This study explains how managers’ perceptions of pressure from competitors and industry associations to adopt environmental practices are associated with the adoption of such practices, and firm performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in fragmented industries. First, we hypothesize, in fragmented industries, perceived weaker competitive pressure focuses SME managers’ attention on opportunities associated with the adoption of environmental practices, resulting in further adoption of such practices. We also hypothesize that perceived stronger competitive pressure focuses managers’ attention on competitive threats and efforts to maximize value creation from adopted practices, thus, positively moderating the relationship between adopted environmental practices and financial performance. We test our hypotheses with survey data from wineries and vineyards in Italy, France, Denmark, and the United States, and find support for both hypotheses. These findings deepen our understanding of how SMEs in fragmented industries respond to perceived competitive pressure to adopt environmental practices.

This study aims to investigate the antecedents of corporate sustainability performance, focusing on corporate governance mechanisms. The growing diffusion of sustainability-related corporate governance regulation raises a legitimate question about the effectiveness of these mechanisms in fostering sustainability performance. While extant research has separately taken into consideration different mechanisms related to corporate governance and sustainability, in this study, we investigate the combined effect of generic governance mechanisms, such as board size and board independence, and sustainability-related governance mechanisms, such as the presence of a sustainability committee and sustainability targets in executives’ compensation schemes, on corporate sustainability performance. Based on a dataset of 185 companies listed in the most important European markets, our results indicate that both generic and sustainability-related governance mechanisms enhance corporate sustainability performance. More specifically, the presence of independent directors and the inclusion of quantitative sustainability targets in executives’ compensation schemes contribute to corporate sustainability performance.

We investigate how family and non-family small-and-medium size enterprises (SMEs) differ in their preference for patenting over secrecy as a means to protect value of intellectual property, and how proactive orientation moderates this relationship. Because secrecy carries more risks for spillover than patenting, we propose and provide evidence to suggest that family SMEs are more likely to use patents than secrecy relative to non-family SMEs as a mechanism to protect value. However, proactive orientation can weaken this relationship, since SMEs with a proactive orientation will avoid the disclosure of information required for patenting. Using a sample of 300 SMEs from four countries in the wine industry, we find support for our hypotheses and contribute to both the intellectual property (IP) and SME literatures by explaining how family SMEs relative to non-family SMEs protect the value of IP.