Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Comparative analysis of diffusion of the ISO 14001 standard by sector of activity

Frederic Marimon a, Josep Llach b, *, Merce Bernardo c
a
Departament d’Economia i Organització d’Empreses, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
b
Departament d’Organització, Gestió Empresarial i Disseny de Producte, Universitat de Girona, Escola Politècnica Superior, Campus Montilivi, edifici EPS-1, 17071 Girona, Spain
c
Departament d’Economia i Organització d’Empreses, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In recent years there have been many approaches to understand the cross-country diffusion rate of the
Received 28 July 2010 most common environmental management standards issued by the International Organization for
Received in revised form Standardization, the ISO 14000 series, due to their spectacular growth around the world, even though
2 March 2011
a certain saturation has been detected in some countries. However, few studies have shed light on the
Accepted 3 June 2011
Available online 14 June 2011
diffusion process of these standards across sectors of activity. Therefore, the present paper examines
whether there are patterns of diffusion of the ISO 14001 standard that are singular at specific sectors of
economic activity. The analysis was carried out using a logistic curve that fits quite well to explain the
Keywords:
ISO 14001
nature of this growth, and instability and concentration indexes were calculated to analyze the evolution
Environmental management system of the rankings of the sectors attending the number of certifications ISO 14001. It concludes that the
Diffusion diffusion among sectors is quite homogeneous: all sectors have experienced similar behavior. Moreover,
Sector of economic activity the article proposes some suggestions for future research.
! 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction At a European level, another environmental management

Specialized agencies publish management standards applicable
to different aspects of corporate management as the need arises.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO), established in
1947, has issued several such standards, notably the ISO 9000
Quality Management Standards, first published in 1987, and of
which several revisions have since been published. The dissemi-
nation of the ISO 9000 standards has been highly successful. In
2008, for instance, at least 982,832 ISO 9001:2008 certificates were
issued in 176 countries (ISO, 2009). This represents an increase of
31,346 (þ3%) over 2007, when the total was 951,486 in 175 coun-
tries (ISO, 2009).
In the mid-nineties another family of standards was published by
ISO, the ISO 14000 series, related to the implementation of envi-
ronmental management systems. This also has been quite success-
ful, with at least 188,815 certificates being issued during the course
of 2008 in 155 countries (ISO, 2009). The growth rate of this stan-
dard can be considered as frankly spectacular, first because it grows
22% over 2007, and second given that just 10 years ago the number
of ISO 14001 certifications worldwide was only 7887 (ISO, 2000).
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 972418382; fax: þ34 972418399.
E-mail addresses: fmarimon@cir.uic.es (F. Marimon), josep.llach@udg.edu (J.
Llach), merce.bernardo@ub.edu (M. Bernardo).
standard has been introduced: the Eco-Management and Audit
Scheme (EMAS) (EMAS, 2011). This is a more demanding standard
than ISO 14001 in terms of content, but nonetheless remains
voluntary. EMAS is in fact a European Union regulation that gives
recognition to those organizations that have implemented an
environmental management system and have adopted a commit-
ment to continuous improvement, verified by independent audits.
EMAS recognized organizations, whether industrial companies,
small and medium businesses, non-profit making organizations, or
governmental and international organizations, have a defined
environmental policy, make use of an environmental management
system and issue regular reports on the operation of this system in
the form of environmental statements verified by independent
bodies. The number of such certified organizations in Europe in
2009 was 4,470, located mainly in Germany, Spain and Italy.
Fig. 1 compares the numbers of certifications for the two envi-
ronmental standards referred to, and although the figures do not
coincide chronologically, since for reasons of availability of data the
totals given for EMAS certifications are for June 2010 while the ISO
14001 totals correspond to December 2008, it can be seen that
Spain and Italy are at the head of the table for both certifications. It
is also to be noted that the number of ISO 14001 certifications are
much higher than those for EMAS.
Although ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are the most widespread
standards worldwide, other management systems have also been

0959-6526/$ e see front matter ! 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.06.003
 F. Marimon et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744 1735

