Developing Sustainable New Products in the Textile and Upholstered Furniture Industries: Role of External Integrative Capabilities

Environmental sustainability has become one of the key issues for strategy, marketing, and innovation. In particular, significant attention is being paid by companies, customers, media, and regulators to development and consumption of green products. It is argued that through the efficient use of resources, low carbon impacts, and risks to the environment, green products can be essential to help society toward the environmental sustainability targets. The number of green product introductions is rapidly increasing, as demonstrated by the growing number of companies obtaining eco‐labels or third party certifications for their environmentally friendly products. Hundreds of companies representing most of the industries, such as Intel, SC Johnson, Clorox, Wal‐Mart, and Hewlett–Packard, have recently introduced new green products, underlining the need to develop products that create both economic and environmental values for the firm and customers. A review of the literature shows that academic research on green product development has grown in interest. However, to date, only a few empirical studies have addressed the challenge of integrating environmental issues into new product development (NPD). Previous empirical works have mainly focused on a set of activities for the green product development process at the project level. After years of paying no or marginal attention to environmental sustainability issues, most of the companies now generally realize that it would require knowledge and competencies to develop green products on a regular basis. These knowledge and competencies can be varied, such as R&D, environmental know‐how, clean technology/manufacturing process, building knowledge on measuring environmental performance of products, etc., that may be developed internally or can be integrated through external networks. Adopting a resource‐based view of the firm, this article aims at (1) investigating the role of capabilities useful for companies to integrate knowledge and competencies from outside of the firm on green product development in terms of both manufacturing process and product design and (2) understanding whether green product development opens new product, market, and technology opportunities, as well as leads to better financial performance of NPD programs. To this end, a survey was conducted in two Italian manufacturing industries in which environmental issues are becoming increasingly important, namely textiles and upholstered furniture. A questionnaire was sent to 700 firms, and 102 useable questionnaires were returned. Results show that (1) companies engage in developing external integrative capabilities through the creation of collaborative networks with actors along the supply chain, the acquisition of technical know‐how, and the creation of external knowledge links with actors outside the supply chain; (2) external knowledge links play a key role in the integration of environmental sustainability issues into the manufacturing process, whereas capabilities such as the acquisition of technical know‐how and the creation of collaborative networks prove to be more important for integrating environmental issues into product design; and (3) the integration of environmental sustainability issues into NPD programs in terms of product design leads to the creation of new opportunities for firms, such as opening new markets, technologies, and product arenas, though not necessarily leading to improved financial performance of the NPD programs.     

Resource-constrained product development: Implications for green marketing and green supply chains

While academic debates and practical approaches to green marketing have matured over the past few decades, one central conundrum that has remained unresolved has been the trade-off between the higher prices of green products and the objectives of environmental sustainability. In general, it has been observed that green products are priced at a premium to account for their environmentally friendly consumption and use. We argue that resource-constrained product development approaches (alternatively labeled jugaad) that are observed in emerging countries such as China and India have the potential to change the traditional models of green product development. In addition to the competitive advantage that resource-constrained product development approaches provide, we suggest that these practices have sustainability and supply chain benefits. We show that the innovation process relies primarily on frugal engineering that reduces material use (thereby reducing burden on supply chain) and meets green marketing objectives at much lower, and therefore, more affordable prices. We draw out several implications for theory and practice.     

Sustainability and business-to-business marketing: A framework and implications

Researchers in several business disciplines have convincingly argued that environmentally responsible strategies can contribute to competitive advantage and superior financial performance. While debates on ecological conservation and environmental practices within marketing have raged for over three decades, much of the focus has been on identifying and targeting the environmentally-conscious consumer. Less attention has been given to marketing's role in a green supply chain and its interface with environmentally-friendly manufacturing and operations. We integrate disparate streams of research and develop a broader framework to understand the appropriate role and focus of business-to-business marketing in the supply chain for achieving environmental sustainability objectives. We identify three major strategies - the reduction of surplus supply of products, reduction of reverse supply, and internal marketing - where marketing's role in environmental sustainability is crucial for achieving superior competitive advantage and financial performance.     

Implementation of green innovations – The impact of stakeholders and their network relations

Green innovation is becoming increasingly important for companies and whole societies, and the research in this field has essentially increased in recent years. As green innovation is expected to ensure both environmental sustainability and economical profitability, it might seriously affect the partly colliding interests of various groups of stakeholders. However, from previous studies less is known about the impact that various groups of stakeholders and particularly the relationships among these stakeholders exert on the implementation of green innovations. To address this gap we first substantiate the relevance of the stakeholder theory for innovation studies in general and green innovations in particular. Furthermore, we argue that from the innovator's perspective green innovations are likely to be affected by the interactions with as well as between many primary and secondary stakeholders. To explore this issue in-depth we conducted a case study of the implementation of an offshore wind farm in Germany. Our research revealed that network ties among stakeholders can be both conducive and detrimental to the green innovation. The insights gained in our study contribute to the stakeholder analysis for the implementation of green innovations.     

