rondinelli, 2002; Nawrocka et al., 2009; Nishi- tani, 2010; Potoski and Prakash, 2004; Prakash and Potoski, 2006; Qi et al., 2011; To et al., 2012a; Viadiu et al., 2006; Vastag, 2004; Zeng et al., 2005). Some researchers focused on motivations for the standard’s implementation (e.g. Bansal and Bogner, 2002; Bansal and Hunter, 2003; Boiral, 2007; Chan and Wong, 2006; Gavronski et al., 2008; González-Benito and González-Benito, 2005; Jiang and Bansal, 2003; Morrow and Rondinelli, 2002; Prajogo et al., 2012; Vastag, 2004), while others offered insights into the stan- dard’s potential benefits (e.g. Gavronski et al., 2008; Prajogo et al., 2012; Summers Raines, 2002; To et al., 2012b). One particular research area that has drawn a lot of attention is the diffusion of ISO 14001. A significant body of literature on this research area has been available, offering insights into ‘how’ ISO 14001 diffuses at the country level (Casadesus et al., 2008; Delmas, 2002; Lagodimos et al., 2007; Qi et al., 2011), regional level (Delmas, 2002), and global level (Albuquerque et al., 2007; Corbett and Kirsch, 2001; Nishitani, 2010; Viadiu et al., 2006). Recently, Heras-Saizarbitoria and Boiral (2013) have performed a meta-analysis of research ar- ticles published between 1995 and 2012 on meta-management standards including ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. They suggested that future research should be devoted to a number of areas including creation of meta-standards for global governance, international diffusion of meta-standards, motivations for and benefits of adop- tion of meta-standards, and difference in internationalization of meta-standards, among others. The insights into the diffusion patterns of ISO 14001 at country, regional and global levels enable stakeholders of ISO 14001, including ISO Technical Committees, government accreditation agencies, and certification bodies, to tailor their promotion and marketing strategies to suit the characteristics of their target * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 853 8599 3319; fax: þ86 853 2872 7653. E-mail address: wmto@ipm.edu.mo (W.M. To). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Cleaner Production journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro 0959-6526/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.11.076 Journal of Cleaner Production 66 (2014) 489e498