published and gained general acceptance, including OHSAS 18001
(BSI, 2007) in the field of health and safety management systems or
the SA 8000 management system (SAI, 2008), the AA1000 Series
(AccountAbility, 1995) and the Global Reporting Initiative (Global
Reporting Initiative, 1997) for corporate social responsibility,
among others.
The benefits and the drawbacks of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 have
been the subject of analysis and discussion from both an academic
and an organizational standpoint (e.g., Gimenez et al., 2006; Davies
and Webber, 1998; del Brio et al., 2001; Gonzalez-Benito and
Gonzalez-Benito, 2005, 2008). The diffusion of both standards has
also been studied in-depth and comparative analyses have been
undertaken of their patterns of diffusion. In most cases, the anal-
yses have been cross-national (e.g., Franceschini et al., 2004;
Marimon et al., 2006, 2009, 2010; Casadesús et al., 2008).
This approach makes it possible to analyze why the rate of
diffusion is different in different geographical areas. National
governments have in fact adopted differing approaches to the
promotion of quality standards within their countries’ organizations,
or to the latter’s relationships with the environment. But there is
a lack of studies analyzing the diffusion of these standards by sectors
of activity. As far as the authors know, the only similar study that
analyzes the rate of diffusion of one quality standard according to
sector of activity is the recently published analysis by Llach et al.
(2010). The purpose of the study referred to is to analyze the
evolution of the worldwide diffusion of the ISO 9000 family of quality
standards in terms of the different sectors of industrial activity.
In view of the lack of studies analyzing the other most wide-
spread worldwide standard, ISO 14001, the aim of the present study
is to determine whether there are patterns of diffusion of the ISO
14001 standard that are specific to each sector of economic activity,
given that each sector has its own norms of behavior.
In order to achieve this aim, the paper has been structured as
follows. Next section consists of a literature review. In the third
section, the methodology is defined. Results are presented in the
fourth section and conclusions are detailed in the last section.
Moreover, some recommendations are suggested to shed some
light on the ongoing debate about the greening industry.
2. Literature review
The exiting literature about standards diffusion models is related
to the diffusion of innovations. For this reason, a brief comment on
the latter is given first to analyze then the former in-depth.
Accordingly to Rogers (1995) the diffusion of an innovation is
defined as a ‘‘process by which an innovation is communicated
through certain channels over time among the members of a social
system’’. User’s adoption is influenced by the perceived character-
istics of an innovation that explain its adoption rate, which are: (1)
relative advantage, (2) compatibility, (3) complexity, (4) trialability,
and (5) observability. A number of studies have examined the issues
related to how an innovation spreads through an economy. For
example, Rogers (1995), classifies the innovation adopters in
different categories, from “innovators” to “laggards” and represents
this adoption over time in an S-curve graphic. In Mahajan et al.
(1990), based on Bass (1969) theoretical model of new products’
adoption, conclude that empirical studies support the existence of
the S-shaped pattern and its applications in forecasting the future
of these adoptions (related studies following Rogers’ theory are, for
example, Valente (1999), Baptista (1999). Meade and Islam (2006)
highlight that the main benefits of modeling the diffusion of the
same innovation in several countries are having available data to
forecast the model and information about the national differences
on the rate adoption. Related to this last aspect, in Yalcinkaya
(2008) the impact of culture of each country on diffusion of new
products is analyzed. For further analysis on this topic, see also
Gharavi et al. (2004), Liu and Li (2010) and Peres et al. (2010), who
realized a literature review of innovations diffusion. The last
authors propose a new definition of diffusion of innovations
considering the impact of social influences on the diffusion process.
The classical diffusion model found in marketing literature is the
S-curve model for the spreading of innovations (Kumar et al., 2009).
This model has successfully been fitted to new product innovations
in many industries (see e.g., Gurbaxani (1990)). It was also found
that the speed of diffusion is highly industry-specific and can be
fairly slow in the case of new technologies (Loch and Bernardo,
1999; Geroski, 2000).

Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia Total ISO 14001 (Dec2008)
Total EMAS (June2010)
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom

0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000 18,000

Fig. 1. Comparison of ISO 14001 and EMAS certifications in Europe. Source: ISO (2009) and EMAS (2010).
1736 F. Marimon et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744
Specifically, there is a very extensive range of studies dealing with
the dissemination of innovative technologies, which can also be
applied in some form to management innovations, and thus to
innovations in general, such as Teece (1980), Meade and Islam (2006)
and Liu and Li (2010), thus demonstrating that models of technolog-
ical innovation are not restricted to tangible products. From these
studies, a general conclusion is that the accumulative adoption of
innovations over time follows an S-shaped or sigmoid curve, reflect-
ing the fact that in practice few members of a social system adopt
innovations during their initial stages, but that their rate of adoption
subsequently rises until the process reaches its saturation point, when
the growth rate falls again (see e.g., Rogers,1995; Mahajan et al.,1990;
Stoneman, 1995; MacVaugh and Schiavone, 2010).
Related to this, new organizational practices adoption could
differ between sectors. For example, Jackson and Lapsley (2003)
and Lapsley and Wright (2004), explained the diffusion of
accounting innovations in public sector organizations. They found
that these innovations are created in the private sector and are
largely affected by government influence, mainly by regulation,
stature or exhortation. Differences among sub-sectors have been
found. Neumayer and Perkins (2005) analyzed the uneven geog-
raphies of organizational practices, focusing on the diffusion of ISO
9001. They found that transnational networks ease the transfer of
new organizational practices, but the national environmental
conditions are still important. Pini and Santangelo (2005) found, in
a study carried out in an Italian region, that innovation develop-
ment is a heterogeneous activity as shown by the different deter-
minants of product, process and quality innovations. They found
that firms operating in specialized suppliers fields differ from firms
operating in scale-intensive and labor-intensive sectors.
Halila (2007) developed a model to adopt ISO 14001 by small and
medium sized manufacturing companies collaborating in
a network. Findings show that is possible to use an existing network
to jointly start and implement the system, and it is more effective in
those activities common to all companies in the network. Peng and
Lin (2008) conclude, in a study of 101 Taiwanese manufactory firms,
that the level of green management adoption in subsidiary firms is
influenced by the local responsiveness pressure and subsidiary
resources, and the adoption is positively related to the subsidiary’s
performance. Frondel et al. (2008) found evidence from German
manufacturing that environmental innovation activities are not
associated with environmental management systems imple-
mentation nor any other single policy instrument, and that inno-
vation behavior seems to be mainly correlated with the stringency
of environmental policy. Lin and Ho (2010) found that technological,
organizational and environmental dimensions are determinant
factors of green practice adoption in Chinese logistic sector.
Specifically, the factors having a positive influence on this adoption
are: relative advantage, compatibility of green practices, organiza-
tional support, quality of human resources, regulatory pressure and
governmental support. The study also concludes that these results
could be different for other industries.
Regarding the diffusion of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 stan-
dards, the literature in the field includes a number of attempts to
examine the process by which they have spread all over the world
(see Table 1 for a summary). Corbett and Kirsch (2001,2004) and
Vastag (2003) have provided some clues from a geographical point
of view, but not in terms of the dynamics of the process involved.
Focusing on the specific case of the ISO 14001 standard, they found
that the number of ISO 9001s implemented in a country is also an
enabler for the diffusion of ISO 14001. Delmas (2002) also explains
the pattern of diffusion of ISO 14001 in Europe and in the U.S. in
the light of the institutional environment, while noting that in the
European case this has played a favorable role and in the case of the
U.S. an unfavorable one.
Table 1
Studies on ISO 14001 diffusion factors.
Author/s Factors
Corbett and Kirsch (2001, 2004) Number of ISO 9001 in a country enable
Vastag (2003) diffusion of ISO 14001
Delmas (2002) Positive institutional environment for ISO
14001 diffusion in Europe
Prakash and Potoski (2007) Direct foreign investment influences ISO
14001 adoption
Corbett (2006) Supply chain determines global diffusion of
management practices
Albuquerque et al. (2007) ISO 14001 driven primarily by geography
and cultural affinity
Source: Own elaboration from the literature.
Working along the same lines, Prakash and Potoski (2007) found
that direct foreign investment influences national ISO 14001
adoption rates. Corbett (2006) also contributed to the debate by
showing that supply chains may play a role as one of the deter-
mining factors in the global diffusion of management practices.
These studies of the diffusion between countries conclude that such
diffusion is explained by the level of trading relations between
countries, and also by the number of certifications of other stan-
dards. Saraiva and Duarte (2003), Franceschini et al. (2004) and
Sampaio et al. (2009) greatly enriched the debate by including
consideration of this dynamic dimension. Xia et al. (2008) argued
that stakeholder pressures affect the diffusion of ISO 14001 and that
environmental protection, media freedom and trade dependence
play critical roles in the global diffusion process at the country level.
For their part, Marimon et al. (2006, 2009, 2010) and Casadesús
et al. (2008) proposed new indicators to assess and analyze the
diffusion phenomenon at a country level. Meanwhile, Albuquerque
et al. (2007) analyzed the global diffusion of the ISO 9000 and ISO
14000 series using a diffusion model which includes several
possible cross-country contagion effects; they found that the
diffusion of ISO 9001 is driven primarily by geography and bilateral
trade relations, whereas that of ISO 14001 is driven primarily by
geography and cultural affinity.
More recently, Franceschini et al. (2010) explained the pattern of
the adoption over a period of time of innovations such as the ISO
9001 standard in terms of a sigmoid (S-shaped, or logistical) curve
that reflects three separate phases: (i) an innovation is adopted
only slowly in its initial stages (producing a relatively ‘flat’ curve);
(ii) the rate of adoption then increases (producing a ‘steeper’
curve); and (iii) the process reaches saturation point (producing
another relative ‘flattening out’ of the curve). Some previous
authors (see e.g., Stoneman, 1995; Teece, 1980) claim that this
pattern fits the diffusion of all innovations (both tangible and
intangible) in general.
The data used in the above studies are collected in terms of
countries or other geographical areas, but very few studies have
analyzed data in terms of sectors of economic activity (see e.g.,
Neumayer and Perkins, 2005; Guler et al., 2002). However, a few
exceptions that did deal with ISO 14001 have been found but,
anyway, the studies were only related to one singular sector or
focused on one specific country. For instance, Delmas and Montiel
(2008) tested a comprehensive model for the diffusion of interna-
tional environmental management standards in the chemical
industry during the period 2000 to 2003. They concluded that
