Boundary‐spanning search and firms' green innovation: The moderating role of resource orchestration capability

Building on resource‐based theory and resource orchestration theory, we investigate the impact of two characteristics of boundary‐spanning search, search breadth and search depth, on firms' exploitative and exploratory green innovations. We also examine the moderating role of resource orchestration capability. The results of data analysis from 186 manufacturing firms in China show that both search breadth and search depth have inverted U‐shaped relationships with exploitative and exploratory green innovations. Furthermore, resource orchestration capability is found to moderate the inverted U‐shaped relationship between boundary‐spanning search and green innovation. Specifically, with high resource orchestration capability, the inverted U‐shaped relationships of search breadth with exploitative and exploratory green innovations are flattened, whereas the relationships of search depth with exploitative and exploratory green innovations are almost linear. Our research contributes to the literature on green innovation by uncovering the complex effects of boundary‐spanning search on exploitative and exploratory green innovations.     

Impact of Green Innovation on Labor Productivity and its Determinants: an Analysis of the Korean Manufacturing Industry

Due to worsening environmental conditions around the globe, firms have been investing a great deal of money in green technologies as a way of coping with the environmental crisis. This paper uses a unique data set based on the Korea Innovation Survey to examine the impact of green innovation on labor productivity, and the determinants of environmental activities in 2010. The empirical results show that green innovation intended for both firm and customer benefits has a positive effect on labor productivity. This finding means that firms need to implement firm‐oriented green innovation as well as customer‐oriented green innovation in order to increase their performance. Our findings also show that there are significant differences in aggregate green innovations depending on different firm sizes and industries. Specifically, large firms implement environmental activities more than small ones, and pollution‐intensive industries tend to invest more in activities related to environmental technology. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Green innovation and knowledge: The role of size

This paper reports research on relationship between firm's knowledge sourcing strategy and green innovation. The data are taken from Spanish Technological Innovation Panel survey during 2007–2011. The study contributed to the literature by focusing on the moderating role of firm size on the relationship between knowledge sources and green innovations. Results from over 5,000 firms indicate a shift in the focus from internal knowledge to external knowledge when developing green innovations as firms grow in size. Despite benefits from broad knowledge search on green innovations, the relationship has an inverted U shape. The diminishing returns of knowledge breadth on green innovations are present for smaller firms and disappearing as firms get larger. Government policies promoting more coordination and knowledge complementarity between private and public sector will help to influence more knowledge transfer, ensuring a more sustainable and green economy.     

Enhancing green product and process innovation: Towards an integrative framework of knowledge acquisition and environmental investment

Despite the increasing interest in green innovation literature, little is known on how and under what conditions firms' knowledge transfer activities affect green innovation. There is lack of research that on how particular organizational capabilities are seen more useful and how it influences on green innovation performance. To address this research gap, we examine a mediation model in which we explore whether a firm's knowledge acquisition capability and investment in environmental management mediate the impact of buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities on green product innovation and green process innovation. On the basis of an analysis of a sample of 239 manufacturing firms, we find that buyer-driven knowledge activities have a greater positive impact on green product innovation than green process innovation. Investment in environmental management fully mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green process innovation, and knowledge acquisition capability partially mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green product innovation. The current study provides evidence that internal competencies and the role of buyers in knowledge transfer are critical for explaining the green product innovation and green process innovation. Our results suggest that buyer involvement pushes firms to develop resource acquisition capability to enhance green product innovation. Our results also highlight the importance of investment in environmental management for overcoming the environmental challenges in the manufacturing firms.     

Exploring the effect of buyer engagement on green product innovation: Empirical evidence from manufacturers

In this study, we are interested in how export firms organize knowledge management and increase product innovation performance. Prior studies have concluded that knowledge transfer from external actors leads to operational performance outcomes; others have questioned the positive influence of buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities on innovation performance. Drawing on absorptive capacity, we aim to offer a better understanding, how export firms as recipients of knowledge resources, organize their internal capabilities in order to realize firm-level product innovation. This empirical study examines the interplay of buyer-driven knowledge activities, resource acquisition and combining, and product innovation outcomes in the context of Pakistani export firms. Drawing on survey data from 239 export-manufacturing firms, we test hypotheses using structural equation modeling. Our findings show that buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities play a crucial role in enhancing export firms in absorbing and combining resources that lead to product innovation. The pragmatic suggestion of the research suggests that managers look closely at developing a culture of involvement with their buyers that promotes the development of knowledge resources. The results of this study have research, policy, and managerial implications.     

