IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v35y2026i5p6234-6253.html

Digital Transformation for Eco‐Innovation: Evidence From Agriculture 4.0 Adoption in Wine Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Alessandro Muscio
  • Amir Maghssudipour
  • Yuntao Wang

Abstract

Firms face a fundamental strategic dilemma: how to align digital transformation with environmental sustainability while maintaining competitive advantage. Drawing on the eco‐innovation and green business strategy literature, this paper investigates how Agriculture 4.0 technologies act as enablers of sustainability strategies. Using original survey data from 387 Italian wine firms, we examine the relationship between digital adoption, eco‐innovation, and competitive positioning within premium segments, reflecting a “win–win” sustainable differentiation strategy. We operationalize eco‐innovation through Cleaner Production (proactive) and End‐of‐Pipe (reactive) strategies. Results show that Agriculture 4.0 adoption is strongly associated with Cleaner Production, with precision agriculture, weather monitoring, and management software emerging as the most effective digital tools to foster eco‐innovation, while blockchain and Big Data remain limited due to capability gaps. Importantly, digital adopters are more likely to compete in premium and ultra‐premium market segments, suggesting that digital transformation enables sustainable differentiation strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Muscio & Amir Maghssudipour & Yuntao Wang, 2026. "Digital Transformation for Eco‐Innovation: Evidence From Agriculture 4.0 Adoption in Wine Firms," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(5), pages 6234-6253, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:35:y:2026:i:5:p:6234-6253
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.70510
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.70510
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.70510?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:35:y:2026:i:5:p:6234-6253. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.