With the intensification of global green trade barriers, environmental management system certification(EMSC), as a voluntary environmental practice(VEP), has emerged as a pivotal strategy for enterprises to navigate international market access restrictions. However, existing research predominantly concentrates on the manufacturing sector, with limited exploration of the certification effects within high-pollution industries and the moderating influence of institutional environments. Drawing on the resource-based view(RBV), this study synthesizes data from Chinese A-share listed mining companies from 2008 to 2023, alongside customs trade statistics, to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the impact of ISO 14001 certification on the export performance of mining enterprises and its boundary conditions. The findings indicate that: (1)Certification significantly enhances the export performance of mining enterprises by improving full-cycle cost control and increasing the green brand premium. (2)The institutional environment serves as a crucial moderating factor. Specifically, a one standard deviation increases in economic openness enhances the export-promoting effect of certification by 3.8%. In regions characterized by higher levels of marketization, the export elasticity of certified enterprises rises by 0.013.(3)Heterogeneity analysis indicates that certification exerts a more pronounced positive impact on the exports of non-state-owned enterprises, firms with lower equity concentration, and mining and extraction enterprises facing higher environmental risks. By employing instrumental variable methods and dynamic GMM models, the study effectively addresses endogeneity issues, thereby ensuring the robustness of the research findings. This study contributes to the theoretical framework of the Resource-Based View(RBV) within an institutional context and provides micro-level evidence to guide the optimization of green trade policies.
以往研究对自愿环境规制的出口效应进行了许多有益的探索,国内研究多从理论机制与成本收益角度展开讨论,观点存在明显分歧。一方认为,企业获取环境认证将增加短期合规成本与运营压力,从而可能抑制出口规模(Jiang et al,2025;喻开志等,2025)。另一方则主张,从长期来看,自愿性环境规制能够激励企业创新和构建资源基础优势(宋清华等,2024),例如通过源头治理降低环境成本(张明晶等,2024),或凭借绿色差异化提升产品竞争力(张兆国等,2019),进而对出口产生促进作用(李小平等,2012;安占然等,2024)。国外只有少数研究针对ISO 14001认证的出口效应进行分析,结论亦不统一。部分研究证实,自愿性环境规制显著扩大了企业出口规模(Martincus et al,2010),例如在日本制造业中,ISO 14001认证提升了企业出口数量(Nishitani,2009)。然而,也有研究并未发现ISO 14001认证具有显著的促进效应,甚至得出负面或中性结论,如Dasgupta et al(2000)对墨西哥制造业的分析显示,ISO14001认证未能提高企业出口数量,或认为其整体影响有限(Prakash et al,2006)。尽管这些研究揭示了VEPs作用的一般性机制,但其结论应用于矿业时仍存在3个方面的局限。首先,研究对象主要集中在制造业,对矿业等高污染行业的独特效应关注较少。其次,理论视角多从利益相关者理论(Xu et al,2018;卢娟等,2020)、信号理论(Xu et al,2018)和制度理论出发,强调企业通过采用VEPs来满足外部利益相关者的绿色要求,从而获取基于市场的竞争优势,忽视企业内部资源的核心作用——资源基础观(RBV)指出,异质性资源才是出口优势的根源,但这一视角在矿业领域尚未系统应用。最后,市场制度环境的调节机制仍不明确,经济开放度(OPEN)与市场化程度(MI)作为刻画制度环境的核心维度,通过互补协同的机制共同塑造企业出口竞争力:经济开放度主要经由金融开放缓解融资约束(盛斌等,2021)、汇率市场化传导价格信号(Du et al,2021)以及知识技术国际溢出等渠道,帮助企业接入全球市场与资源;而市场化程度则通过优化要素配置(陈德球等,2013)、强化产权与契约执行(Ma et al,2016)和促进创新竞争(伊志宏等,2010)等路径,降低企业制度性交易成本,提升资源转化效率。二者分别从对外联通与对内赋能2个方面,系统构建了企业将内部资源转化为出口优势所需的制度基础设施(Peng et al,2008)。这些因素分别提供了丰富的外部资源并降低了成本,使企业能够有效地积累内部资源以促进出口。这些研究缺口限制了对环境认证效能边界条件的深入理解。
ISO 14001作为全球范围内被广泛采纳的自愿性环境管理标准,截至2023年,在中国累计颁发超过2 096万次认证(全国认证认可信息公共服务平台)。该认证为企业的环境管理行为提供了一个标准化的框架,其核心目标在于预防或减轻企业对环境的负面影响、协助企业履行环境法规、提升企业环境绩效,以及向利益相关者传递企业环境信息等(潘翻番等,2020)。企业申请ISO 14001认证,必需建立并运行环境管理体系3个月以上,并确保一年内无环境违法处罚。经资质机构审核后,企业必须持续遵循“计划—执行—检查—处理”(PDCA)循环,以保持体系的完整性和有效性。企业每年需接受监督审核,每3年进行一次全面复评。
然而,在矿业领域,由于其实践的特殊性,环境管理体系需涵盖从勘探到闭矿的全生命周期(Hilson et al,2020),且其认证成本远高于制造业。这种差异主要源于矿业生产的资产专用性高以及沉没成本大(张海亮等,2022)。尽管现有研究已经揭示了ISO 14001在制造业中的成本节约效应,但由于矿业企业所面临的合规挑战更为复杂,因此ISO 14001的成本节约效应在矿业企业中是否适用尚无法确定。
在理论层面,现有研究主要借助利益相关者理论、信号理论和制度理论,重点分析了企业如何通过满足外部利益相关者的绿色需求来获取市场竞争优势。然而,这些视角相对忽视了企业内部资源与能力的战略性构建这一核心机制。资源基础观为解析矿业认证的独特性提供了关键视角。根据资源基础观,企业可持续的竞争优势根植于其拥有并有效利用的有价值、稀缺、难以模仿且不可替代的异质性资源和能力。资源基础观以资源和能力作为切入点,论述企业特有的资源能力优势在出口绩效关系上发挥的调节作用(Nath et al,2010)。ISO 14001认证可被视为一种战略资源,它要求企业整合清洁技术、环境管理流程和绿色品牌资产(Ren et al,2022)。对矿业企业而言,这一过程不仅涉及生产流程优化,更需要建立与地方政府、社区的利益协调机制,形成独特的环境治理能力(Hart,1995)。然而,企业内部能力的价值实现深刻嵌入并受制于外部制度环境。制度理论指出,正式法规与非正式规范共同塑造了企业的战略选择和资源获取渠道(Peng et al,2008)。因此,孤立地应用资源基础观或制度理论均不足以完整揭示认证对出口绩效的作用机理。本研究基于资源基础观构建一个“内部认证资源—外部制度环境”协同分析框架(图1)。