companies’ previous experience of voluntary standards, govern-
ment commitment to environmental management standards, and
the level of activity of international non-governmental organiza-
tions in the country of adoption, all have a positive impact on the
adoption of ISO 14001 by chemical firms.
On the other hand, Franceschini et al. (2008) attempted to
analyze the diffusion of ISO standards in the commodity sectors in
 F. Marimon et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744
a specific country (in this case, Italy). They proposed four categories
in which to classify the diffusion of ISO 9001, but found no differ-
ences between sub-sectors when they focused on ISO 14001.
Similar to them, Specchiarello and Giagnorio (2009), studied the
diffusion rates of both standards in Italy and found that those
sectors with a larger diffusion are related to wholesale supply and
distribution sectors, and the minimal diffusion is in those sectors
related to services. Similar studies have been performed in other
countries, such Lagodimos et al. (2007), who found that the ISO
14001 diffusion in Greece was not uniform within industries, being
more diffused in manufacture industry than in services and
commerce industries; while the diffusion by sectors is higher in
those sectors with hazardous activities or products, although this is
not the only factor influencing the certification of ISO 14001.
Casadesus et al. (2010) focused the diffusion of quality and envi-
ronmental management systems into the Spanish tourism sector.
They compared the diffusion of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and a Spanish
quality standard of tourism. Results show that the three standards
follow and S-curve model for its diffusion and conclude that the
Spanish standard certifications will increase in the future as a signal
of differentiation, detriment of ISO 14001 and ISO 9001.
Bodas (2009) analyzed descriptively the diffusion of ISO 9001
and 14001 in eight OECD countries finding that there are some
cross-country and cross-industries strategies favoring diffusion.
Regarding the industrial diffusion, those sectors with higher
propensity to certification to both standards are: basic metal,
electrical and optical equipment, food industries, and machinery
and transport. The results also show that ISO 14001 certification is
more important in industries with higher export and labor
productivity and lower R&D intensity. The paper concludes that
both standards diffusion seem to depend on the network configu-
rations and on national and industrial context.
Thus, following the lines of research pursued by previous
authors, in this study the logistic curve will be used as a pattern to
explain the worldwide diffusion of the ISO 14001 standard, but
gathering the data in terms of sectors of economic activity instead
of by country. This paper conducts a transversal study across the
boundaries of sectors of activity, an approach not found in the
existing literature. The hypothesis that is formulated is that all
sectors of economic activity have a similar pattern of behavior with
regard to the diffusion of the ISO 14001 standard. If this hypothesis
should be disproved, a new discussion would then arise to explain
the specific patterns of behavior of the different sectors in future
research.
3. Methodology
The objective of this article is to analyze those differences in the
pattern of diffusion that may be found between different sectors
worldwide.
While there has been a considerable level of in-depth analysis of
the diffusion of standards between countries based on the search
for explanations for the different patterns of diffusion in different
countries, the same degree of maturity has not yet been reached in
the study of the above diffusion from the viewpoint of different
sectors of activity. It has not been determined whether there really
are different patterns of diffusion for each sector of economic
activity or whether the diffusion phenomenon occurs in a similar
manner in each economic sector.
In order to undertake this study, data provided by ISO in its
annual reports on the certification processes (The ISO survey) will
be used. This source has two main drawbacks:
1. ISO does not itself perform certification to its standards, does
not issue certificates and does not verify certifications
1737
performed independently of ISO by other organizations.
However, the fact that it frequently receives requests for
information about the number of certificates led the organi-
zation to undertake regular ISO Surveys.
2. Not all data sources respond to the request of sector aggrega-
tion, with the result that the figures should be taken as rough
indicators only. The sum of the industrial sectors by country
may exceed the total sum, because in some cases a single
certificate covers more than one sector. Discrepancies also arise
when comparing the annual values obtained from the sum of
the certifications in the 39 sectors of activity with the overall
number of certifications for the same year based on the totals
by country. It is observed that the sum of the country totals is
always higher than the sum of the totals by sector.
This gap is especially significant in the case of the 2008 figures,
when the latter value measured as a percentage of the global value
by country falls to nearly 50% (ISO, 2009). It is important to bear
these reservations in mind when analyzing the data for the
evolution of ISO 14001 certifications by sector (Table 2). In order to
categorize ISO 14001 certifications by sector of economic activity,
we have used the “European Accreditation” code (EAC).
Two types of analyses will be applied: (1) a goodness of fit to the
logistic curve, and (2) a measure of the levels of instability and
concentration of sectors concerned. First, as Franceschini et al.
(2004, 2010), Marimon et al. (2006, 2009, 2010) and Casadesús
et al. (2008) have all observed, a logistic curve analysis will be
used. This logistic curve is well suited to the expression of the
diffusion of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards when analyzing
the data collected in terms of country (to date there have been no
studies in which data are collected in terms of sector of economic
activity). So first, the evolution of the standard will be examined on
a worldwide basis and then to sector of activity basis. We shall then
adjust the logistic curve that is expressed on the basis of the
following equation:
N0 K
N ¼
ðK $ N0 Þe$ r0 t þ N0
in which:
N represents the number of individuals (over time);
N0 represents the number of individuals at the starting point;
K is the saturation level;
r0 is the initial growth rate; and
t is independent variable (time).
We shall then consider to what extent the logistic curve accu-
rately describes the evolution of these certifications for the sectors
that we examine on an individual basis. A method of measurement
will subsequently be proposed to enable us to define to what extent
the evolution of the above certifications in a particular sector is
similar to, or converges with, the global evolution of such
certifications.
Following this pattern of the analysis, we shall trace the evolu-
tion over time of different sectors’ rankings in terms of numbers of
ISO 14001 certifications, analyzing the degree of stability and
concentration of their varying positions in the league table.
4. Results
Results of the logistic curve on a worldwide basis are presented
first. Overall, Fig. 2 shows that the logistic curve is well suited to the
expression of the diffusion of both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certi-
fications when data are collected on a worldwide basis (as found in,
1738 F. Marimon et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744

