Emanuele Pizzurno

Due to the increasingly critical status of the ecosystem, stakeholders (legislator, consumers, etc..) are pressing, more and more, companies towards greater environmental friendliness of their products and processes. As consequence, the environment has become very challenging for businesses, which are increasingly choosing to exploit actively the opportunities it offers rather than passively suffer the consequences of this trend. The paper aims to provide a concise but thorough review of the best environmental management practices and the many opportunities that this area, so pervasive in business activity, offers. The choice is not only desirable from an ethical point of view but also from an economic point of view: many decisions that have a positive impact on the ecosystem, have a positive impact also on the firm's accounts, reducing costs or expanding the revenues. Just think of the energy savings or use of recycled materials , on the one hand, the green consumers market on the other. In this discussion fits well the Palm case, which allows to appreciate, more precisely, the impacts and benefits that an SME has been after the implementation of an environmental strategy and various operational measures.