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To combat concerns over the state of the natural environment, energy security and deteriorating air quality, the oil and gas sector needs to implement eco-innovations. Interest in eco-innovation is growing, as its implementation facilitates the transition toward sustainable development and a circular economy, while enabling firms to attain a competitive advantage vis-à-vis capabilities that foster sustainable economic and environmental development. However, literature on eco-innovation capabilities construct development, measurement and validation is scant. This study, therefore, develops an Eco-innovation Capabilities Scale for oil and gas firms.

Three dimensions of Eco-innovation Capabilities are identified through an extensive literature review and qualitative interviews. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis is applied to data collected from managers of Malaysian Oil and Gas Services and Equipment (OGSE) companies.

Results reveal a parsimonious three-dimensional structure with nine items. The construct of eco-innovation capabilities is manifested by Product Service Stewardship, Environmental Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Development Commitment dimensions. Reliability analysis confirms the reliability and validity of the scale.

The eco-innovation capabilities scale should be useful to researchers in exploring dimensions, factors and outcomes of eco-innovation capabilities. Oil and gas firms play a key role in the global energy mix; hence managers of oil and gas firms may also find this scale useful in measuring their eco-innovation implementation.

This chapter proposes frugal eco-innovation as an eco-efficient way into which firms might shift their existing business models, exploring how firms are able to cut costs and reduce negative environmental impacts simultaneously.

This work introduces the concept of frugal eco-innovation based on numerous examples about how several European companies are adopting this management perspective. These examples are obtained from these companies’ public environmental reports.

A summary of how cost reduction could be achieved by firms on the basis of frugal eco-innovation; further, the pathway for how managers could achieve an effective implementation of frugal eco-innovation.

By developing frugal eco-innovation, managers are able to benefit from a management alternative that is ecologically sustainable and economically profitable.

This work highlights how frugal eco-innovation could benefit, on the one hand, firms via the achievement of cost reduction and, on the other hand, the society in general via the diminution of the negative environmental impacts generated by the business activity.

This work analyses a management orientation that could be implemented in order to shift business models towards a more ecological production, highlighting how firms are able to do more with less.

The presentation of the specificities inherent in the adoption of the cooperation practices for the eco-innovation development is sometimes fragmented and superficial in the literature. So, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how the literature has studied the association between interorganizational cooperation and the development of eco-innovation, for the developing a framework with the different faces of this connection.

To achieve the proposed objective, the authors conducted a literature review through the Web of Science database. The selected manuscripts were analyzed from the following categories: Why to cooperate?, What is cooperation?, How to cooperate?, Who to cooperate with?, How much is it worth to cooperate?, Where does cooperation take place?, When to cooperate?, and So what?.

Given the proposed objective, as a general aspect highlighted, the analyzed articles revealed that interorganizational cooperation has been presented as relevant for the development of eco-innovations. Thus, cooperation on their different faces allows companies to overcome resource constraints, even partially, while facilitating the development of different types of ecological innovations as costs and risks are reduced.

The theoretical contribution is expected to be the proposition of a framework capable of systematizing several specificities, including the antecedents and motivations, definitions and cooperation types, cooperation partners, important conditions that highlight how much cooperation is worth, where and when cooperation occurs and, finally, the main insights of this association, to guide future studies.

Circular economy is emerging as a new sustainability paradigm. Similarly, eco-innovation is being recognized as one of the most important mechanisms that allow the transition from a linear to a circular economy in production processes, as there is a strong relationship between eco-innovation (eco-innovation of products, processes and management) and circular economy activities. However, the relationship between eco-innovation and circular economy is an issue that has been isolated and little analyzed in the academic literature. Therefore, this research fills this gap by exploring the interdependence between eco-innovation and circular economy.

The research is conducted through an extensive literature review from where a research framework consisting of two measurement scales, 18 items and three hypotheses were developed. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed and 460 responses were obtained from companies in the automotive and auto parts industry in Mexico. The data obtained were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling.

The results suggest that eco-innovation of products, process and management has a significant positive impact on the circular economy of companies in the automotive and auto parts industry.

The findings of this research can inform managers in the automotive sector and policymakers when formulating and deploying environmentally sustainable strategies.

This paper fills a research gap by expanding the limited body of knowledge that relates eco-innovation and circular economy and providing some evidence of their relationship. The research also allows the unique characteristics of eco-innovation and the circular economy to be understood within a particular context, growing in this manner the body of knowledge on this field.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of eco-innovation type and its degree of novelty in increasing the stock returns of technology-based knowledge-intensive business service companies (T-KIBS), to advance the development of the concept of eco-innovation within the literature on the effects of innovation.

