Page 296 - Hojnik, Jana. 2017. In Persuit of Eco-innovation. Drivers and Consequences of Eco-innovation at Firm Level. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 296
In Pursuit of Eco-innovation
al eco-innovation and eco-innovation construct). Thus, the policy makers
should develop or propose instruments that would both diffuse eco-in-
novation adoption in companies and help companies to develop eco-in-
novations that lead to a gain of competitive advantage and consequently
benefit the economy as well.
In addition, product eco-innovation contributes to companies’ eco-
nomic and competitive benefits but is negatively related to company prof-
itability and growth. More research should be done on this topic, consid-
ering that the positive outcomes of eco-innovations can be lagged in time
and thus control the time of investment in product eco-innovation. How-
ever, companies that implement product eco-innovation to a greater ex-
tent seem to enjoy a higher degree of internationalization. Policy mak-
ers should tackle this issue and dedicate more attention to the economic
296 incentive instrument in order to overcome the investment costs related
to the product eco-innovation; a possible solution would be green pub-
lic procurement or tax exemptions. Incentivizing product eco-innovation
can also deliver benefits to the economy, in the sense that a higher degree
of internationalization leads to higher profits and also reflects a country’s
sustainable awareness worldwide.
Moreover, companies with more process and/or organizational
eco-innovations are also more internationalized, and this relationship is
stronger in the case of product eco-innovation. Product eco-innovation
exerts a low but negative influence on company growth and profitabili-
ty, while process and organizational eco-innovation showed a positive re-
lationship with company profitability and a negative relationship with
company growth. The results of this study reveal that all eco-innovations
lead to competitive and economic benefits. Therefore, it would be mean-
ingful to incentivize companies in terms of subsidizing hiring addition-
al employees, which would not only contribute to company growth in
terms of number of employees but also deliver new insights, knowledge
and competences to companies, as well as new human resources that can
be exploited for the adoption or development of eco-innovation. Moreo-
ver, bearing in mind that process and organizational eco-innovations are
positively associated with company profitability, such incentives (sunk
costs, subsidies, grants) may be provided only for the initial investment,
in the case of certain process eco-innovations that highly contribute to
the environmental welfare and demand high investments that may pay
off after several years through cost savings. Other incentives that could be
helpful are tax exemptions, which, again, could be applied only for a few
years, covering the investment period (e.g., a company that deploys a new
al eco-innovation and eco-innovation construct). Thus, the policy makers
should develop or propose instruments that would both diffuse eco-in-
novation adoption in companies and help companies to develop eco-in-
novations that lead to a gain of competitive advantage and consequently
benefit the economy as well.
In addition, product eco-innovation contributes to companies’ eco-
nomic and competitive benefits but is negatively related to company prof-
itability and growth. More research should be done on this topic, consid-
ering that the positive outcomes of eco-innovations can be lagged in time
and thus control the time of investment in product eco-innovation. How-
ever, companies that implement product eco-innovation to a greater ex-
tent seem to enjoy a higher degree of internationalization. Policy mak-
ers should tackle this issue and dedicate more attention to the economic
296 incentive instrument in order to overcome the investment costs related
to the product eco-innovation; a possible solution would be green pub-
lic procurement or tax exemptions. Incentivizing product eco-innovation
can also deliver benefits to the economy, in the sense that a higher degree
of internationalization leads to higher profits and also reflects a country’s
sustainable awareness worldwide.
Moreover, companies with more process and/or organizational
eco-innovations are also more internationalized, and this relationship is
stronger in the case of product eco-innovation. Product eco-innovation
exerts a low but negative influence on company growth and profitabili-
ty, while process and organizational eco-innovation showed a positive re-
lationship with company profitability and a negative relationship with
company growth. The results of this study reveal that all eco-innovations
lead to competitive and economic benefits. Therefore, it would be mean-
ingful to incentivize companies in terms of subsidizing hiring addition-
al employees, which would not only contribute to company growth in
terms of number of employees but also deliver new insights, knowledge
and competences to companies, as well as new human resources that can
be exploited for the adoption or development of eco-innovation. Moreo-
ver, bearing in mind that process and organizational eco-innovations are
positively associated with company profitability, such incentives (sunk
costs, subsidies, grants) may be provided only for the initial investment,
in the case of certain process eco-innovations that highly contribute to
the environmental welfare and demand high investments that may pay
off after several years through cost savings. Other incentives that could be
helpful are tax exemptions, which, again, could be applied only for a few
years, covering the investment period (e.g., a company that deploys a new
