How do firms capture value from environmental innovations? An empirical analysis on European SMEs

How do SMEs exploit their environmental innovations on the market? This paper aims at exploring the factors affecting the choice of alternative green innovation strategies. It looks, in particular at the adoption of Environmental Management System (EMS) vs. green patents, and at the possible implementation of a bundle of the two, and investigates the role of sectoral characteristics in shaping firms’ strategic decisions. Relying upon a sample of 8797 European SMEs, we study the factors associated with the adoption of one or more strategies to capture value from green innovations. Results show that both firm characteristics – size and innovative activity – and sectoral specificities in terms of output tangibility, knowledge intensity and consumer vs. business orientation, matter in the adoption of different green innovation strategies.