The Influence of Organizational Life Cycle on Environmental Proactivity and Competitive Advantage

Abstract

In today’s dynamic environment, it is extremely important to study the circumstances in which environmental management contributes to a firm’s competitiveness. Relying on the dynamic capabilities view, this study empirically examines the relationships between environmental proactivity, organizational life cycle stages, competitive advantage, and industry on a sample of 155 Australian firms. The results of a regression analysis show that the construct of the organizational life cycle is significantly related to environmental proactivity. The results also confirm the well-established positive impact of environmental proactivity on competitive advantage. Surprisingly, we found environmental proactivity was positively related to competitive advantage not only in the innovative stages but also in the conservative ones. Our findings reveal the complex nature of environmental proactivity and help better understand the relationship between environmental proactivity and competitive advantage.