Environmental practices and innovation performance of US small and medium-sized manufacturers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the adoption of environmental management and collaboration practices by US small and medium-sized manufacturers and explore whether there are discernible differences in product and process innovation that can be explained by differences in their ado...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of manufacturing technology management 2015-04, Vol.26 (3), p.333-348
Main Authors: Theyel, Gregory, Hofmann, Kay H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advanced manufacturing technologies
Collaboration
Competition
Customers
Design engineering
Employees
Environment management
Environmental impact
Environmental management
Environmental performance
Hypotheses
Innovation
Innovations
Inventory control
Management
Management science & operations
Manufacturers
Manufacturing
Methodology
Operations/process management
Regression analysis
Researchers
Small & medium sized enterprises-SME
Statistics
Suppliers
Supply chains
Sustainable development
Technology management/strategy
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Description
Summary:Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the adoption of environmental management and collaboration practices by US small and medium-sized manufacturers and explore whether there are discernible differences in product and process innovation that can be explained by differences in their adoption. Design/methodology/approach – This research uses descriptive statistics and probit regression analysis of survey data from 295 small and medium-sized US manufacturers in seven industries. Findings – There are significant industrial sector differences in the adoption of environmental management and collaboration practices, larger and older companies are more advanced in their adoption of these practices, and companies adopting these practices are outperforming their competitors in terms of product and process innovation. Originality/value – This research assesses US industry sector differences among small and medium-sized manufacturers in the adoption of environmental management and collaboration practices and differences in product and process innovation linked to this adoption.
ISSN:1741-038X
1758-7786
DOI:10.1108/JMTM-07-2012-0070