摘要
生态创新因具有"双重正外部性"而得到实践界和理论界的双重青睐,与此形成鲜明对照的是,现有研究对生态创新概念的适用层次、理论定位、内涵与测量等基本理论问题的理解模糊而缺乏一致性。回顾了企业社会责任、环境管理和创新管理三大领域的相关研究成果,辨析了企业生态创新的内涵特征与外延,进一步梳理了企业生态创新的维度划分与测量,对企业生态创新的未来研究给出了展望。
Eco-innovation is characterized by the double positive externalities （knowledge and environmental spillovers）, and as such concern towards it and its importance have grown in both practice and academia over the past two decades. In contrast, extant literature has shown a vague and inconsistent understanding about the applicable analysis level, theoretical position, definition and measurement of eco-innovation. This treatment has limited the concept of eco-innovation, and impeded its use, diffusion and theoretical development. It is the aim of this paper to fill this gap by （1） focusing on eco-innovation from a firm level, （2） reviewing relevant research from three organizational study fields （i.e., corporate social responsibility, environmental management and innovation management）, （3） providing an integrated definition and identifying the unique characteristics of eco-innovation, （4） reviewing the dimensions and measurement of eco-innovation, and （5） presenting recommendations for future research. The main conclusions of this paper are presented below. First, corporate eco-innovation is a crossing field among corporate social responsibility （CSR）, environmental management and innovation management. Therefore, eco-innovation can be viewed as a kind of environmental responsibility according to the CSR perspective, which emphasizes that firms should be responsible for the negative influence of their conduct on society. Eco-innovation can also be viewed as an environmental strategy from an environmental management perspective, which places the emphasis on how firms integrate environmental issues into corporate strategy by product, process and management innovation. Furthermore, eco-innovation can be viewed as one type of innovation according to the innovation management perspective, where the emphasis is on how to more effectively implement eco-innovation. It is clear that the CSR perspective pays greater attention to the objectives and consequences of eco-innovation, while the environmental and innovation management perspectives are concerned more about the content and process of eco-innovation.Second, eco-innovation has four unique characteristics according to the three organizational research fields described above： （1） corporate eco-innovation has the double externality problem, because it not only has knowledge spillover but also reduces environmental negative influence; （2） the objective of eco-innovation is to offer both environmental protection and economic return; （3） the content of eco-innovation is both diverse and dynamic, and changes with time and space; and （4） the R＆D process of eco-innovation is systematic and complex and requires external cooperation （from suppliers and clients） and internal cross-functional collaboration because eco-innovation demands diversified knowledge and life circle analyses of environmental influence.Third, eco-innovation can be divided into different dimensions based on various criteria. More specifically, some divide eco-innovation into incremental and radical eco-innovation according to the magnitude of eco-innovation and others reduce eco-innovation into eco-product innovation, eco-service eco-innovation, eco-process innovation and eco-business model innovation based on the form of eco-innovation. In contrast, some categorize eco-innovation as add-on eco-innovation, integrated eco-innovation, alternative product eco-innovation, macro-organizational eco-innovation or general-purpose eco-innovation according to the degree of integration of eco-innovation and corporate core business.The diversity of dimensions results in inconsistencies in the measurement of eco-innovation. Generally speaking, there are two eco-innovation measurement methods. One method measures eco-innovation from an input perspective, which generally uses R＆D spending and environmental fees as the proxy of eco-innovation; the other method measures eco-innovation from an output perspective, and generally uses environmental patents, new environmental product sales or eco-efficiency improvements as an eco-innovation proxy.In short, this paper attempts to provide a solid foundation for corporate eco-innovation research by the review and clarification of the basic theoretical issues of eco-innovation as given above. This paper also provides specific directions for future research, recommending further systematic studies on antecedents, and the process and consequences of corporate eco-innovation with the context of emerging economic countries such as China.
出处
《生态学报》
CAS
CSCD
北大核心
2014年第22期6440-6449,共10页
Acta Ecologica Sinica
基金
国家自然科学基金项目(71072112
71202173)
关键词
生态创新
环保创新
绿色创新
研究脉络
内涵澄清
测量
eco-innovation
environmental innovation
green innovation
theoretical veins
concept clarification
measurement
