Title
Exploring the effects of innovation strategies and size on manufacturing firms’ productivity and environmental impact
Date Issued
02 March 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
MDPI AG
Abstract
In economies that are based on natural resources, efforts to achieve sustainability still seem unclear, especially in manufacturing companies. As a result, from a business perspective, many manufacturers have adopted various strategies to maintain their competitiveness in line with environmental regulations. In addition to product and process innovation, we have analyzed innovation based on product–service innovation (PSI), or servitization, which is seen as key to promoting more resource-efficient economies. This study examines the effects of innovation strategies on productivity and environmental impact. Based on data extracted from the National Innovation Survey of the manufacturing industries of Peru, a sample of 791 companies were analyzed. Our findings indicate that, although only a few companies carry out product and process innovation and especially product–service innovation, when they do, they have a positive effect on both productivity and environmental impact. However, this relationship is affected by the size of the company. Thus, the innovation strategies have a greater positive effect on environmental impact in large companies than companies with fewer than 50 employees. Finally, despite the importance of product–service innovation, it seems that this strategy is not yet established in Peruvian manufacturing companies. Given the positive effect on productivity and environmental impact, we conclude by emphasizing the importance of establishing public policies aimed at disseminating and promoting this type of innovation, with specific support for companies with fewer than 50 employees.
Volume
13
Issue
6
Number
3289
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias del medio ambiente Economía
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85103412440
Source
Sustainability (Switzerland)
ISSN of the container
20711050
Sponsor(s)
Acknowledgments: For their helpful comments, our thanks go to two anonymous reviewers. Jean Pierre Seclen-Luna acknowledges support from the Program for High Performance in Research from the Academic Directorate of Teaching Staff (DAP) of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. This research was supported by the Spanish Innovation Agency (AEI) through the project ECO-CIRCULAR: “La estrategia europea de transición a la economía circular: un análisis jurídico prospectivo y cambios en las cadenas globales de valor”—ECO2017-87142-C2-1-R. The author Ángeles Pereira belongs to the Galician Competitive Research Group GRC ED431C 2018/23 and to the CRETUS Strategic Partnership (ED431E 2018/01). All these programmes are co-funded by ERDF(EU).
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus