Research On ISO14000 Standard Implementation And Sustainable Development Of Small And Medium Sized Enterprises

Industrial revolution marks the progress of human being and the industrial development also greatly increases the economic growth. However, the natural environment people rely on for survival and self development is also seriously destroyed accompanying the big economic growth, and environmental problems such as global warming, depleting the ozone-layer, acid rain, leaking noxious gases, desertification of the land, the radiation and so on become more and more serious. Environmental protection and administration has caused wide public concern and becomes hot issues of the whole world. In June of 1992, the Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The conference has scored important achievements, and six topics were under discussion in the conference, they are earth charter, action projects, the pact, fiscal resources, technology transfer and the system. Meanwhile, the conference successfully passed Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (also named Earth Charter) and Agenda 21, and some significant documents were made such as Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Forest Convention and so on. In this conference, the functional relation between environmental protection and economic development is widely accepted. The traditional mode of development is denied, which is high production, high consumption and serious pollution. At the same time, the strategy of sustainable development is put forward, and it emphasizes sustainable development is the common development strategy to correctly coordinate the relationship between population, resources, environment and economy, no matter one is a developed country or a developing country, and is also the only avenue for human survival and self development.In order to respond to the strategy of sustainable development, ISO has issued a series of environment administration criterion, and the enterprises begin to realize their sustainable development by implementing ISO14000 standard from the angle of environmental protection. Enterprise is the basic unit of national economy. It can not only create wealth but also consume large amount of resources. Thus, the sustainable development of the enterprises must be achieved in order to realize the sustainable development of the whole society.As a developing country in the world, China is undergoing a rapid economic development. The total number of small and medium sized enterprises occupies 98% of the whole and it is the main growing point of our national economy. Meanwhile, the large-scale economy development also leads to serious environment problems. Since the end of 1996, our country has carried out ISO14000 standard. 14000 enterprises have passed ISO14000 by the end of 2006. Among these enterprises, majorities of them are the foreign-invested, joint-venture and export-oriented state-owned enterprises. And the total number of the small and medium sized enterprises which have passed the recognition is not large.Through the research on a large amount of related materials, the paper mainly puts the focus on current situation and existing problems of implementing ISO14000 standard in those small and medium sized enterprises and also illustrates the relationship between the effective implementation of ISO14000 standard and the sustainable development of small and medium sized enterprises. It also finds out the main reasons for influencing the effective implementation of ISO14000 standard by those small and medium sized enterprises. Finally, combining the national conditions and the characteristics of those small and medium sized enterprises, the thesis puts forward the measures to effectively implement ISO14000 standard and achieve the sustainable development of those small and medium sized enterprises. The paper also makes clear the necessity and pressure of implementing ISO14000 standard for the small and medium sized enterprises. It also provides theoretical basis for the effective implementation of ISO14000 standard and sustainable development of the small and medium sized enterprises.