THE INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES ON THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

This paper is positioned in the broader context of the natural resource-based theory of the firm and of a theory of dynamic capabilities. We have proposed the hypothesis that the organizational capabilities achieved by firms through environmental investments would lead to competitive advantages. Then we have tested this hypothesis, through the research method of survey, on a sample of 109 firms in the textile Romanian industry. In this sector, environmental management is more and more integrated into the operational the global activity of big retailers and there is a risk that smaller firms in the supply chain to have difficulties in fulfilling the requests of their retailer clients. The data was analyzed by the correlation and the regression method. The conclusions are that the organizational capabilities achieved through environmental investments influence positively only the competitive advantages based on costs and on differentiation, partially confirming our hypothesis.