Table 2
Evolution of ISO 14001 certifications by sector of economic activity.

EAC Codea ISO 14000 by industrial sector 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
1 Agriculture, fishing 16 85 205 347 532 682 656 1083 1126 1024 924
2 Mining and quarrying 88 122 181 247 344 591 400 680 853 1111 1067
3 Food products, beverages and tobacco 272 390 834 1190 1674 1981 2388 3099 3331 4068 3662
4 Textiles and textile products 91 100 219 333 463 612 620 885 1585 2329 1039
5 Leather and leather products 22 94 41 56 69 133 147 190 313 385 187
6 Wood and wood products 34 109 212 244 363 393 477 508 837 1264 689
7 Pulp, paper and paper products 209 232 520 664 860 991 887 1127 1227 1673 1374
8 Publishing companies 12 29 44 119 241 346 74 97 70 102 83
9 Printing companies 63 132 118 130 185 193 726 895 950 1558 1280
10 Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products 106 114 252 258 293 432 303 608 529 604 469
11 Nuclear fuel 6 10 16 89 22 36 28 199 49 59 38
12 Chemicals, chemical products and fibers 693 1073 1737 2137 3037 3761 2813 3952 5041 7065 4854
13 Pharmaceuticals 42 54 106 138 209 235 451 555 496 879 756
14 Rubber and plastic products 193 380 666 1024 1720 2290 2737 3817 4448 7020 5536
15 Non-metallic mineral products 88 121 234 341 407 566 657 866 1104 1714 1197
16 Concrete, cement, lime, plaster, etc. 105 251 359 465 597 631 652 680 991 1776 1181
17 Basic metal and fabricated metal products 294 458 1105 1744 2895 3897 4634 6274 7521 11,794 10,507
18 Machinery and equipment 569 699 1071 1481 2063 2494 2900 3868 4554 6018 4990
19 Electrical and optical equipment 2147 2233 3100 3460 4216 5043 5074 7218 9423 12,420 9339
20 Shipbuilding 9 248 17 543 659 777 45 88 90 130 130
21 Aerospace 49 309 391 37 59 58 84 99 135 170 202
22 Other transport equipment 312 445 589 694 1240 1337 1913 2157 2054 3180 2945
23 Manufacturing not elsewhere classified 70 118 272 467 650 665 561 673 1209 1728 988
24 Recycling 109 333 463 322 343 342 1322 1953 1438 2413 3055
25 Electricity supply 298 258 462 855 862 927 838 1097 1893 2107 1988
26 Gas supply 36 68 82 138 214 243 194 289 258 287 378
27 Water supply 47 107 191 201 174 242 371 435 495 531 649
28 Construction 298 500 1035 1554 2111 2832 3551 4660 9095 15,060 9696
29 Wholesale and retail trade; repairs of motor vehicles, 129 340 452 893 1747 2248 3231 4417 4390 6912 7824
motorcycles and personal and household goods
30 Hotels and restaurants 105 51 66 159 384 377 414 582 941 1112 1078
31 Transport, storage and communication 144 345 565 734 1168 1358 1918 2602 2594 3636 4040
32 Financial intermediation, real estate, rental 13 80 95 386 234 230 433 607 1050 1670 1000
33 Information technology 22 147 139 116 166 182 444 564 490 958 1096
34 Engineering services 106 139 321 478 833 773 1432 1684 1785 3042 2374
35 Other services 212 450 799 1032 1707 2330 1603 2418 2449 3376 4100
36 Public administration 21 78 193 348 594 2453 768 853 920 1447 1240
37 Education 15 46 72 110 145 181 205 279 167 253 272
38 Health and social work 38 44 43 73 140 185 202 331 323 1088 512
39 Other social services 29 89 209 615 1030 1465 2221 3122 2601 5824 5443

Total 7,112 10,881 17,476 24,222 34,650 44,512 48,374 65,511 78,825 117,787 98,182

Source: Compiled from ISO data (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
a
European Accreditation code.

e.g., Franceschini et al., 2004; Marimon et al., 2006, 2009, 2010;
Casadesús et al., 2008). The regressions as such are described in
the table accompanying Fig. 2. In this figure the curves have been
scaled on the basis of the percentages of the respective saturation
levels with the aim of making comparisons between the evolution
patterns for both standards.
The first comment to make here is that the number of ISO 9001
certifications is in absolute terms five times higher than that for ISO
14001 certifications. The worldwide total of ISO 9001 certifications
is nearly one million (ISO, 2009), but when the diffusion of both
standards is analyzed in percentage terms it can be observed that
both are very close to a 100% saturation level. In the last part of
2008, ISO certifications were at 74.5% of saturation level, and ISO
14001 certifications at 72.9% (Fig. 2). If the same tendency
continues, ISO 9001 certifications will reach 95% of their saturation
level by 2014, while ISO 14001 will reach this level a year before, in
2013. In reality, it can be seen that, despite the fact that the ISO
14001 standard was published nine years later than was the case
for ISO 9001 (in 1996 and 1987 respectively), the relative levels
were similar for both standards in 2008, since the former has been
growing at a faster rate.
Following is the analysis on a sector of activity basis. First,
instability and concentration indexes are presented to then apply the
logistic curve to sectors and compare the most significant sectors.
4.1. Global description: instability and concentration indexes
4.1.1. Instability index
Following the methodology proposed, the next phase of the
investigation consists of an analysis of the diffusion of the ISO
14001 standard through the principal sectors of economic activity.
To this end, we carried out a complementary analysis using
commonly-used indicators to determine the degree of competition
that companies sustain in a given market, i.e. indicators of the
degree of instability and of concentration in the sectors concerned.
The level of stability analyzes the relative position of each company,
over time, in the market, whereas the degree of concentration
refers to the market share enjoyed by the leading companies. Both
concepts are applied to the presence of companies from each sector
of economic activity in relation to the total number of certifications.
In other words, the same tools as before are applied, but bearing in
mind that, in this case, the elements competing in the market for
certifications are the sectors, not the companies. Fig. 3 illustrates
the evolution of the ISO 14001 certification of the five sectors in the
top positions in 2008, based on the number of total certifications by
sector (see Table 2).
It can be observed that the three highest-ranked sectors have
exchanged positions in recent years. The “basic metal and fabricated
metal products” and “construction” sectors have been placed in the
 F. Marimon et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744
Fig. 2. Logistic curves and forecasts of certifications for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 worldwide. Source: Compiled from ISO data (2009).
top two positions lately, although they have been in the top five
ranking since the beginning. The “electrical and optical equipment”
sector, which had been in the first position from the very start, has
been losing ground over the last two years that have been analyzed,
but as in the previous sectors, it has been in the top five throughout
the period. Furthermore, it can be seen that some of these top
positions have also been occupied by the “wholesale and retail
Fig. 3. Evolution of the rankings by sector of economic activity as a proportion of the
total number of ISO 14001 certifications. Source: Compiled from ISO data (2003, 2004,
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
1739
trade” and “rubber and plastic products” sectors, which were orig-
inally placed much further down the rankings, and started to be in
the top five ranking in the middle of the decade (see Fig. 3). Positions
six and seven in the ranking (not shown in the figure) are for
“machinery and equipment” sector and “chemicals, chemical
products and fibers” sector, which started in the main positions
regarding the number of certifications but in the last yeas have lost
them. As can also be seen from Fig. 3 is that after the publication of
the last version of the standard in 2004, the sectors in the top five
positions have been the same, although the ranking have varied.
In any case, Fig. 3 confirms what is explicitly shown in Fig. 4:
that the relative positions in the rankings are becoming more and
more stable. In effect, the index of instability defined as follows has
been used throughout this chronological series:
n
1X
I ¼ js $ si1 j
2 i ¼ 1 i2
where si1 and si2 are the quotas of sector i during periods 1 and
2. The index ranges from zero (minimum instability) to one
(maximum instability). The value I ¼ 0 relates to a situation in
which all the sectors keep their share, while the value I ¼ 1
corresponds to a situation in which all the sectors competing in the
initial period are out of the market in the second period.
1740 F. Marimon et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744

Fig. 5. Evolution of the Herfindahl index in the sector rankings in relation to the
number of ISO 14001 certifications. Source: Compiled from ISO data (2003, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).

Fig. 4. Evolution of the index of instability in the rankings of sectors in relation to the
number of ISO 14001 certifications. Source: Compiled from ISO data (2003, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). 4.2. The logistic curve as a model for forecasting the evolution of
ISO 14001 certifications by sector of activity

The trend is evolving toward lower values of instability, Fig. 6 shows the profiles of the logistic curves for the evolution
meaning that the sectors have kept their positions in the ranking of ISO 14001 certifications in the three sectors that top the rankings
(Fig. 4). The ISO 14001 standard is maturing, and as time passes the for certifications in 2008. It should be noted that the last available
positions in the rankings become more stable. The peak observed in year (2008) was rejected when drawing up the profile, since there
2004 could be due to the publication of a new version of the are well-founded doubts about the validity of the data referring to
standard during the course of that year. This event seems to have it. The factors indicated by ISO as affecting the accuracy of the data
produced an increase in the rate of certifications, but also a reduc- have already been referred to above, and are particularly pertinent
tion in other cases, leading to changes in the relative positions in to the 2008 figures (commented in the methodology section). To
the league table of certification rankings, as commented before. highlight this fact, a type of blank spot has been inserted in the
graphs to indicate the values for that particular year.
4.1.2. Concentration index It can be seen that the logistic curve fits well in each of the three
For the purpose of studying the degree of concentration, the cases, with an R2 of more than 0.975. The growth rates are rela-
Herfindahl index was used. Greer (1992) and Cabral (1997) are tively similar, with indices of initial growth of between 0.22 and
among those who maintain that this index constitutes a useful 0.46. From the figure it can be seen that “construction” sector is
means of analyzing concentration, since it was originally designed growing faster than the others, and that “electrical and optical
to measure the concentration of market share held by particular equipment” has the slowest growth. Moreover, the saturation value
suppliers in a market, and is defined as follows: is very high in all three cases. In relative terms, the number of
certifications in 2008 is insignificant with respect to the hypo-
n
X thetical saturation value in the three cases concerned. The model
H ¼ s2i
i¼1
thus accurately defines the evolution up to that point, but loses its
validity when attempting to explain what will happen in the future.
where si is the quota of sector i, and n is the number of sectors. The
value of H varies between 1/n (minimum concentration) and 1
4.3. Comparison of the evolution of the diffusion of ISO 14001
(maximum concentration). In our case, the minimum level is 0.026
certifications by sector of economic activity
(1/39). There are other indexes to evaluate the concentration effect,
but compared to them, this is one that has the highest degree of
On the basis of the methodology proposed by Franceschini et al.
consistency (Lin and Ho, 2010). Fig. 5 shows the evolution of this
(2010), the evolution of each sector was compared and contrasted
concentration index, with an evolution similar to that observed in
with the global evolution of ISO 14001 certifications between 1998
the case of the instability index, i.e. as the years have gone by, the
and 2008. For this purpose we normalized the series for each sector.
values have started to indicate a low level of concentration. The
We also normalized the variable which shows global evolution
evolution of this index shows that the “shares” among sectors along
(performing a change of scale in order to transform the original
time are converging.
variable into the standard normal with m ¼ 0 and s ¼ 1). We then
It can thus be observed that both the instability and the
took the Euclidean distances for each sector with the series that
concentration indexes exhibit a trend toward stabilization of the
shows the global pattern of behavior. The expression used was as
positions of each sector in the ISO 14001 certification rankings on
follows:

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
" #2 " #2 " #2
Dði; TÞ ¼ ISO140011998 $ ISO14001i;1998 þ ISO140011999 $ ISO14001i;1999 þ. þ ISO140012008 $ ISO14001i;2008

a worldwide basis. In recent years the relative positions have been where:
maintained and there has been an ever-increasing leveling out in D(i,T): Euclidean distance between one sector and the global
the numbers of certifications per sector. series.
 F. Marimon et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744 1741

Fig. 6. Logistic curve and forecasts for ISO 14001 certifications in the “Basic metal & fabricated metal products”, “Construction” and “Electrical and optical equipment” sectors. The
dotted lines at both sides in the figures are the lower limit and upper limit of the 95% confidence interval. Source: Compiled from ISO data (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008,
2009).

