From global standards to local practice: bifurcated absorptive capacity for green innovation in Moroccan SME supply chains

This study examines how resource-constrained Moroccan manufacturing SMEs transform external environmental knowledge into green innovation within supply chain relationships. These firms face increasing pressure from international sustainability standards, customers, suppliers, and institutional actors. Yet limited resources often restrict their ability to implement cleaner products, processes, and operational practices. Using absorptive capacity as a theoretical lens, this study investigates three Moroccan SMEs operating in the textile, plastics, and cosmetics sectors. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, on-site observations, and document analysis. The analysis identifies five mechanisms through which SMEs absorb and operationalize environmental knowledge: strategic knowledge filtering, hybrid knowledge synthesis, leadership-driven knowledge exploitation, organizational agility under resource constraints, and bifurcated absorption strategies. These strategies combine global sustainability requirements with local market realities. The analysis suggests that green innovation in emerging-economy SME supply chains depends not only on access to external environmental knowledge. It also depends on firms' ability to selectively interpret, adapt, and apply knowledge circulating across supply chain networks. This study contributes to sustainable supply chain management literature by explaining how SMEs convert supply-chain-mediated environmental knowledge into green innovation. It also extends absorptive capacity theory by conceptualizing knowledge absorption as a boundary-spanning process shaped by suppliers, customers, institutional actors, and sustainability pressures.