Causality of Internal and External Linkages of Enterprises' Low-Carbon Strategy From a Configuration Perspective
Abstract This study aims to identify the motivations behind the low-carbon strategy of companies. For this purpose, a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis is conducted to explore the linkage effects of internal and external factors such as business environment, industry environment and individual heterogeneity on the company's low-carbon strategy based on a multi-dimensional theoretical perspective. It is found that the low-carbon strategy of companies in a low, medium, and high-level business environment follow the order of " survival maintenance ", "firm foothold", "bigger and stronger", "adapt to the trend", and "value innovation". Further analysis shows that the proper order of the three types of indicators from high to low is: industry environment, individual heterogeneity, and business environment. “The industry is under pressure and has enough power” is a key reason for low-carbon strategies; the competition intensity within the industry is an important external incentive for low-carbon strategy; CEO power is an important internal driving force for low-carbon strategy. This paper shows that a high-level business environment can help to improve managers’ forward-looking decision-making and help companies escape the inherent thinking of the “red sea competition”.