Abstract
Companies’ environmental responsibility has significantly increased in the last decade. However, the question about the benefits that this responsible decision has on the company’s performance in the market remains. In this scenario, the main goal of this study is to analyze the conditions that improve the performance of companies in the agri-food industry, paying specific attention to technological eco-innovation and different types of cooperation (in the use and in the development of eco-innovations). Our initial sample contains data of agri-food companies operating in Spain. The Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) has been used as a new path for the analysis of firm’s data. Company performance has been considered by using a construct including three variables (increase in the sales, company profitability and cost reduction). Results show that the conditions that largely benefit company performance are R&D spending and the development of technological eco-innovation. Cooperation in the development and use of eco-innovations are especially important for the smaller companies, with the larger companies in the sector relying both in cooperation and in their own resources. The different recipes which improve the performance, as well as the sustainability of the sector, are presented in this study.
Highlights
Companies’ environmental responsibility has significantly increased in the last decades [1]
There is a lack of research on this topic in traditional sectors such as the agri-food industry that are typically characterized as low-tech with notable exceptions [4,9,10]
Our aim is to study which combinations of factors lead companies in the agri-food sector to increase their performance through their eco-innovation strategy
Summary
Companies’ environmental responsibility has significantly increased in the last decades [1]. Small companies find it difficult to convert green practices into competitive advantages [7] and, are unenthusiastic to include environmental concerns in their management practices [8]. There is a lack of research on this topic in traditional sectors such as the agri-food industry that are typically characterized as low-tech with notable exceptions [4,9,10]. For this reason, the question about the benefits that green practices have on performance on companies operating in low-tech sectors such as the agri-food industry remains unclear. A recent literature review states that “important issues that have been widely studied in the broader environmental business literature, such as the role of external influences, internal resources/capabilities, the firm’s eco-friendly orientation and financial implications of environmental initiatives, have only been tangentially tackled” (p. 9) [11]
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