Green Business Strategies of Exporting Manufacturing Firms: Antecedents, Practices, and Outcomes

This research investigates the drivers that lead exporting manufacturing companies to adopt environmentally friendly actions, exploring green business practices/strategies they conducted and examining the outcomes which resulted from companies' green business activities. This exploratory study particularly focuses on green business strategies of Turkish manufacturing exporters. Thirty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with executive managers from 22 companies and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results of the study reveal two internal (i.e., capabilities and resources) and four external stimulating forces (i.e., stakeholder pressures, institutional-based, network-based, and external factors) that encourage companies to implement green business operations, which were also classified under six functional themes. This study emphasizes several noteworthy outcomes (i.e., export competitive advantage and export performance). In doing so, the findings of this study provide a holistic insight into green business strategies within the exporting context by outlining both theoretical and managerial implications.