Backing environmental innovations through information technology adoption. Empirical analyses of innovation-related complementarity in firms
Abstract
The paper tests empirically whether various types of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) adoption and other innovation practices (techno-organisational change and training courses) are complementary inputs with respect to the adoption of specific environmental innovations (EI). The analysis is based on original survey data for a large industrial Italian region (Emilia-Romagna), which offer various views on ICT and EI relationships. This survey contains information on the adoption of environmental innovations and some detailed information on ICT issues and other technological-organisational processes. Our main findings suggest that, overall, complementarity does not seem to characterize the relationship between ICT and other innova-tion processes as a force behind environmental innovation, but some important exceptions emerge. Complementarities exists, for instance, between technological innovation and both adoption of ICT management systems and ICT for cooperation with clients. Interestingly, restricting the analysis to a sub-sample of more polluting firm, both complementarity and substitutability emerge more evidently.
First published online 14 April 2016
Keyword : ICT, environmental innovations, complementarity, organisational change, innovation adoption, firm based data
How to Cite
Antonioli, D., Gilli, M., Mazzanti, M., & Nicolli, F. (2018). Backing environmental innovations through information technology adoption. Empirical analyses of innovation-related complementarity in firms. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 24(1), 141-163. https://doi.org/10.3846/20294913.2015.1124151
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Consoli, D.; Rentocchini, F. 2014. A taxonomy of multi-industry labour force skills, Research Policy 44(5): 1116–1132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2014.12.005
Costantini, V.; Mazzanti, M. 2012. On the green and innovative side of trade competitiveness? The impact of environmental policies and innovation on EU exports, Research Policy 41(1): 132–153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.08.004
De Marchi, V. 2012. Environmental Innovation and R&D cooperation: empirical evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms, Research Policy 41(3): 614–623. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.10.002
Del Rio Gonzalez, P. 2009. The empirical analysis of the determinants for environmental technological change: a research agenda, Ecological Economics 68(3): 861–878. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.07.004
Díaz-Chao, Á.; Sainz-González, J.; Torrent-Sellens, J. 2015. ICT, innovation, and firm productivity: new evidence from small local firms, Journal of Business Research 68(7): 1439–1444. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.01.030
EEA. 2015. Assessment of global megatrends – an update. Global megatrend 4: accelerating technological change. EEA, Copenhagen.
EMAS. 2009. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council No.1221/2009 on the voluntary participation by organization in a Community eco-management and audit scheme.
Frey, M.; Iraldo, F.; Testa, F. 2011. The determinants of eco innovation in green supply chains: evidence form an Italian sectoral study, Working Paper n. 03/2011. Istituto di Management – Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa.
Frondel, M.; Horbach, J.; Rennings, K. 2004. End-of-pipe or cleaner production? An empirical comparison of environmental innovation decisions across OECD countries. Discussion Paper No. 04-82, Centre for European Economic Research.
Gilli, M.; Mancinelli, S.; Mazzanti, M. 2014. Innovation complementarity and environmental productivity effects: reality or delusion? Evidence from the EU, Ecological Economics 103: 56–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.04.004
Hall, B.; Lotti, F.; Mairesse, J. 2009. Innovation and productivity in SMEs: empirical evidence for Italy, Small Business Economics 33(1): 13–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11187-009-9184-8
Hall, B.; Lotti, F.; Mairesse, J. 2013. Evidence on the impact of R&D and ICT investment on innovation and productivity in Italian firms, Economics of Innovation and New Technology 22(3): 300–328. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10438599.2012.708134
Horbach, J.; Rennings, K. 2012. Environmental innovation and employment dynamics in different technology fields: an analysis based on the German community innovation survey 2009. Discussion Paper 12-006, Centre for European Economic Research.
Horbach, J. 2008. Determinants of environmental innovation – new evidence from German panel data sources, Research Policy 37(1): 163–173. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2007.08.006
ISO 14001:2015. Environmental Management Systems. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Jaffe, A.; Palmer, K. 1997. Environmental regulation and innovation: a panel study, The Review of Economics and Statistics 79(4): 610–619. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/003465397557196
Jaffe, A. B.; Newell, R. G.; Stavins, R. N. 2002. Environmental policy and technological change, Environmental and Resource Economics 22(1): 41–69. . http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1015519401088
Johnstone, N.; Haščič, I.; Poirier, J.; Hemar, M.; Michel, C. 2012. Environmental policy stringency and technological innovation: evidence from survey data and patent counts, Applied Economics 44(17): 2157–2170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2011.560110
Kemp, R. 2010. Eco-innovation: definition, measurement and open research issues, Economia Politica 27(3): 397–420.
