Drivers,adoption, and evaluation of sustainability practices in Italian wine SMEs

Based on a survey with 64 small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in two Italian wine regions, this study aims to (a) identify key drivers and barriers of the adoption of sustainability and (b) compare the adoption and evaluation (use, financial/labor investments, and satisfaction) of sustainability practices in four management domains (marketing, chain, operational, and innovation). Results show that internal drivers were considered to be more important than external drivers. Economic sustainability‐oriented drivers scored significantly lower than drivers related to other dimensions, such as environmental sustainability and heritage. Key barriers refer to labor and investments costs, as well as concerns about greenwashing. Although there are substantial differences in adoption and evaluation of sustainability practices within and between management domains, this study confirms their widespread adoption in wineries. Among users, satisfaction levels outweigh the perceived investments. Except for innovation management practices, financial investments are considered to be lower than labor investments. Positive correlations between use‐satisfaction (within each management domain) and between investments or satisfaction levels (between management domains) further lend support for producers' adoption of multiple practices. At sustainability dimension level, heritage is negatively correlated with the evaluation indicators, indicating that it may act as a potential barrier to some sustainability practices. Segmentation analysis identified a low (30%) and high sustainability clusters (70%), which differ significantly in terms of sustainability perceptions and drivers, adoption, and evaluation of practices, as well as company characteristics. Future research needs to validate the findings on SMEs, compare our measures with more objective evaluation indicators, future adoption rates, and multidimensional sustainability practices.     

中小企业技术创新服务体系建设探析

构建中小企业技术创新服务体系是促进企业技术创新和推动技术进步的重要条件,能否建立起功能完善、运作高效的中小企业技术创新服务体系,直接关系到中小企业技术创新的进度和成效。因此,只有建立完善、协作的中小企业技术创新服务体系,才能提高企业的自主创新能力。     

中小企业技术创新的市场激励——基于江苏省264家企业的实证分析

技术创新是推动中小企业发展的关键因素。中小企业技术水平呈不断提高态势,但总体而言其技术创新能力仍然较低。对江苏省264家企业的问卷分析表明,市场激励不足是中小企业技术创新能力较低的根本原因。如果市场体系和市场机制不完善,不正当竞争行为得不到制止,技术创新的权益得不到保护,企业就不愿花力气进行技术创新。因而,只有建立完善的市场体系,健全市场激励机制,中小企业技术创新才能获得最大化的激励动力。     

Leaders and Laggards in Environmental Innovation: An Empirical Analysis of SMEs in Europe

The main purpose of this article is studying the factors influencing eco‐innovative intensity in the European SMEs. Building upon the 'innovation triangle model', business competences, environmental orientation and network involvement are considered as the main determinants of 'greenness' of innovation in a sample of 3852 SMEs. Four categories of eco‐innovators (leaders, followers, loungers and laggards) are identified, and their profiles/driving factors are described using a generalized ordinal logistic model. Our results confirm that the increasing demand for green products and the adoption of eco‐organizational innovation affect positively the level of environmental innovation, while technological lock‐ins have the opposite effect across all categories. Neither leaders nor laggards are influenced by environmental policies. Small firms and those who give importance to financial constraints tend not to achieve upper categories, while valuing technological capabilities, market power and networks are crucial determinants of being in upper categories of eco‐innovation intensity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

加强中小企业技术创新提高企业核心竞争力——以台湾中小企业技术创新的成功经验为借鉴

技术创新是企业的命脉,中小企业是技术创新主体中最富有活力的组成部分,在推动技术进步等方面起着不可替代的积极作用。受全球金融危机的影响,结合中小企业自身的特点,认真分析影响中小企业技术创新的主要因素,找到可行的对策,以提高中小企业的技术创新能力和核心竞争力。     

发展风险投资,促进中小企业技术创新

中小企业技术进步和创新对于提高中小企业的持续成长能力起着至关重要的作用,而风险投资作为一种新型的投融资体制,能有效促进中小企业技术创新。本文首先阐述了风险投资与中小企业技术创新的关系,然后分析了我国中小企业技术创新中存在的主要问题,最后提出了发展风险投资促进中小企业技术创新的一些建议。     