The effects of four eco-innovation types were examined across three degrees of novelty involved. The event study methodology was applied to the sample of 238 eco-innovation announcements released during the period of January 2016–June 2019 (inclusive) by European T-KIBS.

While the implementation of product and organisational eco-innovation was the most beneficial, the results indicated that a high degree of novelty resulted in larger increase of stock returns in the case of all the four eco-innovation types.

The eco-innovation announcements were gathered from specialised databases. However, it could be the case that companies may have used different communication channels (e.g. social media) to communicate innovation. Furthermore, a certain amount of bias undoubtedly exists, as the data came only from the European Union. Expanding the spatial scope to include the North American (especially the USA) and Asian economies appears necessary.

The practical insights into the role that the degree of novelty plays in eco-innovation announcements were formulated, which may be used to increase the market valuation of the firm.

Strategies supporting eco-innovation are crucial for business development as the value created for the stakeholders involved transmits in time into the enterprise value.

The paper attempts to fill the research gap concerning the impact of eco-innovation on the stock returns of T-KIBS.

Despite the rising interest in eco-innovation, few studies have examined how open innovation (OI) actually increases eco-innovation performance. Drawing on capabilities theory, this study aims to investigate how two specific organizational capabilities (alliance management capability and absorptive capacity) individually complement OI strategies (inbound and outbound) to increase eco-innovation performance, while taking into consideration high and low levels of environmental uncertainty.

To test the hypotheses, the authors used a primary survey and secondary proxy data sources from 232 Taiwan-based manufacturing firms. The authors collected survey data for measuring OI strategies, followed by secondary proxy data for measuring alliance management capability, absorptive capacity, environmental uncertainty and eco-innovation performance.

The results indicate that in highly dynamic environments, alliance management capability complements inbound/outbound strategies to increase eco-innovation performance. However, absorptive capacity complements only inbound strategies, not outbound strategies.

These findings have important implications for managers attempting to increase eco-innovation performance by using OI in dynamic environments.

The findings provide new evidence that configurations of OI alone are not enough for increasing eco-innovation performance. Instead, firms’ eco-innovation benefits more when OI are complemented by alliance management capability.

This study makes an original contribution to the eco-innovation literature by demonstrating how organizational capabilities complement OI to increase eco-innovation performance in dynamic environments.

Drawing on the literature of eco-innovation and institutional theory, this research aims to answer two fundamental questions: Does eco-innovation improve or harm firm value in emerging markets? and How institutional environments moderate the relationship between eco-innovation and firm value? We explicate the regulatory, normative and cognitive pillars of institutions, manifested as regulation intensity, environmental agency pressure and public pressure, respectively.

For this study, a cross-sectional panel data set was assembled from multiple archival sources, including data coded from the corporate annual reports and social responsibility reports, statistical yearbooks, China Stock Market Financial Database (CSMAR) and other secondary sources. A hierarchical regression method was used to test the hypotheses. The data comprised 88 firms sampled over four years. The model using feasible generalized least squares (FGLSs) to control heteroscedasticity in errors due to unobserved heterogeneity was estimated.

Empirical findings from a data set compiled from multiple archival sources reveal that both eco-product and eco-process innovation negatively relate to firm value. The interactions between eco-innovation and regulation intensity, environmental agency pressure and public pressure are positively related to firm value.

First, this study extends the literature of eco-innovation by investigating the impact of eco-innovation on firm value. Contrary to the conventional anecdotal evidence of the beneficial effect of eco-innovation, it was found that eco-innovation relates negatively to firm value. Second, this study develops and tests an institutional contingent view of eco-innovation by accounting for the moderating role of regulatory, normative and cognitive pressures.

Eco-innovation is a relatively recent construct in the literature, which nowadays more and more researchers and academics consider as one of the strategies that generate a higher level of sustainable and business performance. However, little is known about the influence of eco-innovation practices on sustainable performance and business performance, particularly in the automotive and auto parts industry. Therefore, this paper aims to fill this knowledge gap and explore the aforementioned interdependence.

The influence of eco-innovation practices on sustainable performance and business performance is investigated through a research framework consisting of 5 constructs, 25 items and 6 hypotheses derived from an extensive review of the literature. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 460 companies in the automotive and auto parts industry in Mexico. The data were analyzed through a confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling.

The results obtained indicated that eco-innovation practices have a positive influence on both sustainable performance and business performance in the automotive and auto parts industry.

