“Beer; from gold to green, and green to gold.Strategic approaches to overcome the barriers of Eco-innovation:Case studies in the Belgian and Swedish beer industry”

Abstract: Purpose – Exploring how the barriers can be overcome due to different strategic choices, as well as providing guidance for managers to meet and avoid various barriers of eco-innovations. This thesis contributes to the field of eco-innovations by viewing the barriers faced by managers and how the strategy can be directed to overcome them. The contribution will summarize the field and provide a conceptual framework to explore the different strategic choices. Design/methodology/approach – Four case studies in the brewing sector in Sweden and Belgium. Face-to-face interviews and confirmation interviews took place. Findings – The findings provide both guidelines and practical way of how firms can avoid and overcome the barriers faced. The findings show that different approaches influence the conditions and the barriers, and by identifying the firms’ approach one can predict and direct some of the choices. The main barriers identified in the case studies are also listed, as well as some links between the cases and theories are shown. Research limitations/implications – Distance to the companies made complications, findings limited to the cases, and language barriers. Practical implications- The practical implication displays how firms can overcome the barriers based on their approach and orientation. Managerial implications- The managerial implications can be found at the end of this thesis. Originality/value– The gap of green management ignorance and need of education to understand and see the advantages of eco-innovation. Keywords- Eco-innovations, strategy, overcoming barriers. Paper type- Master thesis