Uncovering Non-obvious Relationship Between Environmental Certification and Economic Performance at the Food Industry

This research is an attempt to explore how an incremental organizational eco innovation (the ISO 14001 environmental standard certification system) affects economic performance of firms belonging to one of the most important GPD generator in developed countries: food industry. The analysis is based on a sample of 6118 Spanish firms. We have used quantitative analysis techniques to correlate economic indicators with the implementation of the ISO 14001. Food industry operates in an economy and a society context increasingly concerned with wide and diverse environmental issues. In the case of the food industry this has been augmented by the food security standards. In this context, many companies decide to go beyond the formal legal requirements and take a proactive stance on environmental issues. The study results show how environmental focused companies are able to create a competitive advantage by the earlier implementation of an eco-management tool.

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