论中小企业技术创新

技术创新是提升企业竞争力的重要途径。本文探讨了影响我国中小企业技术创新的因素,提出了鼓励中小企业技术创新应采取的措施。     

基于AHP的河北省中小企业技术创新方式选择

技术创新是提高中小企业生存和市场竞争能力的关键,是中小企业可持续发展的基础。本文在实际调研基础上,运用层次分析法(AHP),从市场环境、创新能力、企业资源和宏观环境4个角度对河北省机械加工制造行业中部分中小企业技术创新方式进行研究,设定自主创新、合作创新和模仿创新3种形式,通过实地调研发现不同规模的企业在进行创新选择时,其选择路径是不同的。本文试图为中小企业在技术创新时选择合适的方式提供决策依据。     

论企业技术创新驱动力的“三环模式”

在企业的技术创新过程中,包含着核心驱动力、内部驱动力和外部驱动力。这三种力量相互交织,共同在技术创新中发挥着重要作用。其中,企业家的创新精神与创新的企业文化是核心驱动力,企业内部的驱动力是基础驱动力,企业外部的驱动力则是重要驱动力。在此基础上,本文对企业技术创新驱动力的模式进行研究,提出了企业技术创新驱动力的"三环模式",以得到对企业技术创新驱动力最为有效的范式,从而促使企业在技术创新的道路上不断获取成功和突破。     

HRM as a predictor of innovation

There is growing evidence available to suggest that HR practice is an important predictor of organisational performance. In this article, we argue that HR practices also have the potential to promote organisational innovation. We describe a longitudinal study of 22 UK manufacturing companies and examine the relationship between such practices and product and technological innovation. Results reveal that training, induction, team working, appraisal and exploratory learning focus are all predictors of innovation. Contingent reward, applied in conjunction with an exploratory learning focus, is positively associated with innovation in technical systems. Furthermore, training, appraisal and induction, combined with exploratory learning focus, explain variation between companies in product and technological innovation above and beyond the main effects observed.     

中小型企业技术创新策略探析

文章分析了中小型企业在技术创新土的不确定性因素,在此基础上提出了建构核心技术体系、树立学习标杆、充分利用企业内外的各种技术资源、做好技术创新的长期预算等提升中小型企业技术创新能力的对策.     

用供需网理念推进企业技术创新研究——以宁波中小企业为例

金融危机使得企业技术创新被提到了更为重要的位置,宁波作为中小企业众多、技术创新意识强烈的城市之一,具有典型性。而供需网的网络性、多功能性、开放性等特征,可以促进宁波中小企业拥有全局视野,充分合作,促进企业科研成果的商品化和科研体制的改革,并促进产业结构的调整,提高产业的竞争力。另外,研究区域经济,加强中小企业信息化的基础平台建设;培养全球化眼光,运用供需网理念;注重人才培养,进行多层次人力资源开发等措施,也能帮助中小企业走出技术创新发展瓶颈。     

知识溢出对区域技术创新能力影响的系统分析

技术创新与知识溢出是新经济增长理论的核心内容,而两者之间又有重要的联系,知识溢出对技术创新能力不同角度产生影响,从知识溢出的不同经济主体对技术创新能力的影响进行分析。得出知识溢出的各个主体通过对技术创新能力的各个方面的影响来最终影响技术创新能力的提高。     

基于生命周期视角的中小企业战略创新策略研究

中小企业对于经济增长、技术进步和大企业发展起到突出的作用。企业生命周期通常分为初创期、成长期、成熟期和衰退期四个阶段,不同的生命阶段,中小企业具有不同的特征。战略创新是在动态的环境中,企业为适应长期发展的需要对现有战略做出的根本性的变更,不同的发展阶段,中小企业战略创新的要点也不同。     

A two-way relationship between multi-level technological change and organisational characteristics-cases involving the development of heavy hybrid buses

