IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/srt/wpaper/1126.html

Eco-Innovation and Firm Performance: The Role of Circular Economy Investments and Human Capital among SMEs in Emilia-Romagna

Author

Listed:
  • Giulia Fontanelli

    (Department of Economics and Management, University of Ferrara)

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between eco-innovation and firm performance among SMEs operating in Emilia-Romagna using data from the ECOSISTER Project, Spoke 5 – Circular Economy (C.E.) and Blue Economy. Particular attention is devoted to the role of C.E. Investment Intensity and C.E. Human Capital (HC) as complementary dimensions of sustainability-oriented transformation. The findings suggest that firms progressively integrate eco-innovation, C.E. investments, and specialised HC within their development strategies, highlighting their relevance for competitiveness and economic performance. The study contributes to the literature on innovation, sustainability, and C.E. transitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Giulia Fontanelli, 2026. "Eco-Innovation and Firm Performance: The Role of Circular Economy Investments and Human Capital among SMEs in Emilia-Romagna," SEEDS Working Papers 1126, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Jun 2026.
    • Handle: RePEc:srt:wpaper:1126
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sustainability-seeds.org/papers/RePec/srt/wpaper/1126.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2026
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.sustainability-seeds.org/papers/RePec/srt/wpaper/1126.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2026
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    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:srt:wpaper:1126. 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: Alessandro Palma (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sustainability-seeds.org .

    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.