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Environmental Sustainability (ES) is a growing concern for society’s development while identifying companies’ need to define sustainability-based strategies. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have an essential role; generating more than 60% of employment in Europe and Latin America. Numerous research exists regarding large companies’ situation on environmental topics, yet little exists on SMEs at the practical and theoretical levels. Thus, determining the variables that affect the application of ES is very relevant. This study analyzes in-depth ES factors and drivers from the SMEs’ perspective, exploring the variables influencing their implementation in these companies. The methodology employed is in-depth interviews, applied to a sample of 17 SMEs in Spain and 25 SMEs in Chile. The main findings suggest that Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), Customer Orientation (CO), and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) influence ES adoption in both countries, showing similarities in the driving reasons behind them, but with certain differences in their implementation (affected by institutional context influences). Furthermore, the level of knowledge affects decision-making related to the development of high-level environmental practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to identify potential explanatory variables of the entrepreneurial orientation and innovation capacity (EO-IC) of family enterprises (FEs) through a comparative study of family businesses in Spain and Latin America. The innovation literature reports a paradigm shift whereby the dynamic boost provided by corporate governance and productivity is playing an increasing role as a driver of EO-IC and sustainable competitive advantage. This issue acquires particular relevance in the case of family firms, where entrepreneurial and innovation capacities are characteristically hampered by socio-emotional and risk-aversion factors. We construct a panel of data on 182 large family enterprises (1,820 observations) domiciled in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Spain, drawing on the Thomson Onebanker and ORBIS databases for the period 2008-2018. The results reveal the emergence of new explanatory variables for the structure of the family-firm EO-IC framework, some related to productivity; others more basically to corporate governance. They also show that, in Latin America, the use of business efficiency (productivity) factors in the planning and potentiation of EO-IC by family firms is hampered by the institutional (legal, regulatory, labour and educational) environment, where traditional factors such as firm size and ownership concentration are more relevant. In the Spanish case, however, the evidence points to a transition from traditional inputs towards business efficiency and productivity- related factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact online social networks are having nowadays as a marketing tool in the performance of companies is yet to be made clear. Such an impact is being looked into in this paper on the basis of Spanish companies' data. Structural equations being applied to a multi-group are the channel through which an attempt is being made to ind out whether an intensive use of these networks in the marketing ield shall somehow restrain the relationship between dynamic capabilities, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation, and what is the impact these networks are having on the latter. Survey outcomes show that this intensity somehow makes the relationship between market orientation and performance and entrepreneurial orientation smoother. A strong and determined marketing strategy in social networks could strengthen up these relationships thus enhancing their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on SME financial performance. The essay also proposes a contingency model to explore the moderating effects of environmental hostility on the relationship between EO and profitability. The study was conducted using a sample of 121 manufacturing SMEs in Spain. Results confirm the positive influence of EO on a firm's profitability. More importantly, the impact of EO on SME profitability is higher when there is a fit between EO and the external environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research takes a relational approach on the entrepreneurial behavior of a firm and analyzes the influence of knowledge acquisition through inter-firm relationships on the entrepreneurial orientation. It introduces a new variable, second order social capital, to explain how knowledge acquisition leads to higher levels of entrepreneurial orientation. The results of the empirical study on a sample of small and medium enterprises from the Information and Communications Technology sector in Spain confirm the hypothesized indirect influence of knowledge acquisition on the entrepreneurial orientation and the mediating effect of second order social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]