Sustainability and Environmental Behaviour in Family Firms: A Longitudinal Analysis of Environment‐Related Activities,Innovation and Performance

Environmental behaviour plays an important role as concerns the public image and performance of firms, as well as for the achievement of sustainable development in society. This study investigates the behaviour of family firms regarding environment‐related activities, innovation and performance. Opposing goals are found to impact environmental behaviour of family firms, in particular the trade‐off between family firms' risk awareness and their aim of achieving socioeconomic wealth. We find that family firms initially lag regarding environment‐related activities, beneficial product, process and organizational innovations and performance. Yet, family firms catch up and show overall less volatility compared with other firms. Overall, we thus observe a convergence process between family and non‐family firms, which ultimately enables the two types of firm to achieve similar outcomes in terms of environment‐related activities, beneficial innovations and performance. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Inter‐firm R&D collaborations and green innovation value: The role of family firms' involvement and the moderating effects of proximity dimensions

The present paper investigates the relationship between the involvement of family firms in R&D collaborations aimed at developing green solutions and the value of resulting innovations. To dig into this relationship, the moderating effects of two proximity dimensions (i.e., geographical distance and technological relatedness) are also assessed. Analyses are based on a sample of 156 joint patents classified into the “Alternative energy production” field, as defined by the International Patent Classification Green Inventory and successfully filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the period 1997–2010 by publicly listed companies. According to our conjectures, results reveal a positive relationship between the involvement of family firms and green innovation value. Moreover, our findings show that this relationship is hindered when partners are geographically distant or technologically proximate. Eventually, we contribute to the literature on green innovation by unveiling under which conditions inter‐firm R&D collaborations lead to more valuable innovations.     

欧盟环保指令最新进展与绿色应对

在世界绿色环保浪潮中,欧盟不断制定和出台一系列环保指令,使我国出口企业面临巨大考验。本文在跟踪欧盟WEEE、RoHS、EuP三大指令最新动态的基础上,探讨指令对我国出口企业的影响,以及发展绿色产品的应对建议,希望有助于我国出口企业掌握及时动态信息以应对日趋严峻的国际形势。     

Environmental Requirements,Knowledge Sharing and Green Innovation: Empirical Evidence from the Electronics Industry in China

Building on the Porter hypothesis, which posits that regulatory stringency triggers innovation and thereby allows firms to achieve the dual purpose of environment protection and enhanced business performance, the present research develops an integrative model that explores the determinants of green innovation with a focus being placed on knowledge sharing. Data were collected from 203 green innovation project leaders from electronics manufacturers operating in China. The results indicate that knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between green requirements and new green product success as well as that between green requirements and green product and process innovations. Interestingly, the empirical analysis rejects the hypothesized positive influence of green requirements on green product and process innovations as well as that on new green product success, while confirming that there exists a direct and positive association between green requirements and knowledge sharing. The direct positive impact of knowledge sharing is the strongest on green process innovation. This study provides a theoretical basis for investigating the possible determinants in the causal links between green requirements and green innovation success and establishes that knowledge sharing and green process innovation may be the points where leverage can be applied to best secure innovation success. Implications of the findings on environmental policy and law design are also discussed to see how the regulatory role of the government can be better positioned to facilitate compliance and innovation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Environmental Innovations and Strategies for the Development of New Production Technologies: Empirical Evidence from Europe

This study empirically investigates whether firms' improvements in energy and material efficiency are related to the extent to which external partners are involved in the development of process innovations. In particular, we distinguish three different process innovation strategies: firms may follow an ‘in‐house strategy’ and develop their innovations mainly within the firm, they may opt for an ‘external strategy’ and let mainly external partners develop innovations, or they may opt for a ‘cooperation strategy’ and develop innovations jointly with external partners. Using data of manufacturing firms obtained from the fourth Community Innovation Survey covering 14 European countries, we conduct total sample as well as industry‐ and country‐specific regressions. Our results indicate that firms following the ‘external strategy’ tend to have a lower probability of introducing process innovations leading to a marked increase in energy and material efficiency. Moreover, in contrast to extant literature, none of our results suggests that companies following a ‘cooperation strategy’ experience greater environmental innovation performance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Sustainable Development Strategies for Product Innovation and Energy Efficiency

