ARE YOU A LEADER IN ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT

Industrial R&D plays a pivotal role in addressing environmental concer ns through the development of environmentally sound processes and syst ems. Accordingly, R&D directors need to know how well their organizati on has institutionalized environmental awareness into the company's ma nagement processes. A self-assessment questionnaire will allow R&D dir ectors to evaluate their organizations. It can also be used as a tool to guide environmental improvement. The questionnaire was used in 30 m ajor companies. Companies that scored the highest on this self-assessm ent measurement had three things in common. 1) Senior management was c ommitted to environmental excellence, 2) There was an elegant fit betw een the environmental considerations in the firms and the managerial p rocesses used to address them; 3) Managers in these firms understood t he financial and business implications of environmental issues.