When Premium Product Strategy Meets Sustainability: Environmental–Economic Trade‐Offs in Japanese Manufacturing

IF 13.2 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Business Strategy and The Environment Pub Date : 2026-10-09 DOI:10.1002/bse.71659

Jaewook Kim, Gang‐Hoon Seo, Eunji Seo, Shengyi Zhou, Insik Jeong

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Corporate sustainability has become a central concern for business stakeholders, yet little is known about how premium product strategies shape firms' sustainability orientations and performance. Drawing on stakeholder theory, this study examines whether pursuing premium products is associated with firms' adoption of environmental and economic sustainability orientations and how these orientations, in turn, relate to corporate performance. Using survey data from 128 directors and managers responsible for overseas operations in manufacturing firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, analyzed with structural equation modelling, we find that a premium product strategy is positively associated with both environmental and economic sustainability orientations. However, their performance implications differ: economic sustainability is positively related to firm performance, whereas environmental sustainability shows a significant negative association. These results suggest that, among Japanese manufacturing exporters, premium product strategies simultaneously foster sustainability ambitions and expose firms to short‐term trade‐offs between environmental and economic outcomes.

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优质产品战略与可持续发展：日本制造业的环境经济权衡

企业可持续发展已经成为企业利益相关者关注的中心问题，然而，人们对优质产品战略如何塑造企业的可持续发展方向和绩效知之甚少。利用利益相关者理论，本研究考察了追求优质产品是否与企业采用环境和经济可持续性取向有关，以及这些取向如何反过来与企业绩效相关。利用对东京证券交易所上市的制造企业中负责海外业务的128名董事和经理的调查数据，采用结构方程模型进行分析，我们发现优质产品战略与环境和经济可持续性取向呈正相关。然而，它们的绩效含义不同：经济可持续性与企业绩效呈正相关，而环境可持续性则表现出显著的负相关。这些结果表明，在日本制造业出口商中，优质产品战略同时促进了可持续发展的雄心，并使公司面临环境和经济结果之间的短期权衡。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Business Strategy and The Environment Multiple-

CiteScore

22.50

自引率

19.40%

发文量

336

期刊介绍： Business Strategy and the Environment (BSE) is a leading academic journal focused on business strategies for improving the natural environment. It publishes peer-reviewed research on various topics such as systems and standards, environmental performance, disclosure, eco-innovation, corporate environmental management tools, organizations and management, supply chains, circular economy, governance, green finance, industry sectors, and responses to climate change and other contemporary environmental issues. The journal aims to provide original contributions that enhance the understanding of sustainability in business. Its target audience includes academics, practitioners, business managers, and consultants. However, BSE does not accept papers on corporate social responsibility (CSR), as this topic is covered by its sibling journal Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. The journal is indexed in several databases and collections such as ABI/INFORM Collection, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, BIOBASE, Emerald Management Reviews, GeoArchive, Environment Index, GEOBASE, INSPEC, Technology Collection, and Web of Science.