The effect of green partnerships on firm value

Abstract

Many businesses increasingly use strategic partnerships to manage corporate environmental agendas. However, how value is created in green partnerships remains largely unexplored. To address this gap, the authors examine the effects of announcements of green partnerships (marketing versus technology) on shareholder value. It is argued that in green partnerships firms leverage marketing and technology-related capabilities for value-enhancing purposes. The results show that announcements of green marketing partnerships have an immediate positive and significant effect on shareholder value, whereas announcements of green technology partnerships produce an immediate negative and significant effect. Nevertheless, green technology partnerships can accrue positive returns, but over a longer-term (1 year) period. In “dirtier” industries, it is more difficult to generate positive returns to green partnerships. Counterintuitively, though, in high-polluting industries, firms having a history of positive environmental performance experience lower financial gains from announcements of green partnerships than firms that were less environmentally responsible in the past.