Impact of product handling and contamination prevention on competitive advantage in Oaxacan mezcal businesses

This article analyzes the impact of product management and pollution prevention on competitive advantage in cost, differentiation, and business growth, using natural resource-based vision (NRBV), which bases a relationship between different environmental strategies and competitive advantage. A quantitative research was conducted, using the partial least squares technique for a structural equation model (PLS-SEM), based on survey data from 61 mezcal businesses located in the "Mezcal Region" of Oaxaca state. The results show that product management impacts competitive advantage on costs and business growth, while pollution prevention did not yield significant results, which contradicts the arguments put forward in the NRBV. The article proposes a series of theoretical and practical implications, emphasizing mainly the need to propose models more suitable for subsistence contexts and the urgent need for institutional support to the studied sector.