主要国家能源发展战略及政策调整动向

2008年国际金融危机爆发以来,世界地缘政治格局发生深刻变化,世界经济复苏仍存在较大不确定性,国际能源市场更为复杂。为此,主要能源消费国和资源国对能源发展战略和政策进行了调整,主要体现在几个方面:1)力求能源结构和来源多元化;2)提高能源自给能力;3)核能政策出现分化,部分国家仍对发展核电持积极态度,但部分国家放弃发展核电;4)大力发展新能源和可再生能源;5)突出节能和提高能效;6)注重加强国际能源合作;7)重视能源技术创新。这些能源政策动向将对全球能源市场走势产生深远影响。     

K?nnen sich erneuerbare Energien langfristig auf wettbewerblich organisierten Stromm?rkten finanzieren?

In this paper we address the issue of whether renewable energy sources can be integrated into power markets if the use of renewable energies is extended at the desired speed. Market integration means that renewable energy sources have to cover their full costs from revenues on competitive markets. In the first part of this paper, we evaluate the long-term revenues of intermittent renewable energy sources using a high resolution power market model. Considering the renewable targets of the German lead study of 2010, we show that due to the merit order effect, intermittent renewable energy sources, such as wind power and photovoltaic, cannot be financed through power markets alone, even if their full costs fall below those of conventional power plants. This is also true for scenarios with high CO₂-prices and increasing spot market prices. In the second part of this paper, we discuss whether in the long run additional instruments such as green certificates or capacity markets would allow for a more competitive financing of renewable energy sources. Center stage in the discussion is the question under which circumstances these instruments increase competitive pricing and decentralised market decisions.     

Green Project Bonds als finanzielle Alternative für Energieunternehmen

The reorientations of energy policy, and in particular the promotion of renewables, have changed the market conditions for energy companies significantly. Over recent years, the resulting challenges put the energy companies’ financial ratios under severe stress. As the need to invest remains urgent, energy firms seek to broaden and diversify their sources of funding. Against this backdrop, the article addresses an innovative form of securities-based debt financing for energy companies, which explicitly links the financing transaction to the investing of funds in renewable energy projects. Due to the early stage of development of so called green (project) bonds, an initial disambiguation is essential. Thereafter, current market processes, structures and rules are considered. Based hereupon, it is possible to discuss the new opportunities that green project bonds afford energy companies.     

影响西北区域风电产业发展的几个问题

西北区域的风电产业在近几年得到快速发展,未来还将加速发展。针对调研情况,总结了影响西北区域风电产业发展的几个问题,如法律法规和政策落实不到位、可再生能源补贴配额交易滞后、新的税收政策的支持力度减弱等,从完善法律法规、缩短可再生能源配额交易周期、进一步增强可再生能源发展的财税支持力度、建立合理有效的风电上网定价机制等方面提出建议。     

Identifying customer behavioral factors and price premiums of green building purchasing

In recent years, global urbanization and overdevelopment have resulted in environmental degradation and an energy crisis. Promoting green buildings is among the most effective methods for achieving environmental sustainability. Although the initial costs of green buildings are higher than those of ordinary buildings, people perceive that the environmental benefits of green buildings justify their higher price premiums. From a developer's perspective, devising optimal pricing strategies according to customer-perceived prices and developers' expected profit is complex and difficult. Hence, in this study, we developed a framework based on the Howard–Sheth model of consumer behavior to identify behavioral factors that may affect consumer purchases of green buildings. An artificial neural network (ANN) was then used to develop a pricing model for predicting the price premiums of green buildings. The results revealed that the ANN model's overall prediction capability was 94%; the model's robustness was demonstrated by comparing the results produced using the model with those produced using a multiple regression analysis. In addition, the characteristics of consumers who were willing to accept higher price premiums for green buildings were identified and discussed. The proposed model can be applied as an effective decision-support tool for green building pricing and formulating marketing strategies.     