Malerba, F.; Orsenigo, L. 1997. Technological regimes and sectorial patterns of innovative activities, Industrial and Corporate Change 6(1): 83–117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icc/6.1.83
Malerba, F. (Ed.) 2004. Sectoral systems of innovation: concept; issues and analysis of six major sectors in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511493270
Mancinelli, S.; Mazzanti, M. 2009. Innovation, networking activities and complementarity empirical evidence on SME performances for a local economic system in Northern Italy, Annals of Regional Sciences 43(3): 567–597. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00168-008-0255-6
Mazzanti, M.; Zoboli, R. 2008. Complementarity, firm strategies and environmental innovations, Environmental Sciences 5(1): 17–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15693430701859638
Mazzanti, M.; Zoboli, R. 2009. Embedding environmental innovations in local production systems: SME strategies, networking and industrial relations, International Review of Applied Economics 23(2): 169–195. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02692170802700500
Milgrom, P.; Roberts, J. 1995. Complementarities and fit strategy, structure, and organizational change in manufacturing, Journal of Accounting and Economics 192(3): 179–208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0165-4101(94)00382-F
Miravete, E.; Pernìas, J. 2006. Innovation complementarities and scale of production, Journal of Industrial Economics 54(1): 1–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6451.2006.00273.x
Mohnen, P.; Röller, L. 2005. Complementarities in innovation policy, European Economic Review 46(6): 1431–1450. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2003.12.003
Montresor, S.; Vittucci Marzetti, G. 2011. The deindustrialisation/tertiarisation hypothesis reconsidered: a subsystem application to the OECD, Cambridge Journal of Economics 35(2): 401–421. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cje/beq009
OECD. 2009. Measuring the relationship between ICT and the environment. Digital economy paper n. 162. OECD, Paris.
Pavitt, K. 1984 Sectoral patterns of technical change: towards a taxonomy and a theory, Research Policy 13(6): 343–373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0048-7333(84)90018-0
Peneder, M. 2010. Technological regimes and the variety of innovation behaviour: creating integrated taxonomies of firms and sectors, Research Policy 39(3): 323–334. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2010.01.010
Rehfeld, K. M.; Rennings, K.; Ziegler, A. 2007. Integrated product policy and environmental product innovations: an empirical analysis, Ecological Economics 61(1): 91–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.02.003
Rennings, K.; Rexhauser, S. 2010. Snowball effects and time lags of regulation on innovation – cumulative impacts of environmental policy phases on companies’ eco-innovative activities, in The World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists, 28 June – 2 July 2010, Montreal.
Rennings, K.; Ziegler, A.; Ankele, K.; Hoffmann, E.; Nill, J. 2006. The influence of different characteristics of the EU environmental management and auditing scheme on technical environmental innovations and economic performance, Ecological Economics 57(1): 45–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.03.013
Roberts, J. 2006. The modern firm: organizational design for performance and growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roper, S.; Du, J.; Love, J. H. 2008. Modelling the innovation value chain, Research Policy 37(6): 961–977. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2008.04.005
Triguero, A.; Moreno-Mondejar, L.; Davia, M. A. 2013. Drivers of different types of eco-innovation in European SMEs, Ecological Economics 92: 25–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.04.009
Veugelers, R. 2012. Which policy instrument to induce clean innovating?, Research Policy 41(10): 1770–1778. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.06.012
Wagner, M. 2008. Empirical influence of environmental management on innovation: evidence from Europe, Ecological Economics 66(2–3): 392–402. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.10.001
Ziegler, A.; Rennings, K. 2004. Determinants of environmental innovations in Germany: do organizational measures matter? A discrete choice analysis at the firm level. Discussion Paper 04.03, Centre for European Economic Research.
