Unravelling the relation between the environmental proactive orientation of firms and their economic performance

Abstract

[EN] Environmental proactivity is a key research topic as it arises as a value-adding creator and therefore constitutes a competitive advantage for companies. In this paper, we classify industrial companies according to their environmental proactivity and then we determine whether their economic performance differs in relation to the firms environmental position. We analyzed 132 Spanish industrial firms located in the Valencian region and apply quantitative methods to conduct the analysis. The findings from a cluster analysis show two different groups regarding environmental proactivity. Then, an ANOVA analysis shows that the more proactively oriented firms obtain better economic results when comparing EBIT (earnings before interests and taxes) as well as better total incomes, even though economic results seem not to be an important factor in explaining the environmental proactivity of firms when modeling variables with a regression model