Environmental policy without costs? A review of the Porter hypothesis

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature connected to the so called Porter Hypothesis. That is, to review the literature connected to the discussion about the relation between environmental policy and competitiveness. According to the conventional wisdom environmental policy, aiming for improving the environment through for example emission reductions, do imply costs since scarce resources must be diverted from somewhere else. However, this conventional wisdom has been challenged and questioned recently through what has been denoted the “Porter hypothesis”. Those in the forefront of the Porter hypothesis challenge the conventional wisdom basically on the ground that resources are used inefficiently in the absence of the right kind of environmental regulations, and that the conventional neo-classical view is too static to take inefficiencies into account. The conclusions that can be made from this review is (1) that the theoretical literature can identify the circumstances and mechanisms that must exist for a Porter effect to occur, (2) that these circumstances are rather non-general, hence rejecting the Porter hypothesis in general, (3) that the empirical literature give no general support for the Porter hypothesis. Furthermore, a closer look at the “Swedish case” reveals no support for the Porter hypothesis in spite of the fact that Swedish environmental policy the last 15-20 years seems to be in line the prerequisites stated by the Porter hypothesis concerning environmental policy.Environmental policy; Costs; Porter hypothesis

Environmental policy without costs? A review of the Porter hypothesis

This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature connected to the so called Porter Hypothesis. That is, to review the literature connected to the discussion about the relation between environmental policy and competitiveness. According to the conventional wisdom environmental policy, aiming for improving the environment through for example emission reductions, do imply costs since scarce resources must be diverted from somewhere else. However, this conventional wisdom has been challenged and questioned recently through what has been denoted the “Porter hypothesis”. Those in the forefront of the Porter hypothesis challenge the conventional wisdom basically on the ground that resources are used inefficiently in the absence of the right kind of environmental regulations, and that the conventional neo-classical view is too static to take inefficiencies into account. The conclusions that can be made from this review is (1) that the theoretical literature can identify the circumstances and mechanisms that must exist for a Porter effect to occur, (2) that these circumstances are rather non-general, hence rejecting the Porter hypothesis in general, (3) that the empirical literature give no general support for the Porter hypothesis. Furthermore, a closer look at the “Swedish case” reveals no support for the Porter hypothesis in spite of the fact that Swedish environmental policy the last 15-20 years seems to be in line the prerequisites stated by the Porter hypothesis concerning environmental policy.Environmental policy; the Porter hypothesis; productivity; profitability

In search of the drivers of high growth in manufacturing SMEs

Though considerable attention in the extant literature has been devoted to growth and performance of firms, there is a dearth of research on high growth firms. Furthermore, the majority of literature in this area focuses on large firms while research on high growth small firms is underdeveloped. This paper investigates the drivers of high growth in manufacturing SMEs. Following a number of focus group interviews with six managing directors of manufacturing firms, a number of drivers of high growth were identified and investigated in a sample of 207 manufacturing SMEs. The results of this study indicate that high growth firms place a greater emphasis on external drivers such as strategic orientation, their operating environment and the use of e-commerce compared with firms having static or declining sales. The analysis shows that high growth firms compete largely on the basis of price. While high growth firms have increased their sales by over 30% during the past three years or longer, it is questionable if manufacturing firms can sustain their competitive advantage without recourse to greater research and development, and innovation in the longer term

Innovation Strategies in Tourism Industry

Master's thesis in International Hospitality ManagementFocus: Nowadays, innovation research in tourism sector has catch the attention of academics and business players. In fact, over the decades, tourism has experienced continued growth and deepening diversification to become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. This master thesis, is to study in detail the theory of innovation in tourism and, to develop innovation strategies for the tourism sector. This thesis is based on theoretical review about the concept of innovations in tourism industry to understand different types of innovations, the measurements and determinants of innovation. Although, innovation strategies and strategic innovation in tourism industry were the main focus of the study. Findings: The findings provide a practical contribution to academics and companies on how certain strategies can be implemented in the tourism sector, such internationalization, the use of new technologies and sustainability. Moreover, different tools of strategy management were also studied, along with the innovation systems and innovation management. Research limitations / implications: This paper is only limited to the theoretical part of innovation strategies in tourism industry. Performing an empirical study would be much more interesting, to learn more about how these different strategies are implemented. Furthermore, I have been focusing on all dimensions of strategies, and was unable to draw a practical conclusion but several valuables recommendations were provided. Originality – Value: This study has established a framework for the further study of innovation in tourism. Accordingly, research in the field of innovation systems and innovation management might be developed in several forms. Regarding the innovations strategies, these are certainly useful knowledge for both academics and managers.submittedVersio

The relationships between firm's strategy, resources and innovation performance: resources-based view perspective

Besides basic competitive priority (quality, cost, delivery and flexibility), innovation has been recognised as one of the primary sources of competitive advantage for manufacturing industry to compete in global markets. This paper, therefore, presents an empirical study on the relationship between firm strategy, resources and innovation performance. Drawing from the grounded theory of resource-based view, and using 218 responses from Thai production/operation managers, this paper shows that differentiation strategy had a positive relationship with both internal capital or internal resources (represented by knowledge and creativity management) and networks capital or external resources (represented by customer and supplier network). The findings also revealed that only internal capital had a positive effect on innovation performance. Finally, contributions to industry practitioner, academia and national agency in supporting and promoting innovation are presented

