Green technological diversification of European ICT firms: a patent-based analysis

This paper investigates whether and how diversified firms in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector innovate in green technologies and assess the potential impact of these innovations on firm performance. The analysis relies on a balanced panel dataset of European ICT firms in the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEconomics of innovation and new technology Vol. 29; no. 6; pp. 559 - 581
Main Authors Corrocher, Nicoletta, Ozman, Muge
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 17.08.2020
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Subjects
Business administration
Clean technology
Communications technology
Companies
Diversification
Environmental studies
Europe
green patents
Humanities and Social Sciences
ICT firms
Information technology
Innovations
Library and information sciences
Organizational performance
Patenting
Sustainable development
Technological change
Technological diversification
Green patents
ICT firms
Sustainable Development Goals
Technological diversification
Europe
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Summary:This paper investigates whether and how diversified firms in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector innovate in green technologies and assess the potential impact of these innovations on firm performance. The analysis relies on a balanced panel dataset of European ICT firms in the period 2009-2013. The results suggest an inverted u-shaped relationship between the extent of technological diversification and the likelihood to develop green technologies. Technological diversification generally increases the likelihood of green innovations, but too high a dispersion of resources across a large variety of different technologies decreases the intensity of green innovations. The results show also that the development of green technologies is positively associated with firm performance: ICT firms involved in green patenting activity perform better than ICT firms with no green patents.
ISSN:1043-8599
1476-8364
DOI:10.1080/10438599.2019.1645989