What Leads to Investment in Sustainable Building? An MCA-PCA approach

Abstract

[Abstract] We use the PITEC database on innovation activities by Spanish SMEs to perform a multivariate statistical analysis to identify the most relevant factors for firms to invest in new products and production processes in the sectors of construction, engineering and elaboration of different building materials. We explore 41 indicators from four domains (innovation decisions, organisational, technological and environmental characteristics), with a special focus on financial constraints. The exploratory results obtained suggest product and process innovation tend to come together, while two are the key factors that determine whether firms invest in sustainable building or not. First, smaller and younger companies invest more frequently in new products and production processes; second, firms that have restricted access to financial sources – either internal or external – do not innovate.