Learning from prior national and international collaborations and eco-innovation: the moderating role of alliance portfolio diversity

Abstract Eco-innovations integrate complex and diverse knowledge sources. For this reason, firms engage in worldwide collaborations that promote learning from different partners that, in turn, promote environmental innovations. This study analyzes how the learning experience of previous collaborations at the national and international levels impacts the likelihood of eco-innovation development by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This work also examines whether such linkages between prior collaboration experience and eco-innovation are influenced by alliance portfolio diversity (APD), which can broaden the number of knowledge sources but also increase coordination costs. The results of longitudinal analysis, based on a dataset of Spanish SMEs, suggest that the learning acquired from prior domestic openness is more useful for enhancing eco-innovation activities. Moreover, the results confirm the negative moderating role of APD, as SMEs with greater prior experience in national and international openness are more likely to eco-innovate than those with less prior experience, but these relationships weaken with increased diversity in collaboration portfolios.