In this dissertation, I examine why manufacturing firms that adopt comparable environmental practices often realize different financial and environmental out comes. Challenging the prevailing focus on how many practices firms adopt, I argue that performance depends on how those practices are integrated into operations and among themselves.
The investigation is based on three empirical studies on U.S. publicly listed manufacturing firms. Paper 1 shows that operational excellence is a capabil ity condition for converting environmental practice adoption into performance. Paper 2 shows how environmental practices are organized within the firm as a network of practices and how they shape financial and environmental outcomes differently. Paper 3 shows that configurations of Environmental Purchasing and Supply Management practices sufficient for upstream Scope 3 emission reduc tion are mostly year-specific rather than stable over time.
Together, the papers shift the central question from whether environmental practices improve firm performance to why comparable adoption produces het erogeneous returns. The dissertation contributes by specifying integration as a firm-level property of environmental operations. The findings caution against treating practice counts and ESG scores as complete guides for managerial decisions and external evaluation.
- Same Same, but Different: Hidden Dimensions of Environmental Operations Management and Their Implications for Firm Performance
- Sina Behzadifard - Stockholm School of Economics, Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology (House of Innovation)
- Pär Åhlström - Stockholm School of Economics, Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology (House of Innovation)
- Stockholm School of Economics; Doctor of Philosophy (PHD)
- Doctor of Philosophy (PHD), Stockholm School of Economics
- Stockholm School of Economics
- 9789177314097; 9789177314103
- Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology (House of Innovation)
- English
- Dissertation