ISO14001year: total ISO 14001 certifications normalized for the
year concerned.
ISO14001i,year: ISO 14001 certifications for the “i” sector
normalized for the year concerned.
In order to aid the comprehension of these values they were
scaled between zero and one, with zero being assigned to the sector
nearest the global pattern and one for the sector with the pattern
of behavior furthest from the global pattern. Fig. 7 shows the 39
values in order, from the sectors with a pattern of behavior the most
similar to the global pattern, with a value equal or greater than zero
(the column on the left of the figure) to those that are furthest away,
with a value equal or greater than 1.
Two main things can be observed form this figure. The first is
within the five sectors following the global pattern (“rubber and
plastic products”, “basic metal and fabricated metal products”,
“machinery and equipment”, “non-metallic mineral products”, and
“electrical and optical equipment”), there are three that are in the
top five ranking, two of them in the top three (see also Table 3). The
second is that there are five sectors with very irregular behavior,

Fig. 7. Degree of dissimilarity between each of the 39 sectors compared with the global pattern of evolution for ISO 14001 certifications. Source: own elaboration.
1742 F. Marimon et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744

Table 3
Degree of dissimilarity of the sectors of activity with a pattern of behavior most similar to the global pattern in relation to the evolution of ISO 14001 certifications.

Sector code Industrial sector Euclidean distance Ranking of Euclidean Share of ISO 14001 Accumulated share of ISO
to the global [0,1] distance to the global certifications (2008) 14001 certifications (2008)
14 Rubber and plastic products 0.0000 39 5.64 5.64
17 Basic metal and fabricated metal products 0.0113 38 10.70 16.34
18 Machinery and equipment 0.0340 37 5.08 21.42
15 Non-metallic mineral products 0.0472 36 1.22 22.64
19 Electrical and optical equipment 0.0667 35 9.51 32.15
34 Engineering Services 0.0675 34 2.42 34.57
2 Mining and quarrying 0.0844 33 1.09 35.66
22 Other transport equipment 0.0992 32 3.00 38.66
13 Pharmaceuticals 0.1011 31 0.77 39.43
30 Hotels and restaurants 0.1034 30 1.10 40.53

Source: own elaboration.

