Forms of knowledge and eco-innovation modes: Evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms

Abstract

The paper investigates the knowledge drivers of firms' eco-innovations (EI) by retaining the diverse nature of their target. Different internal and external knowledge sources are examined and the evidence of EI-modes is searched with respect to a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms covering the 2007-2009 and 2010-2012 periods. An "attenuated" Science, Technology, EI-mode prevails internally, with R&D more pivotal than either embodied or disembodied non-R&D knowledge, depending on the EI strategy. Externally, synthetic knowledge matters more than the analytical one, suggesting instead a Doing, Using, Interacting EI-mode. Hence, a dichotomic combination of the two modes emerges across the firm's boundaries. However, remarkable differences are in place, depending on whether EIs target efficiency or non-efficiency related environmental improvements. Our evidence also shows that internal and external knowledge turn out difficult to combine, both within and across modes.JEL: Q55; O31; O32.

Institutional pressure, knowledge acquisition and a firm's environmental innovation

“…As with the findings suggested by Cainelli, De Marchi, and Grandinetti (), and Marzucchi and Montresor () that knowledge or resources can promote environmental innovation, this study also found that knowledge acquisition played a partial mediating role between the effect of regulatory pressure and normative pressure on environmental innovation. Under the institutional pressure in present‐day China, Chinese firms have strong momentum to acquire knowledge that could become an important strategic support to environmental innovation.…”

“…Resources include all kinds of assets, capabilities, information, knowledge, and so on that is under the control of the firm, and which will help the firm develop and implement strategies (Barney, 1991). Resources are crucial to a firm's environmental innovation strategy, especially different knowledge (Marzucchi & Montresor, 2017). Knowledge acquisition is an activity in which the firm identifies its own external environment and obtains knowledge from it (Holsapple & Singh, 2001), which also refers to a process in which the firm obtains and transforms existing external knowledge or newly developed, different internal knowledge (Huber, 1991).…”

Shedding light on the determinants of eco‐innovation: A meta‐analytic study

“…As a result, a growing interest in the driving forces of ecologic innovations among countries (macro level), sectors/regions (meso level) and firms (micro level) has emerged. As EI is a "special innovation," understanding of which requires particular attention (Rennings, 2000), several authors have aimed to shed light on the drivers of corporate environmental innovative performance (Amores-Salvadó, Castro, & Navas-López, 2014;Cainelli, De Marchi, & Grandinetti, 2015;Ghisetti, Marzucchi, & Montresor, 2015;Horbach, 2008Horbach, , 2016Marzucchi & Montresor, 2017;Triguero, Moreno-Mondéjar, & Davia, 2013). A set of studies trace how EIs differ from general innovations in their externalities and drivers (Porter & Van der Linde, 1995;Rennings, 2000).…”

Environmental Innovation and Employment: Drivers and Synergies

“…In this perspective, Le Bas and Poussing [22] find that belonging to a group has a positive influence on the probability of eco-innovating. They believe that this result might be related to the availability of ample resources and the stability of R&D expenditure in firms that are part of a group, taking into account the specificity and complexity of environmental technologies [23].…”