The interaction between product innovation and companies’ activities aimed at improving the energy efficiency of production facilities has been relatively little studied, but is of great relevance to society and companies given the strong focus of governments on grand challenges like climate change, green innovation technologies, and environmental problems in general. This paper utilizes the 2009 European Manufacturing Survey for the Danish sub‐sample including 335 manufacturing firms. Through factor analysis, this paper confirms three main areas of focus of new product development: efficiency considerations, market attention, and greening of innovation. Logistic regression analysis demonstrates that while market attention is important for the development of new products, green aspects of innovation and efficiency considerations are important for production companies wanting to improve their energy efficiency. When these models are combined, the results highlight that energy efficiency moderates the effect of market attention to new product development. This paper therefore finds that aligning product innovation and energy efficiency is a complex and intertwined process – focusing on one may have indirect detrimental effects on the other. These results point to the conclusion that researchers and practitioners in innovation management have to consider more carefully the specificities and interactions of different types of products and process innovations and their environmental implications, and must formulate new, more sustainable managerial practices combining energy efficiency and product innovation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Are firms with state ownership greener? An institutional complexity view

This study investigates the role of state ownership in green innovation from the institutional complexity viewpoint. We posit that state ownership can be characterised by two seemingly competing logics: institutional logic, which emphasises that firms with state ownership can acquire resources to promote innovation; and efficiency logic, which states that firms with state ownership have low resource utilisation effectiveness. On the basis of the integration of both views, we suggest a U‐shaped curvilinear relationship between state ownership and green innovation. Data from Chinese listed firms from 2003 to 2015 confirm our hypothesis. Moreover, we also find two macro‐level contingencies that moderate this relationship: regional innovation readiness and industrial competition. The U‐shaped relationship between state ownership and green innovation is more pronounced when regional innovation readiness and industrial competition are higher. This study advances previous research on environmental innovation by arguing that state ownership is characterised by institutional complexity rather than being a monolithic construct.     

Exporting firms and retail internationalization: Evidence from France

This paper questions the impact of the globalization of the retail sector on the export activity of origin country agri‐food firms. We use an original firm‐level database of French agri‐food exports that identifies the domestic suppliers of French retailers through certification with the private International Featured Standard (IFS). The results show that IFS certified French firms are more likely to export and export larger volumes than noncertified firms to markets where French retailers have established outlets. We also show that when French retailers stop their activities in a market, certified firms reduce their exports to this market in the following years. The results are robust to the use of different sets of firm‐year‐ and country‐year‐specific controls and fixed effects, and are not affected by possible selection and endogeneity biases. The difference in the behavior of certified and noncertified exporting firms on markets where French retailers operate confirms the network effect that benefits retailers’ suppliers, which is lost when French retailers exit from the destination country.     

Customer green orientation and process innovation alignment: A configuration approach in the global manufacturing industry

Research suggests that manufacturers increasingly innovate processes to meet customer's green requirements; however, little is known about the impact on performance and the contextual conditions, under which they are effective. Grounded on configuration approach, this study develops taxonomies of manufacturing firms based on the degree of customer's green orientation and process innovation. This study argues that performance differences between these clusters, highlight managerial implications for sustainable development. The empirical data used in this study were drawn from Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG) survey project (with data collected from 629 manufacturing firms from nine countries). Our results show that customer green innovation taxonomies influence differently on environmental measures, costs, and financial performance. The study proposes three clusters: Process active, Green minimalist, and Green proactive. The main differences between manufacturers are based on the level of investments in joint green improvement initiatives and customer direct investments in green activities. Firms that belong to the Process active cluster, who are first within the industry to deploy new processes and update the latest process development, gained significant improvement in financial measures such as market share and profits. Whereas Green minimalist cluster lagged behind, Green proactive manufacturers aligned in both capabilities to experience higher payoffs in sustainable performance measures and efficiency. The findings provide a step‐by‐step decision‐making process and offer guidance for supply chain managers who have to stretch their needs to align the innovation processes to enhance their sustainable performance.     

