Title: Towards a competitive environmental policy: the case study of the Bulgarian wine industry

Authors: Teodoro Gallucci, Giovanni Lagioia, Vesselina Dimitrova

Addresses: Faculty of Economics, Department of Geographical and Commodity Science, University of Bari, via C. Rosalba, 53, I-70124, Bari, Italy. ' Faculty of Economics, Department of Geographical and Commodity Science, University of Bari, via C. Rosalba, 53, I-70124, Bari, Italy. ' Department of International Economic Relations, University of Economics – Varna, 77, Kniaz Boris I blv., Varna 9002, Bulgaria

Abstract: The article aims to study whether the Bulgarian wine-manufacturing industry considers the ecological issues as an important prerequisite for breaking into both the European Union and the worldwide markets. A survey has been carried out in 17 companies producing wines in Bulgaria. A questionnaire has been designed with the intention to understand whether the managers have an interest in implementing environmental management system. The article points out that the integration of environmental policy and its benchmarking indicators is dependent only on a number of managerial and business factors. Some environmental issues are not considered in the process of making competitive decisions, while others are still under evaluation.

Keywords: Bulgaria; environmental benchmarking; EMS; environmental management systems; sustainable economy; wine industry; environmental policy; competitiveness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSE.2009.023042

International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2009 Vol.1 No.2, pp.113 - 132

Published online: 08 Feb 2009 *

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