The correlates of energy management practices and sales performance of small family food firms in Turkey

Abstract

Purpose While pursuing energy management, firms simultaneously strive to boost sales as a path towards economic performance. Also, the literature suggests that family firms exhibit greater environmental commitment than their non-family counterparts. To examine these contentions, this review espouses contingency theory to interrogate the correlations of (1) energy consumption targets, (2) energy efficiency enhancing measures, (3) energy consumption monitoring and (4) the domestic sales performance of small family food firms in Turkey’s food sector. Methodology Data were sourced from the World Bank Enterprise Survey. A sample of 137 family firms in food production, processing and retail was analysed using non-linear structural equation modelling. The net effects of path coefficients were estimated to determine the extent to which energy management practices predict domestic sales. Findings The path analysis revealed that although energy consumption targets do not directly increase sales performance, they stimulate firms’ energy efficiency enhancement measures and energy consumption monitoring to produce this effect by 21%. Practical/Managerial Implications The definitive results will reassure small family food firms of the financial and ecological benefits of setting energy targets in the first instance. This should be seen as a path towards putting in place energy efficiency enhancing measures and monitoring energy consumption. Insights for policy development are also offered to public stakeholders in the energy sector. Originality This inquiry is one of the first to examine energy management in the food sector at the family firm level through the contingency lens. Theoretically, the results draw attention and shed new light on disparate energy management practices and their discrete yet substantial contribution to sales performance. Practically, the fresh insights offer intelligence for the development of a national energy management policy in Turkey.