企业生态创新的研究脉络、内涵澄清与测量

Abstract

Eco-innovation is characterized by the double positive externalities( knowledge and environmental spillovers),and as such concern towards it and its importance have grown in both practice and academia over the past two decades. In contrast,extant literature has shown a vague and inconsistent understanding about the applicable analysis level,theoretical position,definition and measurement of eco-innovation. This treatment has limited the concept of eco-innovation,and impeded its use,diffusion and theoretical development. It is the aim of this paper to fill this gap by( 1) focusing on ecoinnovation from a firm level,( 2) reviewing relevant research from three organizational study fields( i. e.,corporate social responsibility,environmental management and innovation management),( 3) providing an integrated definition and identifying the unique characteristics of eco-innovation,( 4) reviewing the dimensions and measurement of eco-innovation,and( 5) presenting recommendations for future research. The main conclusions of this paper are presented below. First,corporate eco-innovation is a crossing field among corporate social responsibility( CSR),environmental management and innovation management. Therefore,eco-innovation can be viewed as a kind of environmental responsibility according to the CSR perspective,which emphasizes that firms should be responsible for the negative influence of their conduct on society.Eco-innovation can also be viewed as an environmental strategy from an environmental management perspective,which places the emphasis on how firms integrate environmental issues into corporate strategy by product,process and management innovation. Furthermore,eco-innovation can be viewed as one type of innovation according to the innovation management perspective,where the emphasis is on how to more effectively implement eco-innovation. It is clear that the CSR perspective pays greater attention to the objectives and consequences of eco-innovation,while the environmental and innovation management perspectives are concerned more about the content and process of eco-innovation. Second,eco-innovation has four unique characteristics according to the three organizational research fields described above:( 1) corporate ecoinnovation has the double externality problem,because it not only has knowledge spillover but also reduces environmentalnegative influence;( 2) the objective of eco-innovation is to offer both environmental protection and economic return;( 3)the content of eco-innovation is both diverse and dynamic,and changes with time and space; and( 4) the RD process of eco-innovation is systematic and complex and requires external cooperation( from suppliers and clients) and internal crossfunctional collaboration because eco-innovation demands diversified knowledge and life circle analyses of environmental influence.Third,eco-innovation can be divided into different dimensions based on various criteria. More specifically,some divide eco-innovation into incremental and radical eco-innovation according to the magnitude of eco-innovation and others reduce eco-innovation into eco-product innovation,eco-service eco-innovation,eco-process innovation and eco-business model innovation based on the form of eco-innovation. In contrast,some categorize eco-innovation as add-on eco-innovation,integrated eco-innovation,alternative product eco-innovation,macro-organizational eco-innovation or general-purpose ecoinnovation according to the degree of integration of eco-innovation and corporate core business. The diversity of dimensions results in inconsistencies in the measurement of eco-innovation. Generally speaking, there are two eco-innovation measurement methods. One method measures eco-innovation from an input perspective,which generally uses RD spending and environmental fees as the proxy of eco-innovation; the other method measures eco-innovation from an output perspective,and generally uses environmental patents,new environmental product sales or eco-efficiency improvements as an eco-innovation proxy.In short,this paper attempts to provide a solid foundation for corporate eco-innovation research by the review and clarification of the basic theoretical issues of eco-innovation as given above. This paper also provides specific directions for future research,recommending further systematic studies on antecedents,and the process and consequences of corporate eco-innovation with the context of emerging economic countries such as China.