Creating Competitive Advantage through Green Innovation - A Qualitative Study of the Norwegian Aquaculture Industry

The aim of this study is to get a broader understanding of the concept of green innovation, and how firms use it to create competitive advantage. Empirical data from the Norwegian aquaculture industry is used, both through industry research and a multiple case study, to investigate the concept of green innovation. Empirical findings will be anchored in theoretical literature on green innovation and knowledge sharing in order to generalize the findings. It was discovered that the way in which firms use green innovation to create competitive advantage depends on the firm's strategy of differentiation or low cost. The findings of this thesis show that firms focusing on low cost use green innovation to come up with solutions that exploit resources more efficiently, and, hence, decrease production costs. Moreover, it was found that external knowledge sharing will help decrease the complexity of green innovations, as well as removing some of the risk and uncertainties related to whether or not the green innovation process will be a success. This study is believed to be valuable to managers of firms, both for firms that already implement green innovation processes and for firms that do not