Innovation is a key factor in firms achieving a better environmental performance, to the extent that it helps increasing the material/energy efficiency of production processes and reducing emission/effluents associated with outputs. The scope of the paper is twofold. First, new evidence is provided by testing a set of hypotheses, with regard to the influence of a wide array of innovation drivers. Secondly, we analyse the hypothesis of a complementary relationship with regard to both different environmental innovation adoptions and associated innovation drivers. The applied investigation shows that usual structural characteristics of the firm appear to matter less than eco auditing, R&D, policy related costs. As far as adoption of different eco innovations is concerned, the analysis shows that firms which do innovate tend to pursue different environmental innovations jointly. At the level of innovation drivers, we observe that the complementarity link, though predominant across the various analysed couples of drivers, is associated with a heterogeneous evidence, sensitive to the typology of innovation and of specific investigated drivers. Thus, though relevant for explaining innovation dynamics, and crucial for informing management and policy efforts, complementarity is then not the all inclusive panacea for tackling the complexity of the environmental innovation system, both from the management and the policy action sides.
Complementarity, firm strategies and environmental innovations
MAZZANTI, Massimiliano;
2008
Abstract
Innovation is a key factor in firms achieving a better environmental performance, to the extent that it helps increasing the material/energy efficiency of production processes and reducing emission/effluents associated with outputs. The scope of the paper is twofold. First, new evidence is provided by testing a set of hypotheses, with regard to the influence of a wide array of innovation drivers. Secondly, we analyse the hypothesis of a complementary relationship with regard to both different environmental innovation adoptions and associated innovation drivers. The applied investigation shows that usual structural characteristics of the firm appear to matter less than eco auditing, R&D, policy related costs. As far as adoption of different eco innovations is concerned, the analysis shows that firms which do innovate tend to pursue different environmental innovations jointly. At the level of innovation drivers, we observe that the complementarity link, though predominant across the various analysed couples of drivers, is associated with a heterogeneous evidence, sensitive to the typology of innovation and of specific investigated drivers. Thus, though relevant for explaining innovation dynamics, and crucial for informing management and policy efforts, complementarity is then not the all inclusive panacea for tackling the complexity of the environmental innovation system, both from the management and the policy action sides.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