基于主成分分析的我国新型城镇化质量评价

城镇化是现代化的必由之路,我国的城镇化进程在取得巨大成就的同时出现了严重的城镇化质量问题。本研究从新型城镇化的内涵出发,构建新型城镇化质量评价指标体系,采用主成分分析法对全国30个省市的城镇化发展质量进行综合评价。结果显示：我国30个省市间城镇化质量差异十分显著,高于城镇化速度体现的差异。从东中西部区域来衡量城镇化质量高低,可以看出,东部＞中部＞西部。从城镇化速度与城镇化质量的协调度来分析,可以看出我国城镇化可以划分为4种类型：“高——高”型,“高——低”型,“低——低”型,“低——高”型,文章最后针对不同类型的城镇化提出相应的政策建议。     

Business Strategy, R&D Management and Environmental Imperatives

Abstract
Environmental imperatives are seen by many business leaders to represent a major issue for the 1990's and beyond. The debate about the environmental sustainability of economic activity has important implications for the development of business and places considerable emphasis on the need for planned corporate change. The strategic significance of the environment is particularly critical to R&D as this is characterised by long planning horizons and provides the setting for the development of future products and processes.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the connections between environmental imperatives, strategic change and R&D management. To this end the paper reviews the strategic nature of environmental pressures on business. From this base, consideration is given to the responses required by business, in meeting these pressures. The paper concludes by suggesting that the application of management techniques in concert with organisational change is needed for R&D management to build environmental considerations effectively into innovation. These suggestions can be used to gauge how far individual businesses have developed the systems and structures to enable them to move towards sustainability. The implication of the paper is that R&D management will not only need to apply new management techniques but will have to play a leading role in innovative organisational structures in order to fulfil the full potential of environmentally sensitive products and processes.     

未来能源发展十大趋势

在当前世界经济的变革转型时期,能源供应格局、消费结构、地缘政治经济结构以及能源市场运行态势发生了令人瞩目的重大变化。资源和环境问题已经成为世界经济和社会发展的瓶颈,石油资源仍占据能源结构中的核心地位。世界政治经济格局的变化、金融危机和绿色能源革命,是影响能源未来走势和结构变化的三大主要因素。基于此,结合时代特点和能源经济领域的规律,分析提出了能源未来发展的走势。     

Inclusive growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the interaction between ICT diffusion,and financial development

Despite the momentous rise in ICT diffusion, and financial development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), their plausible joint effect on inclusive growth have not been explored, leaving a lacuna in the literature. This study, therefore, examines the direct and indirect effects of ICT diffusion on inclusive growth in 42 SSA countries over the period 1980–2019. We provide evidence robust to several specifications from the dynamic system GMM to show that: (i) ICT skills, access and usage induce inclusive growth in SSA, and (ii) the effects of ICT skills, access and usage are enhanced in the presence of financial development. These findings remain the same when we focussed on financial institution access. Policy recommendations are provided in line with the region's green growth agenda and striving efforts at improving socioeconomic development.     

The Digital Transformation of Search and Recombination in the Innovation Function: Tensions and an Integrative Framework*

Search and recombination are important mechanisms in the creativity phase of innovation. Digital transformation and the resulting pervasive digitalization of the innovation function have often been associated with increasing possibilities for search and recombination. In this paper, by systematically integrating the search and recombination literature with the literature on digitalization, we demonstrate that digitalization may engender new idiosyncratic tensions in the organizational antecedents of search and recombination and, by implication, in their likely outcomes. We propose that, depending on the interactions among the idiosyncratic tensions identified herein, knowledge recombination might spur very different outcomes, including knowledge layering, knowledge integration, knowledge grafting, or even no recombination at all (which we label “search for the sake of search”). These outcomes may not always be the initially planned desired outcomes. Finally, we provide implications of our integrative framework pertaining to product development and to organizing for innovation.     

Heterogeneous incentives for innovation adoption: The price effect on segmented markets

It is now commonly accepted that poverty alleviation and the development of agricultural value chains in low income countries require farmers to innovate. However numerous constraints to innovation adoption have been identified. In the literature, the market structures on which producers sell their output have received remarkably little attention. In this article, I argue that these can impact a producer’s choices with respect to the level of effort invested in changing agricultural practices. More specifically, due to transaction costs, contract farming and other market imperfections, output prices and production levels in rural areas are often jointly determined, leading to market segmentation. I develop a simple model to discuss how market segmentation induces non-trivial effects on incentives to innovate. Next, I rely on farm-level panel data from an extension project in the Peruvian highlands to test the empirical implications of the model. Producers that were not included in the formal market but close to it, performed better in improving agricultural practices. The indirect consequence of this investment is a higher price increase than the rest of the population, creating heterogeneous impacts of the programme, opportunities for economic mobility and a reduction in inequality. The evidence indicates how considering the effects of market structures leads to a more nuanced understanding of the process of agricultural innovation adoption in low and middle income countries.     

