3-Lack of Financial Resources and Cost of Certification :

4-Lack of Financial Resources and Cost of Certification : Manufacturing industry in Pakistan is mostly belongs to SMEs domestically owned and operating as having less interaction with international customers directly. Due to limited resource of finance manufacturing industry is not capable to bear the cost of certification, adoption and maintenance of EMS.  The higher cost of adoption and maintenance of EMS with limited financial resource has been identified as a barrier in successful implementation.

 In Lebanon, certification costs ranges between 15,000 to 20,000 USD (Massoud et al: 2010) belongs to registration and certification, while in Singapore for small medium company it costs S$ 16,000 with additional yearly recurrent fee of S$ 6000 (Quazi 1999) that is an additional burden with weak financial infrastructures. In addition, it is argue that with the implementation of proper EMS initial cost increases which is not bearable for small medium sector without public sector support.

 Massoud et al (2010) points towards the limited financial capacity of the organization that are already facing financial challenges are not willing to invest further. It reveals from previous literature that long processing time for certification and enhancing cost make organization reluctant to move forward willingly, results in withdrawing from certification process.

 As a result of survey Babakri et al (2003 p.751) identified higher cost of certification was considered by respondents the biggest constraints in implementation with mean value 3.47 out of five. Massoud et al (2010 p.201) points that ‘lack of financial and technical resources slow down the progress of SMEs for their environmental management and improvement programmes. However, incentives and rewards for adoption of EMS can increase response towards sustainable development and implementation of EMS. Most of the ISO 14001 certified companies are multinational with few national companies.

Massoud et al (2010), tabulated main elements regarding acquisition and adoption of EMS

Table 2.4: Barriers, Challenges and demand for Govt. Support.

Barriers	·         Not a legal requirement ·         No demand from customers or stakeholders ·         Lack of incentives ·         Lack of government support ·         Lack of resources ·         Cost/duration ·         Creates competitive advantage ·         Lack of in-house knowledge and skills
Challenges	·         Staff training ·         Management system documentation ·         Defining company  environmental policy ·         Identifying targets and objective ·         Monitoring and measurement procedures ·         Time demand for certification ·         Cost of ISO certification and consultation fee ·         Management review ·         Language Barrier
Demand for government support/ Incentives	·         Special tax exemption for ISO 14001 certified firms ·         Encouraging eco-labelling and rewards ·         Enhancing knowledge and advantages of ISO 14001 among non registered companies ·         Establishing national institutes for technical advice and consultants services ·         Implement special soft loans to firms who are going to implement ISO 14001

Source: Adopted from Massoud et al/ Journal of Cleaner Production 18(2010) p.200-209