This article investigates how two types of proactive environmental strategies (PESs) – proactive green management and green political influence – affect firm performance directly and under varying conditions characterising corporate venturing activities (domestic versus international). The results obtained by analysing a multi-informant dataset reveal that proactive green management has a stronger positive impact on firm performance than green political influence does. Moreover, international venturing has a greater positive moderating effect than domestic venturing on the link between proactive green management and firm performance, whereas, domestic venturing has a stronger positive moderating effect than international venturing on the relationship between green political influence and firm performance. This article contributes by differentiating between two important forms of corporate venturing, by distinguishing two important types of PESs and by offering a more granular framework for aligning corporate venturing activities with PESs.

Whereas emerging market firms (EMFs) face severe legitimacy barriers when entering global markets, whether and under what conditions green innovation can help them gain legitimacy remains under-examined. This article argues that green innovation can help EMFs obtain regulatory and social legitimacy in host countries and consequently boost their exports. Based on a panel dataset populated by 254 Chinese-listed manufacturing companies from 2011 through 2017, this article finds that green innovation is positively associated with EMF export performance. Moreover, this positive relationship is stronger when host-country political risk is lower or host-country buyer sophistication is higher but becomes weaker for state-owned EMFs. These findings enrich the legitimacy-based view and international business literature by identifying the role of green innovation in boosting EMF export performance and specifying important institutional contingencies.