Categorizing variables affecting the proactive environmental orientation of firms

Despite several authors having studied the strategic approach to environmental orientation and, considering that environmental proactivity is emerging in business strategy, it still remains unclear which real actions influence a firm's environmental orientation. An empirical analysis of a sample of 126 Spanish companies shows that firms' actions are explained as training, information and divulgation actions; firms goals are understood as actions to improve business competitiveness, and agents' implications and firms' management implications explain the environmental proactivity of firms, while obstacles with negative effects are also identified. This paper undertakes a questionnaire-based study of environmental proactivity to explain the relations among variables through a Structural Equation Modeling [EQS] model

Influence of the environmental, social and corporate governance ratings on the economic performance of companies: an overview

Over the past years there has been a significant growth in corporate reporting of environmental, social and corporate governance [ESG] factors. This study assesses whether ESG ratings are related to firm performance. Through a multivariate analysis we have confirmed differences between the ESG scores used to evaluate environmental, social and corporate governance factors of rated companies. We checked that although there is a significant correlation between them, companies do not rank equally and therefore their economic results might vary among the indicators. We found that selected US companies in the bottom 25% [Worst In Class, termed WIC] of their industries according to ESG scores perform significantly better than those in the top 25%, [Best In Class, termed BIC]. We also found that BIC companies have significant higher revenue per employee and cash flow per share compared the industry medians. Attending to these results, it seems that extreme strategies on ESG issues produce better economic results than those strategies that are in line with the industry

Impact of innovative practices in environmentally focused firms: moderating factors

Innovation and sustainable development have been considered fundamental elements in the competitive positioning of companies. The synergies between both concepts, known as eco-innovation, must be considered when designing company policies. The aim of this paper is to analyse which moderating factors determine how innovative companies perform when implementing a sustainable proactive approach. We analysed a representative sample of Spanish companies using a quantitative method based on data collected from the PITEC database. The empirical results show that company and market size, formal innovative activity [reflected by registered numbers of patents] as well as total expenditure on technology acquisition influence the eco-innovative orientation of firms