Identifying Endogenous and Exogenous Indicators to Measure Eco-Innovation within Clusters

Nohora Mercado-Caruso, Marival Segarra-Oña, David Ovallos-Gazabon and Angel Peiró-Signes
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Nohora Mercado-Caruso: Department of Management, Universitat Politécnica de Valencia, Spain, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Marival Segarra-Oña: Department of Management, Universitat Politécnica de Valencia, Spain, 46022 Valencia, Spain
David Ovallos-Gazabon: MacondoLab, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Barranquilla 080001, Colombia
Angel Peiró-Signes: Department of Management, Universitat Politécnica de Valencia, Spain, 46022 Valencia, Spain

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-20

Abstract: Scientific and business environment literature shows that green, sustainable innovation or eco-innovation has proven to be a source of competitive advantage today. The industrial clusters, their dynamism, and the synergies created within them attract a lot of attention from the scientific community. However, to date, the joint study of these two concepts and, more specifically, the factors that drive eco-innovation specifically in a cluster, have not been studied in depth. This article models eco-innovation in industrial clusters, thus addressing this gap and proposing a model based on information gathered from the literature and a detailed analysis of behavior in relation to eco-innovation in different sectors. Results suggest that including eco-innovation variables and measures may have positive implications such as improvements at the strategic level and the reduction of costs and use of resources. An eco-innovation model for clusters is proposed. It considers eight key factors that seek to raise its competitive level by promoting eco-innovation within clusters. The model includes five internal factors that analyze business capabilities and three external factors that study the effect of launching eco-innovative activities. This model could help the companies’ managers and those responsible for clusters in creating more successful strategies to increase competitiveness by enhancing eco-innovation. It could also serve as a guide for government entities in the performance of eco-innovative activities in economic sectors.

Keywords: cluster; competitiveness; eco-innovation; innovation; business performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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