Antonioli, D.; Mancinelli, S.; Mazzanti, M. 2013. Are Environmental Innovations embedded within organizational change?, Research Policy 42(4): 975–988. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.12.005
Berkhout, F.; Hertin, J. 2004. De-materialising and re-materialising: digital technologies and the environment, Futures 36(8): 903–920. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2004.01.003
Borghesi, S.; Cainelli, G.; Mazzanti, M. 2012. Brown sunsets and green dawns in the industrial sector. Nota di lavoro n. 2012.003, FEEM, Milan.
Borghesi, S.; Cainelli, G.; Mazzanti, M. 2015. Linking emission trading to environmental innovation: evidence from the Italian manufacturing industry, Research Policy 44(3): 669–683. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2014.10.014
Bresnahan, T. F.; Trajtenberg, M. 1995. General purpose technologies “Engines of growth”?, Journal of Econometrics 65(1): 83–108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0304-4076(94)01598-T
Brunnermeier, S. B.; Cohen, M. A. 2003. Determinants of environmental innovation in US manufacturing industries, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 45(2): 278–293. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0095-0696(02)00058-X
Cainelli, G.; Mazzanti, M.; Montresor, S. 2012. Environmental innovations, internationalization and local factors, Industry and Innovation 19(8): 697–734. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2012.739782
Cecere, G.; Corrocher, N.; Gossart, C.; Ozman, M. 2012. Patterns of Innovation in green ICT: a patent based analysis [online], [cited 30 November 2013]. Available from Internet: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2117831
Cleff, T.; Rennings, K. 1999. Determinants of environmental product and process innovation, European Environment 9(5): 191–201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0976(199909/10)9:5<191::AID-EET201>3.0.CO;2-M
Consoli, D.; Rentocchini, F. 2014. A taxonomy of multi-industry labour force skills, Research Policy 44(5): 1116–1132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2014.12.005
Costantini, V.; Mazzanti, M. 2012. On the green and innovative side of trade competitiveness? The impact of environmental policies and innovation on EU exports, Research Policy 41(1): 132–153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.08.004
De Marchi, V. 2012. Environmental Innovation and R&D cooperation: empirical evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms, Research Policy 41(3): 614–623. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.10.002
Del Rio Gonzalez, P. 2009. The empirical analysis of the determinants for environmental technological change: a research agenda, Ecological Economics 68(3): 861–878. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.07.004
Díaz-Chao, Á.; Sainz-González, J.; Torrent-Sellens, J. 2015. ICT, innovation, and firm productivity: new evidence from small local firms, Journal of Business Research 68(7): 1439–1444. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.01.030
EEA. 2015. Assessment of global megatrends – an update. Global megatrend 4: accelerating technological change. EEA, Copenhagen.
EMAS. 2009. Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council No.1221/2009 on the voluntary participation by organization in a Community eco-management and audit scheme.
Frey, M.; Iraldo, F.; Testa, F. 2011. The determinants of eco innovation in green supply chains: evidence form an Italian sectoral study, Working Paper n. 03/2011. Istituto di Management – Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa.
Frondel, M.; Horbach, J.; Rennings, K. 2004. End-of-pipe or cleaner production? An empirical comparison of environmental innovation decisions across OECD countries. Discussion Paper No. 04-82, Centre for European Economic Research.
Gilli, M.; Mancinelli, S.; Mazzanti, M. 2014. Innovation complementarity and environmental productivity effects: reality or delusion? Evidence from the EU, Ecological Economics 103: 56–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.04.004
Hall, B.; Lotti, F.; Mairesse, J. 2009. Innovation and productivity in SMEs: empirical evidence for Italy, Small Business Economics 33(1): 13–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11187-009-9184-8
Hall, B.; Lotti, F.; Mairesse, J. 2013. Evidence on the impact of R&D and ICT investment on innovation and productivity in Italian firms, Economics of Innovation and New Technology 22(3): 300–328. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10438599.2012.708134
Horbach, J.; Rennings, K. 2012. Environmental innovation and employment dynamics in different technology fields: an analysis based on the German community innovation survey 2009. Discussion Paper 12-006, Centre for European Economic Research.
