RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS http://mitpress.mit.edu/jie Journal of Industrial Ecology 103  Copyright 2003 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University Volume 6, Number 3–4 The Role of Voluntary Industry Standards in Environmental Supply-Chain Management An Institutional Economics Perspective Christine Meisner Rosen, Sara L. Beckman, and Janet Bercovitz Keywords computer industry design for environment (DfE) economic theory environmental management systems (EMS) greening the supply chain semiconductor industry Address correspondence to: Christine Meisner Rosen Haas School of Business University of California Berkeley, CA, USA crosen@haas.berkeley.edu www.haas.berkeley.edu/advantage/ socialresp.html http://cgdm.berkeley.edu/ Summary Our article uses a new institutional economics (NIE) frame- work to explore the role of voluntary industry standards in the development and implementation of environmental supplier-management programs in the computer industry. We examine two different voluntary standards, one for the man- agement of design for environment (DfE) in the semiconduc- tor fabrication equipment sector and the other for assessing the implementation and use of environmental management systems throughout the computer industry supply chain. We compare and contrast the two standards to explain why the former was widely adopted and has helped integrate DfE into buyer-supplier relations among adopters, whereas the latter failed to gain acceptance. In line with NIE logic, both standards aimed to lower transaction and customization costs by setting “rules of the game” for interfirm transactions that would help simplify and routinize novel environmental supply-chain pro- grams and activities. Their differential success can be elucidated in terms of how well each met the NIE criteria for remedia- bleness and legitimacy. We conclude that voluntary standards have the potential to play an important role in promoting DfE in industrial supply chains. We further conclude that NIE pro- vides a conceptual framework of great value to industrial ecol- ogists who analyze how industry standards and other institu- tions help firms move toward more sustainable supply-chain management practices.