This paper provides further insightful evidence of the influence of eco-innovation practices on sustainable performance and business performance, particularly in the automotive and auto parts industry.

Firms need to develop absorptive capacities to effectively source and exploit knowledge relevant to environmental behaviour for their own innovation activity. Business-to-business interactions can represent a significant route through which knowledge and resources about environmental innovations are transferred along the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to explore how firms exploit business partnerships in order to build capacity for environmental innovation. In order to do so, it investigates two elements of B2B interactions – partner alignment and compatibility – and their influence on absorptive capacity-building.

This paper is based on a qualitative interview study of knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) operating in the environmental goods and services sector and their clients involved in adopting environmental innovations. Matched pairs of engineering consulting firms and their clients – tourism accommodation establishments – were selected as a sampling frame in order to study the influence of partner alignment and compatibility on the exchange of environmentally relevant knowledge and competencies.

The findings show that the synergistic attributes of business partners influence absorptive capacity-building and give rise to different patterns of interaction of KIBS with their client. The B2B interactions investigated are characterised by alignment along multiple objectives about the relevance of environmental behaviour. Furthermore, the compatibility of the partners’ competences is a key determinant of environmental innovation outcome.

The study highlights the role of managers in identifying and selecting those business partnerships that accrue greater potential benefit for accessing resources and competencies for eco-innovation.

The study contributes to the literature on absorptive capacity and innovation by demonstrating how B2B interactions – in this study, the interaction of KIBS with their clients – influence the capacity of firms to adopt environmental innovations which is an area of study that deserves further attention.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of successful eco-innovation processes, using R&D intensity and green patents as metrics for eco-innovation measurement and analysis.

The paper reports the results of a quantitative study based on a sample of 2,218 firms with proactive profiles in eco-innovation, 249 of which have green patents registered in Spain or in the European Union.

The results suggest positive relationships between the activity of eco-innovation of firms with both the innovation activity in firms and the R&D intensity. The findings also confirm the influence of implementing innovation in the financial performance of business.

The results will be useful for future studies on the subject and for practitioners making decisions on investments in collaborative R&D and its protection through industrial property in the form of green patents. The main determinants of eco-innovation analysed in this paper can be directly translated into practices because they provide information on how to strengthen these determinants in environmental R&D investments and the registration of green patents.

The results will be useful for future studies on the subject and for practitioners making decisions on investments in collaborative R&D and its protection through industrial property in the form of green patents. The main determinants of eco-innovation analysed in this paper can be directly translated into practices because they provide information on how to strengthen these determinants in environmental R&D investments and the registration of green patents.

Despite the popularity and potential impact of the eco-innovation on economy or society, it has fallen short in terms of its potential to improve financial performance in firms. This paper argues that the level of eco-innovation activity explains some variability in financial performance. In fact, those firms that have greater levels of innovation increase their performance.

Explorar los determinantes del éxito de los procesos de ecoinnovación, utilizando la intensidad de I + D y las patentes verdes como indicadores para la medición y el análisis de la ecoinnovación.

Se analizan y presentan los resultados de una investigación cuantitativa basada en una muestra de 2218 empresas con perfiles proactivos en ecoinnovación, de las cuales 249 tienen patentes verdes registradas en España o en la Unión Europea.

Los resultados sugieren relaciones positivas entre la actividad de ecoinnovación de las empresas con su actividad de innovación y la intensidad de la I + D. Los resultados también confirman los efectos que la implementación de innovaciones tiene sobre el desempeño financiero de las empresas.

La medición de la ecoinnovación es incluso más compleja que la medición de la innovación debido a sus aspectos ambientales intrínsecos. Se podría alcanzar una evaluación más profunda con un mayor número de variables y una muestra más grande.

Los resultados serán útiles para futuros estudios sobre el tema y para los profesionales que toman decisiones sobre inversiones en investigación y desarrollo en colaboración y su protección a través de la propiedad industrial en forma de patentes verdes. Los principales determinantes de la ecoinnovación analizados en este estudio pueden traducirse directamente a las prácticas, ya que proporcionan información sobre cómo fortalecer estos determinantes en las inversiones en I + D ambiental y el registro de patentes verdes.

A pesar de la popularidad y el impacto potencial de la ecoinnovación en la economía o la sociedad, se ha quedado corto en cuanto a su potencial para mejorar el desempeño financiero de las empresas. Este estudio sostiene que el nivel de actividad de ecoinnovación explica cierta variabilidad en el desempeño financiero. De hecho, aquellas empresas que tienen mayores niveles de innovación aumentan su desempeño.