Meeting customers' green requirements for manufacturing firms has been a continuing debate but with mixed results. Based on the innovation diffusion theory, this study argues that process innovation can be an important conduit to absorb customers' green pressures to enhance sustainable measures. The empirical results from 680 manufacturers in 10 different countries confirmed the relationship between the customer green pressures and sustainability performance. Initially, manufacturers might find themselves less motivated in investing environmental initiatives due to limited business performance improvements; however, process innovation can fully absorb external pressures and enhance business measures such as growth and market share. Furthermore, as firms engage more in exports, environmental customer pressures intensify and in turn influence process innovation. Export developments led to proactive approach in handling customer green pressures and leading to better sustainable measures, mainly in environmental measures, but not financial performance. The findings highlight the importance of process innovation in sustainability development and offer managerial guidelines for export-oriented industries in aligning customer environmental demands to accommodate resources for development of sustainable strategies.

中文翻译：

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处理客户绿色压力：过程创新在出口导向型制造业中的中介作用

满足客户对制造公司的绿色要求一直是一个持续的争论，但结果喜忧参半。基于创新扩散理论，本研究认为流程创新可以成为吸收客户绿色压力以加强可持续措施的重要渠道。来自 10 个不同国家的 680 家制造商的实证结果证实了客户绿色压力与可持续发展绩效之间的关系。最初，制造商可能会发现，由于业务绩效改进有限，他们在投资环保举措方面的积极性较低；但是，流程创新可以充分吸收外部压力并增强增长和市场份额等业务指标。此外，随着企业更多地从事出口，环境客户压力加剧，进而影响流程创新。出口发展导致采取积极主动的方法来处理客户的绿色压力，并导致更好的可持续措施，主要是环境措施，而不是财务绩效。调查结果强调了流程创新在可持续发展中的重要性，并为出口导向型行业提供了管理指南，以调整客户的环境需求以适应可持续战略发展所需的资源。