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Green jobs, innovation and environmentally oriented strategies in European SMEs

Author

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  • Grazia Cecere

    (Telecom Ecole de Management, Institut Mines-Telecom, Paris, France.)

  • Massimiliano Mazzanti

Abstract

Green jobs are a key aim of societal efforts to provide concrete contents to the long run effort to reconcile sustainability and development. The present article analyses the extent to which future growth of green jobs is influenced by microeconomic and sector/macro level factors. We carry out econometric analyses on European SME firms to assess the factors affecting the creation of green jobs in small and medium firms. We find that green product and service innovation is primarily relevant to support the creation of green jobs. This suggests that producing green products and services is an important factor affecting green jobs. The environmental management system is also positively related to job creation: the reorganization of a firm’s activities imposed by Environmental Management System implementation requires the organizational structure as a whole to be reshaped, eventually including skills and competences. Innovations aimed at enhancing resource efficiency also augment the expected creation of green jobs. Sector factors and turnover/demand effects appear less relevant than specific eco innovation elements of the firm with the exception of the waste sector which supports the creation of green jobs. The study lays the foundations for future research on the development of green skills, competences and jobs in firms as a reaction to market and policy levers.

Suggested Citation

  • Grazia Cecere & Massimiliano Mazzanti, 2015. "Green jobs, innovation and environmentally oriented strategies in European SMEs," SEEDS Working Papers 2115, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Dec 2015.
    • Handle: RePEc:srt:wpaper:2115
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    Keywords

    green jobs; innovation; labour demand; sectors; product innovation; techno-organisational innovations;
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