Prof. Dr. David Bendig (l.), Dr. Kristin Gisa (m.), Dr. Thomas Schäper (r.)

How does green manufacturing orientation relate to firms’ sales growth, and how does market turbulence influence this relationship? This study, published in the International Journal of Production Research (VHB JQ3: B; ABS: 3; IF: 7.3), indicates that the link between green manufacturing orientation and sales growth is not linear. Drawing on a panel of 2,467 firm-year observations from U.S. manufacturing companies between 2009 and 2022, the findings suggest a U-shaped relationship between green manufacturing orientation and sales growth.

The key findings:

• Green manufacturing orientation is not a straight line to growth: Firms with low to moderate green manufacturing orientation may face additional costs and rely on practices that are still easy to imitate. Accordingly, sales growth may be lower at these levels. Once a certain threshold is exceeded, however, the benefits may outweigh the costs, and sales growth may be higher.
• Market turbulence strengthens the effect: In more stable markets, the relationship between green manufacturing orientation and sales growth appears flatter. In more turbulent markets, the positive relationship associated with a green manufacturing orientation appears more pronounced. Firms with deeply embedded green practices may be better positioned to respond to changing customer demands and to differentiate themselves from competitors.

• A new measurement tool for research and practice: The study develops a text-based method to measure green manufacturing orientation from corporate reports. This provides researchers and practitioners with a scalable tool to systematically assess green manufacturing efforts across firms and industries.

For practice, this means that green manufacturing orientation may only pay off in terms of sales growth if you have a strong strategic emphasis. Firms may first want to measure their current green position and that of their competitors, then decide whether to pilot it, scale it step by step, or accelerate their efforts.

The study “All you need is green? The influence of green manufacturing orientation on sales growth” by Prof. Dr. David Bendig, Dr. Kristin Gisa, and Dr. Thomas Schäper (all University of Münster) is available here (open access): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00207543.2026.2622523.

Contact for inquiries: 
Dr. Thomas Schäper
University of Münster
Institute for Entrepreneurship 
Leonardo-Campus 9, 48149 Münster
Email: thomas.schaeper@uni-muenster.de