Environmental Innovation and Sustainability in Small Handicraft Businesses in Mexico

Patricia S. Sánchez-Medina, Jack Corbett and Arcelia Toledo-López
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Patricia S. Sánchez-Medina: CIIDIR, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Calle Hornos No. 1003, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, Oaxaca 71230, México
Jack Corbett: Portland State University, 1825 Southwest Broadway, Portland, OR 97201, USA
Arcelia Toledo-López: CIIDIR, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Calle Hornos No. 1003, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, Oaxaca 71230, México

Sustainability, 2011, vol. 3, issue 7, 1-19

Abstract: In this study, the relationship between environmental innovation and sustainability is analyzed in 168 handicraft businesses in the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Tlaxcala. The results show a direct, positive relationship between environmental innovation and sustainability in three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. In terms of determination, the variables that best explain sustainability are: organization type, product innovation, and process innovation. The age of the handicraft businesses was not a significant factor in explaining sustainability. This study concludes that handicraft businesses make sustainable choices more as a result of a desire for profit maximization than as a result of environmental consciousness, as can be explained by neoclassical view of economics.

Keywords: environmental innovation; sustainability; handicraft businesses (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:3:y:2011:i:7:p:984-1002:d:13165

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