Strategic environmental management in a service organization : a case study of Swedbank

Abstract: During the past decade environmental challenges have been intensified and given increased attention. This implies that businesses in all sectors strategically need to manage these challenges. The service sector is often considered as a sector with a low environmental impact if the direct environmental aspects are assessed. Still, it has been argued that the environmental impact that the sector gives rise to can create severe indirect environmental impacts. The products and services that are produced by this sector have a relatively limited use of physical resources which may make the environmental impact challenging to visualize. Banks belong to the service sector and it is partly banks that make the development of societies possible. They have possibilities to steer this development towards directions that may decrease the environmental impact. The aim of this thesis is to describe how a service organization strategically manages its resources with regards to the environmental aspects. This thesis is based on a context bound case study conducted on commission of Swedbank. It is the largest bank in Sweden and it has a leading position in the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian markets (Swedbank, 2012). Different strategies that were used to manage environmental aspects within the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Swedish markets were identified and studied further. Primary empirical data was gathered through information sources such as interviews with employees and secondary empirical material was mainly accessed in sustainability reports. A holistic theoretical framework that involves theories concerning strategic environmental management is used in this research project. It is assumed that strategic environmental management partly exists because of the perceived responsibilities, stakeholder pressures and the legitimacy of businesses. These pressures and responsibilities make it necessary to form strategical approaches and strategies which can be done through different management tools. The results show that Swedbank has chosen to manage environmental challenges through strategies communicated in terms of initiatives, activities, actions and toolsets. These strategies manage both direct and indirect environmental aspects. Some of the identified strategies are related to; an environmental policy, measurements of some of the direct aspects that generate greenhouse gas emissions, emissions reduction goal, an ISO 14001 certification, environmental training for employees, international commitments, certain demands on customers and suppliers, products and services with a specific environmental profile. Many of the strategies have been initiated on the Swedish market. Several of these strategies are shared on the four key markets but there are also several of these strategies that currently are not used in the Estonian, Latvian or Lithuanian markets. A major difference is that it is only the Swedish market that has an ISO 14001 certification. Another difference in the strategical approach is that no products or services with environmental profiles could be identified in any other market than in the Swedish market.