環境創新及其動機對企業成長的影響－歐盟中小企業的實證分析

The Effects of Eco-Innovation and Its Motivations on Firm Growth – an Empirical Analysis of EU SMEs

許多研究著重在環境創新與企業績效之間的關係。本研究首先探討歐盟中小企業是否能透過投資環境創新獲利，初步分析結果為肯定後，接著深入探討中小企業投資環境創新時的成長關鍵，將環境創新投資區分兩種動機：主動和被動。分析結果顯示，相較於被動的環境創新投資，主動的環境創新投資較有可能增加中小企業的獲利機會。此研究使用歐盟官方數據，此研究發現中小企業可透過投資環境創新獲益，尤其是在主動的情況下執行的環境創新投資。這項研究也證明環境創新是刺激綠色經濟成長的重要措施之一。

 

Much of the empirical research focuses on the relationship between eco-innovation and firm performance. This paper first investigates if it pays to be green in SMEs in the EU. While the result is positive, I then investigate the key of firms’ performance when investing in EI by differentiating between two types of EI motivation: proactive and reactive motivation. I scrutinise that proactively-motivated EI is more likely to be beneficial to SMEs than adopting EI due to reactive motivations. Based on a dataset of firms in the EU, I find that SMEs can get benefit from EI adoption, especially when the EI is proactively motivated. This study has also demonstrated that EI is one of the important measures to trigger green growth.