A Review of Eco-Innovations and Exports Interrelationship, with Special Reference to International Agrifood Supply Chains

María del Carmen Galera-Quiles, Laura Piedra-Muñoz, Emilio Galdeano-Gómez and Angel Carreño-Ortega
Additional contact information
María del Carmen Galera-Quiles: Foundation for Ancillary Technologies for Agriculture (TECNOVA), 04131 Almería, Spain
Laura Piedra-Muñoz: Department of Economics and Business, Mediterranean Research Center on Economics and Sustainable Development, CIMEDES, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence, ceiA3, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
Emilio Galdeano-Gómez: Department of Economics and Business, Mediterranean Research Center on Economics and Sustainable Development, CIMEDES, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence, ceiA3, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
Angel Carreño-Ortega: Department of Engineering, CIMEDES, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: Growing environmental awareness in recent years has led to greater efforts by companies and governments to promote eco-innovation, which is becoming an increasingly competitive factor in international supply chains. However, the interrelationships between exports and eco-innovation have not yet been studied in sufficient depth. As such, the purpose of this work is to analyze the influence that exists between these two variables, both at a business or micro level and at a country/region or macro level, and the most influential factors, such as country of origin and sector of activity, among others. To this end, 60 publications have been reviewed from 1996 to 2019 from a global perspective, to analyze the characteristics that define them and both the existing relationship and impact generated by the two variables being studied within international supply chains. The results show that, in general, there is a positive bidirectional relationship, influenced by several factors, such as social performance, environmental regulation, cooperation strategies, employment level, or business size. Additionally, there is a growing interest in this issue within the agrifood sector, as the benefits of an appropriate environmental policy based on innovation to promote exports are of great importance. Finally, a series of recommendations are made for future research that is able to serve scholars, companies and also policy makers.

Keywords: sustainable innovation; international supply chains; exports; literature review; agrifood sector (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1378/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1378/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:3:p:1378-:d:488867

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().