The earth is a life support system. It provides everything humans, plants, and animals need to survive: air, food, minerals, and so on. Until very recently, the earth was thought of as an unlimited reservoir of resources. During the last couple of decades, however, research on the finiteness of the earth's capacities both as a supplier of resources and as a depository of human and industrial waste has fostered a consciousness of the need to protect the natural environment. There is a growing suspicion that humans are approaching the physical limits of both the earth's ability to feed and maintain life and its capacity to absorb pollution.
The critical issue for the international manager is not whether the doomsayers are right or wrong about environmental crises. It is that a great deal of managerial know-how must be exercised to accommodate people's attitudes about the environment. The international manager must realize that the physical conditions of an area may completely nullify its technological and/or economic advantages.
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