The literature is increasingly focusing on how firms are improving their environmental performances and promoting green strategies to transform environmental constraints into new drivers of competitive advantage. This paper contributes to the literature by expanding knowledge about environmental management at the value chain level by exploring the concept of environmental upgrading and its implications in terms of economic upgrading and greening of industries. Leveraging on the global value chain and environmental managerial literature, the paper develops an integrated theoretical framework to analyse environmental upgrading trajectories and their implications in terms of firms' green strategies based on case studies in the Italian home‐furnishing industry. Empirical evidence suggests that firms develop green strategies to reduce environmental impacts while achieving economic benefits and competitiveness, which may be internal to the firm but also apply to value chains, with different implications in terms of bargaining power and value appropriation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Based on original data on Italian firms specializing in medium- and low-tech industries, we study the relationship between firms’ upstream and downstream internationalization and their propensity to introduce products or processes that reduce environmental impact. Preliminary evidence suggests that geography plays an important role in green firms’ activities and supply chains. More precisely, results suggest that firms that outsource to and rely on non-local suppliers are less likely to engage in environmental innovations. Moreover, we verify that firms engaged in export activities play a similar and negative role, regardless of the export intensity and typology of foreign markets (i.e. developed versus emerging). Tapping global flows of knowledge by being a part of a multinational group positively spurs the development of green innovations, as for FDIs

Purpose – The paper aims at analysing the relationships between standardisation and creativity in the process of service innovation in knowledge-intensive business services, specifically in those specialised in highly creative outputs (KIBS in design and communication). Studies on knowledge management and on service management emphasise the opportunity to gain efficiency through a standardisation of services and organisational processes. However, creative activities are characterised by informality and difficulty to be standardised. Design/methodology/approach – We adopt a qualitative research approach. We developed two case studies of medium-size KIBS specialised in design and communication, localised in Bangalore (India) and in Treviso (Italy), to identify how KIBS approach knowledge management both internally and externally and how firms structure the innovation process. Findings - KIBS can use a suitable knowledge management strategy to balance creative outputs with standardisation based on a working method. Standardisation can refer to the way the creative effort is organised and managed internally through appropriate organisational processes, approach confirmed empirically. Research limitations/implications – Main limitations related to the case study and the industry selected. We acknowledge the need to compare firms belonging to other industries to strengthen the results. Originality/value – From a theoretical point of view we enrich the research framework concerning knowledge management in services by exploring the relationship between standardisation and creativity. From an empirical point of view, our research is able to deepen our understanding on the KIBS knowledge management strategies and their impacts on processes of service provision and innovation

Italian district small and medium enterprises (SMEs) developed aggressive strategies to extend their sales networks and supply chains abroad. Literature on districts offered alternative explanations about the impacts of internationalization on local manufacturing systems. The authors consider the evolution of Italian districts in the framework of global value chain approach, focusing on the role of leading firms. Based on a survey of 650 Italian SMEs and financial indicators, the paper describes the rise of a new district firm model, the open network, which becomes a key node of global value chains. The paper also analyses the relationships among internationalization, innovation strategies and performance of SMEs

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