首先,ISO 14001认证通过全生命周期成本控制,助力企业构建可持续竞争优势。企业遵循严格认证标准,优化资源配置,从而实现成本效益与环境绩效的双重提升。矿业生产的环境影响贯穿勘探、开采、加工到闭矿的全链条,而ISO 14001认证要求企业建立覆盖全流程的环境管理体系(Boiral et al,2018)。以张家港联合铜业公司为例,环境管理体系认证推动的循环水系统改造显著降低了单位耗水量,提升了尾矿综合利用率,进而降低了生产成本。更为重要的是,认证通过标准化流程(如定期环境审计)有效减少了突发环境事故的风险。研究表明,未获ISO 14001环境管理体系认证的矿业企业在国际市场中面临更高的合规风险,包括因环保不达标而被取消合作资格或失去市场准入机会,进而导致隐性成本上升。
其次,ISO 14001认证有助于企业塑造绿色信誉,构建差异化出口溢价。一方面,矿业产品(如铁矿石和稀土)面临激烈的同质化竞争,而ISO 14001认证通过第三方的认证背书,赋予企业绿色信号。实证研究表明,获得认证的矿业企业出口单价显著高于未认证企业,同时对发达国家市场的出口份额呈现显著增长趋势(杨冕等,2022)。另一方面,ISO 14001认证的实施有助于出口企业有效满足东道国的监管要求,降低监管风险。同时,该认证能够显著提升企业的社会声誉,增强其产品在国际市场上的竞争力,进而增加出口量并扩大国际市场份额(Boulamatari et al,2017)。
第三,ISO 14001认证有助于企业实现技术、关系与组织三类资源的系统性整合,进而构建难以模仿的环境治理能力,形成可持续的出口竞争优势。在技术资源方面,该认证推动企业引入清洁生产技术,使获认证企业的专利引用量显著高于未认证企业(Lim et al,2014);在关系资源方面,认证要求企业与社区、政府建立环境共治机制(如生态补偿基金),有助于优化企业的采矿许可审批流程;在组织资源管理方面,PDCA循环管理模式通过优化跨部门协作机制,显著提升了企业内部协同效率,有效缩短了环境事故的应急响应时间。基于上述分析,本文提出研究假说1。
市场制度环境在一定程度上塑造了一个经济体的资源环境,企业嵌入的外部资源环境背景对于企业积累异质性资源和独特能力以创造和维持竞争优势具有至关重要的作用(Priem et al,2001)。
本文采用经济开放度和市场化程度来衡量市场制度环境。经济开放提供了丰富的外部资源,使企业能够有效地积累内部资源以促进出口;发达的市场化程度为ISO14001认证的出口促进效应提供了高效的市场环境,从而降低了资源获取和贸易成本(Dong et al,2022)。除了经济开放度与市场化程度外,地方政府环保考核、国家“双碳”战略等制度与政策因素亦可能通过塑造企业资源获取渠道与市场激励结构,影响认证的出口效应,这为未来研究提供了拓展方向。
相比之下,在经济开放度有限的地区,认证企业难以获取国际经验和分销渠道等关键海外资源,对国际市场的绿色标准往往缺乏充分了解。因此,其提供的环保型差异化产品不一定符合国际市场的绿色要求。这种情况增加了企业出口的外方责任,扩大了绿色贸易壁垒,增加了企业出口的被动性(Sam et al,2022)。因此,在这种情况下,企业建立国际竞争优势的难度和成本更高。基于上述分析,本文提出研究假说2。
在市场化程度较高的地区,企业能够获得更多市场资源的支持,并通过多层次资本市场促进研发资本积累。竞争机制作为关键市场信号,激励企业提升研发质量与效率。此类地区通常具备更健全的信任机制和市场认可体系,有助于企业建立可靠的绿色品牌声誉,进而增强环境管理体系认证对出口的积极影响。研究表明,在这些地区,矿企的ESG评级与出口规模之间存在显著正相关关系(Ma et al,2024)。
(4)控制变量。借鉴现有研究(He et al,2019;Sharma et al,2020),控制了2组控制变量。内部因素包括企业特征变量、企业财务绩效变量和企业治理特征变量。外部因素包括区域研发投入和产业竞争等。具体包括:①国企(SOE),若公司是国有企业编码为1,否则为0;②企业规模(SIZE),以第t年企业员工数量的对数计算;③企业年龄(AGE),企业年龄以其成立年数的对数来衡量;④资产负债率(LEV),用总负债与总资产的比值衡量;⑤所有权集中度(OC10),以十大股东的赫芬顿达尔—赫希曼指数来衡量;⑥区域研发强度(RRD),以各地区政府研发投入除以各地区高新技术产业雇用人数来衡量;⑦赫芬顿达尔—赫希曼指数(HHI),按企业相对于产业的比例计算。
(1)劳动生产率。劳动生产率代表价格竞争力的整体提升,影响相对定价和出口行为。该指标用人均销售额的对数表示。(2)政府补助。可以抵消ISO 14001认证产生的部分成本,数据主要来源于上市公司的年报数据。(3)全要素生产率。较高的全要素生产率不仅有助于企业减少在ISO 14001认证过程中的投入,还能够通过提高生产效率和降低成本,增强企业在国际市场上的竞争力,部分抵消出口业务中的沉没成本。采用OP法估算全要素生产率。(4)企业出口经验。Leonidou et al(2015)表明,经验丰富的出口企业比经验不足的出口企业倾向于采取更多的绿色活动,并且有出口经验的公司拥有丰富的出口知识和信息。使用企业开始出口以来的年数表示企业出口经验。此外,加入公司规模和股权集中度作为协变量。
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