Is Strategic Proactivity a Driver of an Environmental Strategy? Effects of Innovation and Internationalization Leadership

Abstract

This study analyses strategic proactivity as a driving factor in the implementation of an advanced environmental strategy in a firm. Strategic proactivity is defined as a firm's tendency to initiate voluntary changes instead of reacting to events in the environment and according to previous literature, can be interpreted as a combination of internal factors that characterise a firm's business strategy as that of a prospector firm. In this study, we measured this through innovation, with two variables related to the firm's entire production cycle: R&D expenditure and patents. However, we also considered two more strategic proactivity indicators: innovation proactivity and internationalisation proactivity. These two proactivity variables take into account the innovative and international actions of the firms, going beyond the actions usually taken by firms in the same sector. Using panel data methodology, we obtained results that show that firms who invest in R&D and patent their innovations achieve more advanced positions in their environmental strategies. Empirical evidence also shows that firms with a greater innovation effort throughout the production cycle (product, process, organisation and marketing) than their competitors also attain more advanced positions (proactivity) in environmental matters. In other words, innovation proactivity is a driver of environmental strategy. In relation to internationalization, the results also showed that firms that operate in a larger geographical area than their competitors adapt to the most demanding environmental legislation, placing them in a position of environmental leadership in their respective sectors. The inclusion of internationalization as an indicator of strategic proactivity, the measurement of proactivity variables and the correction of firms' specific unobserved aspects are some of this paper's contributions.

The missing links? The indirect impacts of drivers on eco‐innovation

“…Finally, our findings suggest that firms actions to meet the environmental regulations set by the countries of their foreign counterparts influenced the formulation of their environmental strategy and encouraged them to eco-innovate. This is in line with the literature, which shows that internationalization is a main driver of environmental strategies (González-Benito & González-Benito, 2006;Suarez-Perales et al, 2017) and that export-oriented firms are more innovative (Horbach, 2014;Peñasco, del Río, & Romero-Jordán, 2017). This is probably due to, both, demand-pull pressure and knowledge spillovers.…”

“…This is in line with the literature, which shows that internationalization is a main driver of environmental strategies (González-Benito & González-Benito, 2006;Suarez-Perales et al, 2017) and that export-oriented firms are more innovative (Horbach, 2014;Peñasco, del Río, & Romero-Jordán, 2017). This is in line with the literature, which shows that internationalization is a main driver of environmental strategies (González-Benito & González-Benito, 2006;Suarez-Perales et al, 2017) and that export-oriented firms are more innovative (Horbach, 2014;Peñasco, del Río, & Romero-Jordán, 2017).…”

Utilities: Innovation and Sustainability

“…The conventional wisdom is that sustainability-orientation is associated with higher innovation [42].…”

Energy eco‐innovations for sustainable development: Exploring organizational strategic capabilities through an energy cultures framework

“…In addition to literature on defining and classifying eco‐innovations (Andersen, ; Ekins, ; Epicoco, Oltra, & Saint Jean, ; Kiefer, Carrillo‐Hermosilla, Del Río, & Callealta Barroso, ; Kiefer et al, ), other key themes in the eco‐innovation literature include the drivers or determinants of eco‐innovation (del Rio, Morán, & Albiñana, ; Horbach et al, ; Triguero et al, ; Marin, ; Jové‐Llopis & Segarra‐Blasco, ; Horbach & Jacob, ; Aragon‐Correa & Leyva‐de la Hiz, ), measuring eco‐innovation (Arundel & Kemp, ), the relationship between eco‐innovation and firm performance (Aguilera‐Caracuel & Ortiz‐de‐Mandojana, ; Leyva‐de la Hiz, Ferron‐Vilchez, & Aragon‐Correa, ; Zhang & Walton, ), the relationship between eco‐innovation and competitive advantage (del Río et al, ; Ketata et al, ; Lee & Min, ; Kiefer et al, ), and the role of intermediaries (Kanda, Hjelm, Clausen, & Bienkowska, ). Although there is a literature on the different types of eco‐innovations and the classification of such, literature on how eco‐innovations are implemented (Cheng & Shiu, ; Morgan, Vorhies, & Mason, ) or managed (Suarez‐Perales, Garces‐Ayerbe, Rivera‐Torres, & Suarez‐Galvez, ) Seebode, Jeanrenaud, & Bessant, ) is scant, especially at the firm level and internally focused (Kiefer et al, ). Exceptions to this include the work of Cheng and Shiu (): p. 341), who have developed a multidimensional scale to measure the implementation of eco‐innovation and thus “open the black box” of eco‐innovation implementation research (Delmas et al, ).…”