Holistiska konkurentspējīgas stratēģiskās vadības modeļa izveidošana

Šajā disertācijā Qeis Kamran ir izmantojis stratēģijas modeļus, jo konkurētspējīgas stratēģijas pasaule ir sarežģīta. To modeļu ierobežojumi, pamatojoties uz kuriem veidotas organizāciju stratēģijas, ir iemesls kompāniju neveiksmēm - Long-Term Capital Management, Lehmann’s Brothers, Nokia, Motorola, Volkswagen tiesas prāva ASV, Toshiba Corporations,Samsung. Krīzes ir iznīcinājušas uzņēmumus un nozares un Maikla Portera The Monitor Group pieteikt bankrota procedūrai Konkurences stratēģijas jomā, ko izstrādājis Porters, promocijas darbā ir Piecu spēku modeļa analīze. Pamatojoties uz Sešu spēku modeli ar lielu empīrisko izlasi ieteikts modelis, kas atbilst mūsdienu vajadzībām. Ir nepieciešams pārliecināties, vai Čandlera tēze Struktūra ir atkarīga no stratēģijas, atbilst precīzam pasaules skatījumam. Lai izveidotu vispārējus jomas modeļus, ir jāpārbauda Čandlera atbilstošā stratēģiskās domas dimensija – autors ir izstrādājis atbilstošāku sešu spēku modeli. Atslēgvārdi: stratēģija, konkurence, dzīvotspēja, piecu spēku modelis, struktūra, kibernētika, holisms un sarežģītībaThe dissertation by Qeis Kamran has unified strategy models as the world of management has become too complex to be dealt with by the application of contemporary models and current scientific worldviews. Thus, this is illustrated by the cases of Long-Term Capital Management, Lehmann Brothers, Nokia, Motorola, the Volkswagen Case in US, Toshiba, Samsung and even Michael Porter’s as the doyen of strategy’s co-founded consultancy firm The Monitor Group to apply for bankruptcy. The dissertation analysis the Five Forces Model as one of the major contributions to Competitive Strategy by Porter. Based on the development of the Sixth Force Model and validation by empirical studies, it is also examined, if Chandler’s thesis Structure follows strategy is still valid. A new model of competitive strategy has been developed to cope with the challenges that today’s turbulence and complexity requires - Six Forces Model. Keywords: Strategy, Five Forces Model, Structure, Holism, and Complexit

Dynamic Analysis for Enterprise Strategic Flexibility using System Engineering Methodology

From a system thinking perspective, the competition / cooperation boundaries govern the evolution of a firm\u27s adaptive strategic behaviour and drive it towards its desired objectives. Strategic flexibility is considered a sustainability advantage in today\u27s global competitive environment. This study explores the strategic flexibility capability that fits with the market requirement and the degree of competition it faces in its market(s). After exploring the link between the manufacturing objectives and their effect on the total industry performance in terms of profitability, product availability and capacity utilization, this study quantify the strategic effect of applying five different strategies on the enterprise strategic flexibility capability. By modeling and analyzing different scenarios using a system dynamic simulation approach and considering the market competitive dynamics, this model introduces the volume flexibility as a macro strategic measure that affects the firm\u27s intended production capacity. The effect of enterprise volume flexibility on its market share is studied and reported. The research explored how operations management theory on volume flexibility can be linked to the dynamic capability theory to develop new macro measures for the enterprise manufacturing strategy. Results show that matching between the firm capabilities and its external environment is a critical factor for organizational success. While the intense of competition govern the product life cycle duration and rate of change, success level is proportional to the competitor simultaneous actions and reactions and the effect differs from market to another. Results show that different product life cycle affects the industry speed and that may change the wining strategies adopted by the competing firms. As a result there are no ultimate right strategies for firms to follow. While tradeoffs between flexibility and cost are confirmed, the competitive advantage occurs when it is unique to the company and matches with the market variables for limited time. In conclusion, for industrial organization to achieve high productivity, efficiency and maximum utilization rate they need to select from a wide range of strategic capabilities rather than concentrating on a single capability or process to match the requirements of the external environment with responsive rate that matches the industry clock speed

Determinants and Specificities of Eco-innovations – An Econometric Analysis for the French and German Industry based on the Community Innovation Survey

Many recent papers deal with exploring and explaining the determinants of eco-innovations for different countries supporting the formulation of efficient policy measures to trigger eco-innovation activities of firms. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of cross-country analyses allowing recognizing “international” stylized facts, but also regional characteristics of eco-innovations. Based on data from the fourth Community Innovation Survey (CIS) for France and Germany, the present paper tries to contribute to fill this gap. Using econometric methods, we are able to detect remarkable similarities between the different determinants of eco-innovation in the two countries. The results confirm the central role of regulation and cost savings as motivations for eco-innovation. Furthermore, eco-innovative activities seem to require more external sources of knowledge and information than innovation in general.Eco-Innovation, Industry, Discrete Choice Models