Systematic Review - Network for Business Sustainability

etween the three contexts appear porous. That is,
some activities, particularly those relating to product and
process innovation, would not be out of place in any of
the contexts. What distinguishes the contexts is, as Bos-
Brouwers (2010b) points out, “purpose and direction”:
whether the firm focuses on efficiency or effectiveness,
reducing harm or doing good.
Table 1
THE ACTIVITIES OF SOI
How do firms enter the model? Firms start from different
positions and with different objectives. There is not a
“right place to start,” but an audit of existing practices
will help pinpoint gaps and identify “low-hanging fruit”
(opportunities for quick wins) or areas where the firm
can realize substantial ambitions. To move their firm
upward and rightward on the sustainability model,
managers may want to use Table 1 as a checklist for
both benchmarking their activities and mapping a route
consistent with their sustainability objectives. The next
chapter expands on these activities.
OPERATIONAL OPTIMIZATION ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION SYSTEMS BUILDING
Collaborations and relationships
• Co-operate and network externally to
compensate for lack of resources or lack
of expertise and to enhance legitimacy and
social licence to operate. Collaborators may
include regulators, suppliers and knowledge
institutions
• Collaborate internally and across functions
to integrate SOI across the firm and enhance
opportunities for new product success
• Work with customers to identify their
sustainability concerns (and thus
opportunities for adding value) and to
enhance legitimacy and the social licence to
operate
Capacity and climate
• Exploit existing innovation capabilities
to facilitate the adoption of incremental
innovations
• Empower the top team to set the direction of
and climate for SOI and ensure clarity of the
innovation purpose
• Codify and formalize SOI targets and
policies; integrate sustainability goals into
existing technical specifications
• Monitor performance against specific SOI
criteria
Systemic relationships
• New opportunities can be explored at the
interfaces of previously unrelated industries
• Collaborations become increasingly
interdependent
• New innovation platforms can be tested: e.g.
reverse innovation, jugaad innovation and
resource-constrained innovation
Capacity and climate
• Ensure that the top management team and line
managers are seen as having a commitment
to sustainability; communicate the values and
goals of sustainability; set goals and targets
that reach beyond operational and ecoefficiencies
• Ensure reward systems and incentives reflect
the focus on sustainability
• Revisit and reframe the business model and
modes of governance to acknowledge the
firm’s commitment to sustainability
• Integrate sustainability metrics into financial
reporting; adopt transparent sustainability
reporting
• Exploit organizational slack
• Extend search activities into unfamiliar fields:
use peripheral vision to search for weak signals
• Unlearn outdated capabilities
Apply a whole-systems
focus to influence the
redesign of institutions
and infrastructures and the
reconceptualization of the
business purpose.
• Derive new value
propositions from
entire socio-technical
and ecosystem value
network to make a
positive impact with an
inclusive business
• Engage in institutional
dialogues to “change the
rules of the game”
• Reframe the purpose
of the firm: suffuse and
infuse all dimensions of
TBL into the organization
• Initiate, mobilize, lead
and inspire systems
change
• Apply equal weight to
all aspects of the TBL in
organizational thinking
and decision-making
Innovating for Sustainability 20