Horbach, J. 2008. Determinants of environmental innovation – new evidence from German panel data sources, Research Policy 37(1): 163–173. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2007.08.006
ISO 14001:2015. Environmental Management Systems. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Jaffe, A.; Palmer, K. 1997. Environmental regulation and innovation: a panel study, The Review of Economics and Statistics 79(4): 610–619. http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/003465397557196
Jaffe, A. B.; Newell, R. G.; Stavins, R. N. 2002. Environmental policy and technological change, Environmental and Resource Economics 22(1): 41–69. . http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1015519401088
Johnstone, N.; Haščič, I.; Poirier, J.; Hemar, M.; Michel, C. 2012. Environmental policy stringency and technological innovation: evidence from survey data and patent counts, Applied Economics 44(17): 2157–2170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2011.560110
Kemp, R. 2010. Eco-innovation: definition, measurement and open research issues, Economia Politica 27(3): 397–420.
Malerba, F.; Orsenigo, L. 1997. Technological regimes and sectorial patterns of innovative activities, Industrial and Corporate Change 6(1): 83–117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icc/6.1.83
Malerba, F. (Ed.) 2004. Sectoral systems of innovation: concept; issues and analysis of six major sectors in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511493270
Mancinelli, S.; Mazzanti, M. 2009. Innovation, networking activities and complementarity empirical evidence on SME performances for a local economic system in Northern Italy, Annals of Regional Sciences 43(3): 567–597. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00168-008-0255-6
Mazzanti, M.; Zoboli, R. 2008. Complementarity, firm strategies and environmental innovations, Environmental Sciences 5(1): 17–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15693430701859638
Mazzanti, M.; Zoboli, R. 2009. Embedding environmental innovations in local production systems: SME strategies, networking and industrial relations, International Review of Applied Economics 23(2): 169–195. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02692170802700500
Milgrom, P.; Roberts, J. 1995. Complementarities and fit strategy, structure, and organizational change in manufacturing, Journal of Accounting and Economics 192(3): 179–208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0165-4101(94)00382-F
Miravete, E.; Pernìas, J. 2006. Innovation complementarities and scale of production, Journal of Industrial Economics 54(1): 1–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6451.2006.00273.x
Mohnen, P.; Röller, L. 2005. Complementarities in innovation policy, European Economic Review 46(6): 1431–1450. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2003.12.003
Montresor, S.; Vittucci Marzetti, G. 2011. The deindustrialisation/tertiarisation hypothesis reconsidered: a subsystem application to the OECD, Cambridge Journal of Economics 35(2): 401–421. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cje/beq009
OECD. 2009. Measuring the relationship between ICT and the environment. Digital economy paper n. 162. OECD, Paris.
Pavitt, K. 1984 Sectoral patterns of technical change: towards a taxonomy and a theory, Research Policy 13(6): 343–373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0048-7333(84)90018-0
Peneder, M. 2010. Technological regimes and the variety of innovation behaviour: creating integrated taxonomies of firms and sectors, Research Policy 39(3): 323–334. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2010.01.010
Rehfeld, K. M.; Rennings, K.; Ziegler, A. 2007. Integrated product policy and environmental product innovations: an empirical analysis, Ecological Economics 61(1): 91–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2006.02.003
Rennings, K.; Rexhauser, S. 2010. Snowball effects and time lags of regulation on innovation – cumulative impacts of environmental policy phases on companies’ eco-innovative activities, in The World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists, 28 June – 2 July 2010, Montreal.
Rennings, K.; Ziegler, A.; Ankele, K.; Hoffmann, E.; Nill, J. 2006. The influence of different characteristics of the EU environmental management and auditing scheme on technical environmental innovations and economic performance, Ecological Economics 57(1): 45–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2005.03.013
Roberts, J. 2006. The modern firm: organizational design for performance and growth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roper, S.; Du, J.; Love, J. H. 2008. Modelling the innovation value chain, Research Policy 37(6): 961–977. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2008.04.005
Triguero, A.; Moreno-Mondejar, L.; Davia, M. A. 2013. Drivers of different types of eco-innovation in European SMEs, Ecological Economics 92: 25–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.04.009
Veugelers, R. 2012. Which policy instrument to induce clean innovating?, Research Policy 41(10): 1770–1778. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.06.012
Wagner, M. 2008. Empirical influence of environmental management on innovation: evidence from Europe, Ecological Economics 66(2–3): 392–402. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.10.001
Ziegler, A.; Rennings, K. 2004. Determinants of environmental innovations in Germany: do organizational measures matter? A discrete choice analysis at the firm level. Discussion Paper 04.03, Centre for European Economic Research.