Sustainability,Social Media Driven Open Innovation,and New Product Development Performance*

Sustainability and social media use in open innovation play important roles in a firm's new product development (NPD) process. This research examines, in conjunction, the roles of sustainability and social media driven inbound open innovation (SMOI) for a firm's NPD performance, and further, takes a more refined approach by differentiating between different types of SMOI activities. To this end, this research develops and tests a conceptual framework, which predicts that (1) a firm's sustainability orientation (SO) is positively associated with its NPD performance, (2) customer focus (CF) partially mediates the SO–NPD performance link, and (3) particular SMOI activities moderate the CF–NPD performance link. The empirical results, using data from the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA)'s comparative performance assessment study, provide support for most of the framework. Notably, this research documents a positive link between SO and NPD performance, as well as a partial mediating role of CF. The results further suggest that social media driven open innovation activities focused on gathering market insights enhance CF directly, while social media driven open innovation activities that garner technical expertise enhance the link between CF and NPD performance. This paper bridges the separate literatures on sustainability and open innovation, and contributes to the NPD research. The findings suggest that managers should take a strategic approach to sustainability and embed it in the NPD process. Furthermore, managers should manage social media based open innovation carefully to fully benefit the firm during the front end and back end of NPD.     

金融科技与企业创新——新三板上市公司的证据

金融科技催生出新的金融服务模式,这能否解决实体经济的融资难题从而促进企业创新呢?通过“金融科技”关键词百度新闻高级检索,本文创新性地构建了地区金融科技发展水平指标,并利用2011—2016年新三板上市公司数据,考察了金融科技发展对企业创新的影响及其机制。实证结果表明,金融科技发展显著促进了企业创新。就经济意义而言,城市的金融科技发展水平每提高1%,当地企业专利申请数量平均会增加约0.17项。作为一个宏观变量,地区金融科技发展水平受单个企业创新行为的影响较小,但是依然会存在测量误差和遗漏变量等内生性问题。本文运用接壤城市金融科技发展水平的均值作为工具变量,得到了一致的估计结果。本文的结果在替换企业创新指标、使用不同回归模型等一系列稳健性检验后仍然成立。机制分析表明,金融科技通过两个渠道促进企业创新,一是缓解企业的融资约束,二是提高税收返还的创新效应。异质性分析表明,金融科技促进企业创新的作用在东部地区和高科技行业表现得更为明显。在中国经济高质量发展背景下,持续推进金融科技发展、重塑金融行业生态格局,才能为实体经济提供源源不断的创新活力,从而推动创新型国家建设。     

金融发展效率对技术创新的门限特征

本文基于门限效应回归模型，分析我国自1995年第一季度至2014年第四季度的相关数据，以金融发展效率为门限变量，对金融发展效率与技术创新的关系进行了实证研究，结果表明金融发展与技术创新之间的关系表现出显著的门限特征，门限值为88.61%。当金融发展效率位于门限值以下时，金融发展效率的估计系数显著为负；当金融发展效率位于门限值之上时，金融发展效率的估计系数显著为正。这意味着在小于门限值时，金融发展效率抑制了技术创新；只有在大于门限值时，金融发展效率才能促进技术创新。促进技术创新需要提高金融发展效率，商业银行法修正案对存贷比监管指标的删除，必将进一步促进金融发展，推动技术 创新。     

丝路带西北段区域金融供给与绿色产业发展匹配问题研究

近年来由于环境问题带来的压力，绿色产业的发展越来越受到政府和人民大众的重视。绿色产业在发展的过程中面临各种资金问题，需要金融增加供给并改善供给结构来支持绿色产业的发展。本文探讨了金融供给与绿色产业发展的理论渊源，并选取丝路带西北段区域为研究样本，首先用基尼系数匹配法测算各指标的基尼系数值从而找出该区域金融供给与绿色产业发展匹配中存在的问题，接着运用熵权TOPSI匹配法计算二者匹配度与理想解之间的贴近度，最后得出陕西贴近度最高，金融供给与绿色产业发展匹配度最好的结论，并根据实证结果提出了相应的对策建议。     

电力市场环境下发电环节的节能减排

介绍了国内外在发电环节采用的两种节能减排技术,即洁净煤技术和可再生能源发电技术。从政策支持、价格鼓励、税费减免、科研和产业化的促进等多个方面论述了电力市场化改革环境下,发电环节节能减排的政策、法规及发展思路。建议对化石燃料发电征收较高的能源税、CO2税、SO2税以及征收CO2排放费用,增大可再生能源发电配额比例,鼓励私人投资,建立绿色电力发展基金,加快技术和设备的国产化进程等。