Impact of Environmental Innovation Strategy on Green Competitiveness: Evidence from China

Abstract

Environmental issues are a significant field in both research and practice. Manufacturing enterprises are adopting sustainable initiatives to achieve efficient resource usage, emissions reduction, energy utilization reduction, and improve waste management. Therefore, drawing on ecological modernization theory (EMT) and knowledge-based theory (KBT), this study proposes a comprehensive framework for the relationships among environmental innovation strategy (EIS), green knowledge sharing (GKS), organizational green learning (OGL), and green competitiveness (GC), through literature review; after, a survey questionnaire method was employed, and multiple-regression method was used for the analysis. The empirical results show that environmental innovation strategy has a positive effect on green competitiveness; the green knowledge sharing and organizational green learning chain mediates the relationship between environmental innovation strategy and green competitiveness. The results further reveal that green knowledge sharing and organizational green learning are crucial paths for manufacturing enterprises to enhance green competitiveness in implementing their environmental innovation strategies. This study extends previous research by emphasizing the importance of environmental innovation strategy in the context of sustainable development, and enriches existing research related to green competitiveness.

Climate Issues Under Changing Geopolitical Conditions

“…Literature Achieving competitive advantages through the introduction of green technologies (Kuhn et al, 2022;Lenox, 2021;Wang et al, 2022) The relationship between energy production and consumption on the one hand, and carbon emissions on the other (Dalla Longa et al, 2022;Natali et al, 2021;Pandey et al, 2022) Increasing energy efficiency as a key area of national economies' decarbonisation (Mier et al, 2020;Obrist et al, 2022;Pakhomova et al, 2021) The relationship between investments in renewable energy sources and CO2 emissions (Acheampong et al, 2019;Ikram et al, 2020;Mehmood et al, 2022) The Impact of government initiatives to promote decarbonisation on economic performance (Al Mamun et al, 2022;Rissman et al, 2020;Stephenson et al, 2021) Managing companies in the context of "carbon tax" introduction (Dixit et al, 2022;Domon et al, 2022;Reaños et al, 2022) Rebound effect of energy efficiency (Chen et al, 2021;Baležentis et al, 2021;Berner et al, 2022) Source: authors.…”

Adapting Innovation Development Management Processes to Improve Energy Efficiency and Achieve Decarbonization Goals

“…1. Основные направления исследований по решению проблем декарбонизации Направление Литература Возможности достижения конкурентных преимуществ за счет внедрения экологически чистых технологий (Kuhn et al, 2022;Lenox, 2021;Wang et al, 2022) Исследования связи между производством и потреблением энергии, с одной стороны, и эмиссией углеродных соединений -с другой (Dalla Longa et al, 2022;Natali et al, 2021;Pandey et al, 2022) Повышение энергетической эффективности как ключевое направление декарбонизации национальных экономик (Mier et al, 2020;Obrist et al, 2022; Пахомова и др., 2021) Оценка корреляции между инвестициями в возобновляемые источники энергии и эмиссией СO2 (Acheampong et al, 2019;Ikram et al, 2020;Mehmood et al, 2022) Влияние государственного стимулирования процессов декарбонизации на показатели экономического развития (Al Mamun et al, 2022;Rissman et al, 2020;Stephenson et al, 2021) Управление деятельностью компаний в условиях введения «углеродного налога» (Dixit et al, 2022;Domon et al, 2022;Reaños et al, 2022) Рикошетный эффект (rebound effect) энергоэффективности (Chen et al, 2021;Baležentis et al, 2021;Berner et al, 2022) Источник: составлено авторами.…”

Spatio–Temporal Evolutionary Features and Drivers of Green Competitiveness of Cities Surrounding the Yellow River

“…Other scholars have evaluated the development level of the green competitiveness of municipalities based on four dimensions [12], namely economic green development, social green development, resource green development, and environmental green development, or three dimensions [13], namely green economy, green investment, green utilization, and green security. In addition, Wang et al (2022) constructed a comprehensive evaluation index system for green competitiveness in rural China based on the "green growth-green wealth-green welfare" framework [14]. (3) On the spatio-temporal patterns of green competitiveness.…”

“…Studies show that China's regional green competitiveness continues to improve, with the green competitiveness of the eastern region being much higher than that of the other regions, and the regional differences are characterized first by an increase and then a decrease; the coupling coordination degree of China's regional green competitiveness system exhibits significant spatial dependence, forming a high-coupling coordination degree agglomeration with Shanghai as the center spreading to the south and a low-coupling coordination degree agglomeration with Qinghai as the center spreading to the east [11]. Wang et al (2022) analyzed the spatial and temporal characteristics and drivers of China's rural green competitiveness through spatial autocorrelation (SA) analysis and GeoDetector and found that China's rural green development presents a spatial differentiation feature that is high in the eastern region and low in the central and western regions [14]. Ma et al (2023) analyzed regional differences in China's green competitiveness through methods such as coefficient of variation analysis and found that the coefficient of variation in green competitiveness of China's 30 provinces and the eastern, central, and western regions show an inverted U-shape trend of first increasing and then decreasing [19].…”

“…(4) On factors influencing green competitiveness. FDI [21], transport systems [22], finance [23][24][25], green innovation, environmental regulation [26][27][28], green logistics [29], and environmental innovation strategies [30] are widely recognized by academics as key elements influencing green competitiveness. Some studies also suggest that the circular economy constrains the creation of green competitiveness of enterprises [31], and at the same time, the circular economy and the core competitiveness of enterprises form a connecting link between the preceding and the following [32], which can help to promote the green innovation of enterprises, optimize the strategic layout of their development, and improve their green competitiveness and digital transformation as a new form of economic development.…”