A taxonomy of eco-innovation types in SMEs: Exploring different firm profiles in the Canadian wine industry

Abstract

The paper examines eco-innovation strategies in the Canadian wine industry. It uses firm-level data of 151 wine firms that developed eco-innovations between 2015 and 2017 to build a taxonomy of four eco-innovation strategies: (i) eco-innovation laggers, (ii) product-oriented eco-innovators, (iii) process-oriented eco-innovators, and (iv) fully integrated eco-innovators. We then characterize these eco-innovation strategies with respect to firm-level innovation capabilities, firms' knowledge openness, and firms' specific characteristics. The results reveal heterogeneity in eco-innovation strategies and show that these strategies exhibit different configurations of innovation-related conditions and firm characteristics.