Research

This methodological paper develops a transparent and reproducible pipeline for matching firm- and product-level entities across large, unstructured datasets. We combine deterministic rules, embedding-based similarity measures, and structured human validation to balance precision, recall, and auditability. The approach is designed for applied marketing research where ground truth is unavailable and scalability must be traded off against error control. We provide open-source code and detailed implementation guidance.

As firms increasingly commit to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, an open question is whether these commitments complement or constrain innovation. Drawing on the attention-based view of the firm, we argue that ESG initiatives can absorb managerial attention and organizational resources, potentially crowding out product innovation.

Using quarterly panel data on 457 publicly listed U.S. firms observed from 2007 to 2021, we find that stronger ESG performance is associated with fewer new product introductions. This relationship is moderated by firm context: R&D intensity mitigates the negative association, competitive pressure sustains innovation incentives, and high profitability amplifies managerial risk aversion. The findings highlight an important trade-off between purpose and innovation and offer guidance on aligning sustainability commitments with innovation strategy.

Traditional innovation research emphasizes radical breakthroughs, yet many firms rely on incremental advancements to sustain competitive positioning. This paper examines whether, and under what conditions, incremental innovations can generate greater market share gains than radical innovations.

Using a novel panel dataset from a large biochemical industry—spanning more than 700 products, 19,000 customers, and 72 monthly periods—we exploit variation in firm status, innovation type, and price-adjusted efficacy to identify the relative performance of incremental versus radical innovations. We find that incremental innovations introduced by nondominant firms achieve systematically higher market share gains, driven by localized adaptation and differential adoption among informed customers. These results highlight the strategic value of incremental innovation as a competitive growth mechanism.

Prior research often treats sustainability orientation as a driver of overall innovation performance. We argue instead that sustainability primarily affects the allocation of innovative effort across technological domains. Drawing on the attention-based view of the firm, we propose that sustainability-oriented firms redirect innovation toward sustainability-aligned technologies, potentially crowding out innovation in non-aligned areas.

We test this argument using large-scale patent data linked to firm-level sustainability measures, distinguishing between sustainability-aligned and non-aligned technological classes. Using panel data methods, we show that stronger sustainability orientation is associated with a systematic reallocation of patenting activity toward sustainability-related domains, rather than an increase in total innovation output. These effects vary with firms’ resource availability and competitive environment. The findings clarify how purpose reshapes firms’ innovation portfolios and contribute to research on sustainability, innovation strategy, and managerial attention.