Enhancing firms’ innovation persistence in the circular economy through government-supported green supply chain demonstrations: cost leadership or differentiation?



Ju, Yingjie, Cheng, Ye, Chen, Lujie and Xing, Xinjie ORCID: 0000-0001-6277-5045
(2024) Enhancing firms’ innovation persistence in the circular economy through government-supported green supply chain demonstrations: cost leadership or differentiation? International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 28 (5). pp. 1-21. ISSN 1367-5567, 1469-848X

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Abstract

Government support is pivotal in guiding firms towards adopting green supply chain (GSC) practices aligned with the circular economy. Our study addressed this critical issue through a quasi-natural experiment of GSC demonstration in China. We conducted a difference-in-differences estimation to assess the variation in the persistent innovation capabilities between the treatment and control groups. The results indicate that the GSC demonstration, as an external policy change, stimulated the development of firms’ persistent innovation capabilities. These capabilities have positive effects on both innovation input and output dimensions. Additionally, we explored the interaction between firms’ competitive strategies and government support. Findings indicate that differentiation strategies have a stronger positive impact on innovation persistence, while cost leadership strategies weaken this link. These results emphasize the government's critical role in fostering GSC adoption, offering implications for effective government-business collaboration towards a circular economy and sustainable planning across social, environmental, and technological innovation factors.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: 3509 Transportation, Logistics and Supply Chains, 35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services, 3507 Strategy, Management and Organisational Behaviour, 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
Divisions: Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of Management
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 03 Jun 2024 10:57
Last Modified: 09 May 2025 22:04
DOI: 10.1080/13675567.2024.2311192
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URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3179833
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