Fig. 8. Evolution of the normalization of ISO 14001 certifications from the five sectors
with a pattern of behavior most similar to global behavior. Source: own elaboration.
i.e., that they are not following the global pattern, represented by
the five bars on the right-hand side of Fig. 7, and are: “public
administration”, “nuclear fuel”, “publishing companies”, “aero-
space” and “shipbuilding”. Four out of these five sectors occupy the
last 4 positions in the list of rankings for ISO 14001 certifications in
2008. This fact partly explains the particular pattern of behavior of
these series. Randomness has in fact a significant impact when
analyzing a series with low absolute values. Even, Franceschini et al.
(2008) excluded the “Nuclear” sector from their work because at
that time there was no evidence of certification either to ISO 9001
or to ISO 14001. We should, moreover, also seek other particular
causes that may explain this dissimilarity of each of these sectors
with regard to the global pattern. For example, Franceschini et al.
(2008) justify the identical pattern of behavior found in sectors
linked to public administrative bodies in relation to the introduc-
tion of quality management systems by the fact that their adoption
had become legally compulsory. This explanation could be
extrapolated to the introduction of environmental management
systems such as the ISO 14001 standard.
Table 3 also shows that the 10 sectors with a pattern of behavior
similar to the global pattern represent 40% of ISO 14001 certifications
in 2008. It is certainly true that the pattern of evolution during the
period under study is very similar, as is shown graphically in Fig. 8.
The phenomenon of the diffusion of the ISO 14001 standard is
homogeneous when the different sectors of activity are compared.
We could not therefore reject the initial hypothesis. It is not
observed that the sectors of economic activity exhibit a differenti-
ated pattern of behavior in relation to the pace of ISO 14001
certifications undertaken by the companies in their sectors on
a worldwide basis. The particularities of each sector do not lead to
differences in the pace of adoption of the standard.
5. Conclusions
The aim of this study is to determine whether there are patterns
of diffusion of the ISO 14001 standard that are specific to each
sector of economic activity, given that each sector has its own
norms of behavior.
After the analysis has been completed, it can be observed that
the diffusion of the ISO 14001 standard has been very similar in
different sectors of activity. This study is the first analyzing the
diffusion model of standards, in this case ISO 14001, by sectors of
economic activity on a worldwide basis. Previous studies, as dis-
cussed earlier in the paper, have analyzed the diffusion in a sector
or in a region or country. As far as the authors know, there is
currently only one paper in the literature that analyzes the diffu-
sion of one standard according to activity sectors: the recently
published paper by Llach et al. (2010), which concludes that the
current state of diffusion of ISO 9001 differs between different
sectors of activity. It is therefore also important to shed some light
on the diffusion of one of the other most widespread standards
worldwide, ISO 14001, according to sector of activity, thus depart-
ing from the usual cross-national analysis.
In this paper three main conclusions can be extracted. The first
one is that no evidence has been found to justify rejecting the
working hypothesis initially referred to above, i.e. “all sectors of
economic activity have a similar pattern of behavior with regard to
the diffusion of the ISO 14001 standard”, and therefore maintain
that diffusion is similar in different sectors. In the sectors analyzed
by way of example, the logistic curve fits well, but only as an
explanation of what has happened up to now. It is, moreover,
observed that the standard is attaining maturity, since it can be
seen that the relative positions in the rankings are tending to
remain more and more stable, and that furthermore the percent-
ages of certifications by sector are equaling out.
When comparing the results of this study with the existing
literature about ISO 14001’s diffusion by sectors is necessary to take
into account that none of the studies found have performed
a worldwide analyses regarding diffusion models. The research
done about sectors has analyzed the diffusion based on the number
of certifications, but not discussed the model followed. For
example, Franceschini et al. (2008) were not able to find differences
between sub-sectors in Italy. In contrast, Specchiarello and
Giagnorio (2009) found that the highest diffusion was on whole-
sale supply and distribution sectors, and the least diffusion in
services, analyzing Italian data, as well as Lagodimos et al. (2007),
who found that Greek manufacturing sectors, those performing
hazardous activities or products, have a higher diffusion than
commerce and service sectors. In this study, analyzing the same
data, i.e., number of certifications, manufacturing sectors have also
a high diffusion rate, and some service sectors have a slower
diffusion rate. Bodas (2009) found that the sectors with a higher
propensity to certificate ISO 14001 are: “basic metal and fabricated
metal products”, “electrical and optical equipment”, “food
industry” and “machinery and transport”. Two of these sectors are
located in our top three ranking of sectors with more certifications
 F. Marimon et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 19 (2011) 1734e1744
in 2008. Thus, no differences about the diffusion pattern have been
found globally in our study, although there are differences in the
number of certifications by each sector and country.
Second, nor can it be observed that there has been an imbalance
between sectors over time. When the patterns of evolution for the
sectors are superimposed, it is observed that they have a similar
profile. Homogeneous, steady growth is observed. It is not observed
that there is a time gap between sectors, but rather that all sectors
are maturing at the same rate. This could be explained by the
experiences gained in the certification of this standard, and also the
previous experience certifying other systems (as discussed for
example by Corbett (2006)). This stability could be not perceived if
this analysis is performed to new standards, although data is
needed to carry it out (as highlighted also in Meade and Islam
(2006)).
The third conclusion is that the observation of the data collected
by sector differs from the analysis made when the same data are
collected by country. The debate existing to date in the literature on
the subject has focused on a comparison between countries, in
which differences have been observed and possible causes have
been analyzed. This could be explained, as discussed also in
Marimon et al. (2010), because the ISO 14001 standards were
created in the mid-nineties, when there was an overall institutional
framework favorable to a green production and consumption
paradigm. The creation of this standard actually coincides with the
1992 Rio Summit, a forum that asked ISO to create an EMS standard
(Mendel, 2001). Although the process to establish the ISO 14000
standards was controversial (Haufler, 1999), once it had been
enacted there was a clear consensus to adopt it among the three
major economic blocs of the time. It was thus supported by the U.S.,
whose administration was afraid that EMAS could become a tech-
nical barrier to free trade, in the same way that ISO 9001 had been
in the eighties; by Japan, whose administration gave strong support
for the diffusion of ISO 14001; and by the third bloc, the European
Community, which started out with the advantage of having the
largest number of companies certified in accordance with the ISO
9000 series, a standard which was very similar in structure and
procedure to ISO 14001.
These explanations concerning different patterns of behavior
depending on geographical area disappear when data are collected
by sector. It can thus be said that diffusion has proceeded at
different rates or in keeping with different patterns in different
geographical areas, but within each area all sectors of economic
activity have experienced growth in the same way. Therefore, The
results of this study have also implications for the greening
industry. Adopting an environmental standard is a first step for
those organizations committed to respect the environment,
producing products and offering services that comply with what
the stakeholders are demanding. But also, by being greener,
companies can improve their performances as found in Rao and
Holt (2005), where organizations with ISO 14001 implemented in
East Asia, by greening their supply chains they achieve competi-
tiveness and economic performance. This is also in line with Holt
and Ghobadian (2009) who found, in a sample of 60 manufac-
turers, that factors for improve environmental performance are
legislation, company’s size and potential environmental risk and
impact, as the diffusion of ISO 14001 is explained for government
pressure (see e.g., Jackson and Lapsley, 2003; Lapsley and Wright,
2004). Although these practices and implications may vary
considering different countries (Carter and Fowler, 2008 and
sectors Dangelico and Pontrandolfo, 2010), we have evidenced that
the diffusion model, that could be the first step for a “green”
strategy, is the same for all sectors. The next step should be for
companies and sectors, to best manage the standard and become
a “green” company. As Backer and Clark (Backer and Clark, 2008)
1743
suggested, using a network could help in taking profits, for both
companies and stakeholders.
The main limitation of this study is the data itself, as it is com-
mented in the paper, the sum of the industrial sectors by country
exceeds, in some cases, the total sum. Although we cannot fix this
limitation, it is known and some actions have been taking to avoid
the effect on the results, but we cannot assure that some kind of
bias could exist.
From this point onwards it will be more appropriate to refine the
comparative analysis by using new variables such as the degree of
relative importance of each sector in its contribution to global gross
domestic product (GDP). In this way it will be possible to establish
a measurement similar to that used by Marimon et al. (2006, 2009,
2010), when they compare the intensity of certifications in different
countries. It would be interesting to determine whether, in the light
of the available data, sectors in each country behave in the same
way, or whether, depending on the country concerned, there are
a greater number of sectors in which there are more certifications
than in others.
Acknowledgments
This article was written as part of a research project entitled
“Customers” satisfaction improvement in Spanish organizations
through standardization” (ECO2009-12754-CO2-01) financed by
the Ministry of Science and Innovation within the aid program for
R&D projects.
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