INTEGRATING GREEN ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION ANDOPPORTUNITY RECOGNITION FOR SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVEADVANTAGE: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FROM NIGERIA’S COCOASMES

Abstract

In this theoretical paper, the creation and maintenance of competitive advantage by means of
Green Entrepreneurial Orientation (GEO) through Opportunity Recognition (OR) in the
cocoa value chain of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria are developed in a
process-based explanation. Based on the recent studies of strategy and entrepreneurship,
GEO is viewed as a company level strategic stance, which incorporates the environmental
commitment in the process of scanning, experimentation, and resource allocation. GEO, on
its part, is not necessarily performance-enhancing; instead, its value is generated as the
managers formally identify, evaluate, and introduce opportunities that promote sustainability
like eco-innovations in processing, waste valorization, digital traceability, compliance
capabilities, and repositioning of products to the green market. The paper therefore provides
a mediator-only model where OR will be the intermediate between GEO and Sustainable
Competitive Advantage (SCA). Four propositions are stated:(P1) GEO has a positive effect
on opportunity recognition in the cocoa value chain; (P2) opportunity recognition has a
positive effect on SCA; (P3) a confounding direct GEO-SCA relationship might exist when
internal green routines are generating cost/reputation benefits of their own; and (P4) OR
mediates the GEO-SCA association. The paper clarifies the construct boundaries, provides
guidance regarding operationalizing GEO, OR, and SCA in future empirical research and
identifies contextual aspects that characterize Southwest Nigeria, such as changing norms of
sustainability compliance, increasing traceability requirements, and pressure to increase
efficiency, which render the mechanism theoretically salient. Theoretically, the paper also reexamines GEO as a strategic direction informed by practice as opposed to a trait, and
positions OR as a central mediator of processes as opposed to a marginal enabling factor,
and suggests a contingent agenda on empirical validation in the context of agri-SMEs in the
developing world. On the managerial front, the framework guides the owner-managers and
support agencies to increase the intensity of low-cost scanning routines, high speed
validation of green ideas and codified compliance and traceability practices as sources of
defensible advantage. This is just a conceptual study using previous literature and situational
understanding in establishing propositions that are meant to guide subsequent research
studies.