Over the last few decades, the rising concern of environmental protection and consumers¡¦ increasing environmental consciousness have brought fundamental impacts to enterprises in the world. Environmental protection has become one of corporate social responsibilities, and in the meantime, one of the opportunities for profitability. Among all resources in organizations, human resource plays the most important role in keeping corporate competitive advantage. In order to create and maintain corporate competitive advantage, traditional human capital also has to be transformed into green human capital that possesses the ability to develop green innovation. The purpose of this research is to investigate how green human capital will be influential on the level green innovation, and how it actually leads to corporate competitive advantage. The study uses in-depth interviews and questionnaires to collect data for the analysis. The results reveal that green human capital strategic value has a positive impact on green product innovation and green product innovation has a mediating effect in the relationship between green human capital strategic value and responsiveness. On the other hands, green human capital uniqueness has a positive impact on green process innovation and green process innovation plays a mediating effect in the relationship between green human capital uniqueness and cost advantage.

Companies attempt to overcome their competitors by creating and sustaining competitive advantage. Innovation, understood as the introduction of a new good or service in the economic system by the producers, who educate consumers to look for new things that differ from those already on the market (SCHUMPETER, 1989) is configured as one of the most important means to achieve advantage over the rivals. Allied to this, the need for preservation of natural resources and the growing environmental appeal in recent years has motivated organizations to think green during the process and manufacture of its goods or services. Inserted in this scenario, the present study aimed to verify how the adoption of green innovation influences the achieving competitive advantage of companies in the electrical and electronic sectors Brazilian. Using a quantitative/descriptive model, the study adopted the conceptual model proposed by Chen, Lai and Wen (2006), which are presented two research hypotheses: (H1) green product innovation has a positive effect the pursuit of competitive advantage of organizations and (H2) green process innovation has a positive effect the pursuit of competitive advantage of organizations. Using a target population of the companies linked to the Brazilian Association of Electrical and Electronics Industry (ABINEE), the sample consisted of 113 organizations representing 20.62% of this population. Data collection occurred between the months of October to December 2011 and used a Likert-type questionnaire with five-point scale. The results showed that the level of adoption of green innovative practices, as well as the level of adoption of factors that lead to competitive advantage between the firms is high, because all the variables measured presented averages above the midpoint of the scale (3.00). Also it was verified by means Regression Analysis, that the relationship between green product innovation and achieving competitive advantage, and the relationship between green process innovation and achieving competitive advantage is considered significant, but at the moderate level, because the value of R2 was found 0.274, indicating that 27.4% of the variation of competitive advantage can be explained from the green innovation. Thus, it was found that both the green product innovation and green process innovation affect positively the pursuit of competitive advantage, and innovation process with greater intensity. / As empresas buscam superar suas concorrentes por meio da criação e sustentação de vantagens competitivas. A inovação, entendida como a introdução de um novo bem ou serviço no sistema econômico por meio dos produtores, que educam os consumidores a buscarem coisas novas que diferem daquelas já existentes no mercado (SCHUMPETER, 1989) configura-se como um dos mais importantes meios para alcançar vantagem frente às rivais. Aliado a isso, a necessidade de preservação dos recursos naturais e o apelo ambiental crescente dos últimos anos tem motivado as organizações a pensarem de maneira verde durante os processos e fabricação de seus bens ou serviços. Inserido nesse cenário, a presente pesquisa teve por objetivo verificar como a adoção de inovações verdes influencia na obtenção de vantagem competitiva das empresas dos setores elétrico e eletrônico brasileiro. De natureza quantitativa/descritiva, o estudo adotou o modelo conceitual proposto por Chen, Lai e Wen (2006), onde são apresentadas duas hipóteses de investigação: (H1) a inovação de produtos verdes afeta positivamente a busca por vantagem competitiva das organizações e (H2) a inovação de processos verdes afeta positivamente a busca por vantagem competitiva das organizações. Utilizando como população-alvo as empresas vinculadas à Associação Brasileira da Indústria Elétrica e Eletrônica (ABINEE), a amostra foi composta por 113 organizações que representaram 20,62% dessa população. A coleta de dados ocorreu entre os meses de Outubro a Dezembro de 2011, por meio de questionário do tipo Likert, com escala de cinco pontos. Os resultados apontaram que o nível de adoção de práticas inovativas verdes, bem como de fatores que conduzem à vantagem competitiva entre as empresas participantes é elevado, uma vez que todas as variáveis mensuradas apresentaram médias acima do ponto intermediário da escala (3,00). Também constatou-se, por meio da Análise de Regressão, que a relação entre a inovação de produtos verdes e a obtenção de vantagem competitiva, bem como a relação entre a inovação de processos verdes e a obtenção de vantagem competitiva é considerada significativa, mas ao nível moderado, já que o valor encontrado de R2 foi de 0,274, indicando que 27,4% da variação da vantagem competitiva podem ser explicados a partir da inovação verde. Assim, verificou-se que tanto a inovação de produtos verdes quanto a inovação de processos verdes afetam positivamente a busca por vantagem competitiva, sendo que as inovações de processos com maior intensidade.