Synergistic relationships of environmental self regulation, innovation and export on survival of Vietnamese manufacturing SMEs

Despite growing pressures for corporate sustainability, evidence on how environmental compliance, innovation, and export strategies jointly affect the survival of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets remains sparse. This study examines these synergistic associations using a longitudinal dataset (2007–2015) of 6398 Vietnamese manufacturing firms, tracking survival patterns through discrete-time hazard models and the Kodde-Palm test while adjusting for non-random survey attrition. This study offers a context-specific illustration of strategic complementarity under resource constraints, suggesting a tentative refinement of the Porter Hypothesis for resource-constrained SMEs. It explicitly explores whether environmental- self-regulation (ESR) acts as a mutually reinforcing complement or a resource-competing substitute when bundled with distinct operational strategies. Within the examined cohort, the empirical findings suggest that standalone ESR does not exhibit a statistically significant direct association with survival hazards; instead, its potential resilience benefits appear to be contingent on strategic synergies. Specifically, bundling ESR with export activities or process innovation functions as a complementary strategy associated with lower exit hazards in our sample. Conversely, product innovation operates as a substitute for ESR, revealing critical resource allocation trade-offs. These patterns indicate that, for manufacturing SMEs within a transition setting, sustainability transitions may depend on navigating complex strategic configurations rather than relying on universal complementarities.