This paper analyses inter- and intra-organisational interaction in cases of product development, which involves significantly new technologies that affect core product sub-systems. The analysis shows that in such cases, there is a need to collaborate with suppliers to learn about the new technology. Moreover, provided that the firm's existing technology is still relevant, there is a need to integrate the new technology with existing technologies. Therefore, close supplier interaction has to be associated with close intra-organisational interaction. However, even a case where there is a limited need to integrate the new technology with existing technologies, there is a need to justify the new technology internally and negotiate the process of adopting it within the organisation. The paper thus demonstrates a two-way relationship between organisational characteristics and multi-level technological change. On the one hand, different types of technological changes demand different kinds of R&D organisations and supplier relationships. On the other hand, decisions to implement technological changes are influenced by existing organisational structures and product development philosophies.     

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.     

企业技术创新：投资回报与风险控制

技术创新是一种具有探索性、创造性的技术经济活动,常常是机遇与风险并存。因此,控制技术创新风险,提高创新投资收益,是企业技术创新所要把握的核心问题。这就需要科学合理地选择技术创新投资策略;同时,还要尽可能防范和控制技术创新过程中出现的各种风险,以保证企业技术创新活动顺利进行,并使企业技术创新能够获得较高的投资回报。     

Corporate sustainability and innovation in SMEs: Evidence of themes and activities in practice

Recently, innovation processes towards sustainable development have received increasing attention in academic literature. This research introduces the combination of insights from innovation theory, sustainable development practice and small business characteristics to unlock new knowledge on factors that influence the translation of sustainable innovation within small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) into practice. The sustainability themes and activities as described for large companies (i.e. in the sustainability reporting and management literature) were used as starting point in this study. It presents empiric results of the PRIMA Project conducted within the rubber and plastics industry (RPI) on sustainable innovation activities. It will show that many sustainable innovations are directed at the improvement of technological processes (eco‐efficiency) and to lower costs of production. These innovations can be seen as incremental. Companies with sustainability integrated in their orientation and innovation processes show value creation: the development of products new to the market (radical innovations) and cooperation with stakeholders. The PRIMA project shows that more insight in SME innovative characteristics and (e)valuation of sustainable innovation efforts provides opportunities to improve the sustainability performance of SMEs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Analysis of innovation in SMEs using an innovative capability-based non-linear model: A study in the province of Seville (Spain)

This article analyzes organizational characteristics associated with innovative outcomes of SMEs in local economies with a low level of technological and R&D activities, where the indicators generally used to gauge technological innovation do not offer sufficient data. For the study of innovation in such economies, we propose a conceptual model based on innovative capability which also includes explanatory variables of environment and other contextual factors of the firms. Through a process of filtering spurious variables and incorporating quadratic components, we have varied the original linear structure to form a quadratic model with greater explanatory capacity and better results. The resulting quadratic model has undergone various contrasts of hypotheses, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of the model as a whole and of its basic components, as well as the importance of the main explanatory variables. Finally, the model has also proven to be valid in all sectors.     

外部审计能促进企业技术创新吗?——来自中国企业的经验证据

外部审计可软化融资约束、缓解委托代理问题,进而正向影响企业技术创新。基于世界银行的调查数据，考察了外部审计对企业技术创新的作用方向、强度和中介效应。经验研究结果显示：(1)外部审计显著正向影响企业技术创新,给定条件下，有外部审计的企业比其他企业从事技术创新的概率增加13.2%；(2)融资约束和代理成本的中介效应均在统计水平上显著，且为部分中介效应；(3)在异质性的创新活动中，外部审计均有显著的促进作用。从中介机制看，外部审计通过软化融资约束促进企业开发产品或流程改善型的新技术、推出新的质量控制程序和增加产品新特色；通过降低代理成本促进企业开展提升生产柔性的创新活动。研究结果延展了外部审计对企业行为的影响分析，为强化外部审计监督机制以促进企业技术创新提供事实依据。