Turning green subsidies into sustainability: How green process innovation improves firms' green image

Green process innovation has been seen as a key strategy for manufacturing firms to pursue sustainable development. Yet, how to help manufacturing firms eliminate bottlenecks when implementing green process innovation remains poorly understood. To address this issue, the current study, which is anchored in the government incentive perspective, examines the drivers, contingent conditions, and consequences of green process innovation by using the panel data of manufacturing‐listed firms in China from 2013 to 2017. The results present valuable findings: (a) green subsidies are positively related to two dimensions of green process innovation, namely, cleaner production technology and end‐of‐pipe technology; (b) both cleaner production technology and end‐of‐pipe technology are positively related to firms' green image; (c) a firm's cleaner production technology mediates the relationship between green subsidies and its green image; and (d) higher absorptive capacity strengthens the indirect effect of green subsidies on a firm's green image via cleaner production technology. Our results provide meaningful theoretical and practical implications by revealing the benefits of green subsidies through green process innovation by leveraging levels of absorptive capacity.     

Explaining Firms’ Export Behaviour: R&D,Spillovers and the Destination Market*

We examine the importance of a firm's own R&D activity and intra‐sectoral spillovers on the decision to export and the export intensity using firm level panel data for Spain for the period 1990–98. Own R&D activity is found to be an important determinant of export activity. There is little evidence to suggest that Spanish firms benefit from spillovers of the exporting activity of others. However, there is evidence that R&D spillovers exert positive effects on firms’ export ratios. We find a larger marginal impact of R&D spillovers on export intensity of firms exporting to other OECD countries than those exporting to non‐OECD nations.     

Customer and Supplier Collaboration in Green Product Innovation: External and Internal Capabilities

Firms collaborate in green product innovation to develop products with less environmental impact. These products typically use less energy, have lower emissions and incorporate more environmentally friendly materials. In an industrial setting, firms often collaborate along the supply chain with customers and suppliers. This paper focuses on external and internal capabilities that firms need when collaborating in green product innovation. The paper builds on data from five large industrial firms in ten case studies, in which these firms collaborate with customers and suppliers to innovate green products to an industrial market. External and internal capabilities are investigated. The study points to the importance of finding a suitable partner. Partners need to have environmental expertise and contribute knowledge or technology that is new to the firm. Firms need to combine relational capabilities, such as trust, with contractual agreements in collaborative innovations. The findings point to the importance of knowledge management with the partner as well as internally in the firm. The study shows that no partner collaboration operates in isolation but is situated in a network context. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Effects of Green HRM Practices on Employee Workplace Green Behavior: The Role of Psychological Green Climate and Employee Green Values

As an emerging concept, green human resource management (green HRM) has been conceptualized to influence employee workplace green behavior. This research empirically tested this link. We first developed measures for green HRM, and then drew on the behavioral HRM and psychological climate literature along with the supplies‐values fit theory, to test a conceptual model integrating the effects of psychological green climate and individual green values. Results revealed that green HRM both directly and indirectly influenced in‐role green behavior, but only indirectly influenced extra‐role green behavior, through the mediation of psychological green climate. Individual green values moderated the effect of psychological green climate on extra‐role green behavior, but it did not moderate the effect of either green HRM or psychological green climate on in‐role green behavior. These findings indicate that green HRM affects both employee in‐role and extra‐role workplace green behavior; however, this occurs through different social and psychological processes. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Environmental Innovations as a Source of Competitive Advantage or Vice Versa?

The aim of this paper is to examine the links between developed environmental innovations and the competitiveness of firms. It seeks answers to the question: Are the developed environmental innovations associated with the improved or impaired competitiveness of firms? In addition, it explores how competitive advantage is created along the innovation process. This will be done by comparing the successful and unsuccessful green innovators. The empirical evidence is based on the longitudinal dataset gathered from 128 Finnish firms which have developed one or more environmental innovations. The data covers nine years from 2002 to 2010. This study provides two contributions to academic literature. First, it deepens the existing knowledge of how environmental innovations are associated with competitive advantage. It identifies the types of competitive advantages as well as potential disadvantages along the innovation process. Second, this study demonstrates how the competitive advantage was enhanced along the successful innovation process. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The role of environmental innovation through the technological proximity in the implementation of the sustainable development

This paper explores the relationship between a firm's knowledge sourcing strategy and green innovation. The data are taken from Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development REGPAT database, February 2016, relative to the European Patent Office firms' patent applications published up to December 2015. The study contributes to the literature by focusing on the moderating role of integration between different activities related to environmental performance on the relationship between knowledge sources and green innovations. The results from 240 firms indicate a shift in the focus from internal knowledge to external knowledge when developing environmental innovations. Government policies promoting more knowledge complementarity and coordination between environmental fields will help to promote more knowledge transfer, allowing more sustainable development.