Systematic Review - Network for Business Sustainability

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innovating for sustainability In each context – Operational Optimization, Organizational Transformation and Systems Building – firms engage in specific innovation activities. This chapter describes these activities in detail in order to allow firms to benchmark their current actions and map a route forward. Innovating for Sustainability 22
The previous chapters presented a model describing three contexts of sustainability-oriented innovation: Operational Optimization, Organizational Transformation and Systems Building. In this chapter, we review firms’ innovation activities in response to sustainability drivers at each context and expand on the list of practices just presented. SOI in the context of operational optimization For many firms, the first steps toward SOI stem from their activities to ensure compliance with environmental and social regulations. In this context, their innovation is either reactive or proactive. Reactive innovation refers to activities in response to obligations. Proactive innovation is characterized by a firm’s initiative to go beyond regulation, e.g. by collaborating with the firm’s immediate stakeholders. The focus of an Operational Optimizer is predominantly internal: inward-looking, risk-reducing and efficiency-seeking. Innovative solutions seek to diminish unsustainable practices by focusing on resource efficiencies and incremental technological improvements to products and business processes. For example, a firm might begin by adopting standalone, “add-on” innovations, such as end-of-pipe technologies. Operational Optimization is enabled by conventional innovation and knowledge-management capabilities that are newly oriented toward sustainability. The shift from a reactive to a proactive orientation usually occurs when the reactive position becomes uneconomic — for example, when add-on solutions incur costs greater than the costs of a process redesign (Alston & Roberts, 1999) or when firms view a sustainability orientation not as a risk but as an opportunity. Firms move from their previous ad hoc approach to a more formalized integrated strategy of innovation that instills sustainability more widely, both internally and by engaging with stakeholders. Firms look beyond their own boundaries to extend sustainability considerations into supply chain management and customer relations. These are the practices that characterize Operational Optimizers. COLLABORATIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS Collaborations with diverse partners bridge knowledge gaps and exploit synergies: 1. 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. 2. Collaborate internally and across functions to integrate SOI across the firm and enhance opportunities for new product success 3. Work with customers to identify their sustainability concerns (and thus opportunities for adding value) and to enhance legitimacy and social licence to operate SOI is the integration of diverse and sometimes conflicting economic, environmental and social considerations. Firms may not have the requisite Innovating for Sustainability 23
Page 1 and 2: innovating for sustainability A Sys
Page 3 and 4: Through innovation, companies can b
Page 5 and 6: Dear Reader, I’m pleased to share
Page 7 and 8: introduction This systematic review
Page 9 and 10: To address the needs of all firms,
Page 11 and 12: origins of SOI and its relation to
Page 13 and 14: customers or the acquisition of new
Page 15 and 16: We developed our model of contexts
Page 17 and 18: From the models reviewed, we envisi
Page 19 and 20: Dimension 2: Stand-alone/integrated
Page 21: OPERATIONAL OPTIMIZATION ORGANIZATI
Page 25 and 26: Internally, SOI can require working
Page 27 and 28: Operational Optimizers must source
Page 29 and 30: 2. Use available tools such as envi
Page 31 and 32: LCA has multiple variants (Kaval, 2
Page 33 and 34: • Reducing energy and chemical us
Page 35 and 36: 4. Ensure functionality is not comp
Page 37 and 38: In the Organizational Transformatio
Page 39 and 40: In Practice The contribution of lon
Page 41 and 42: sustainability goals and objectives
Page 43 and 44: eports or as social and environment
Page 45 and 46: PROCESS INNOVATION A number of cate
Page 47 and 48: In Practice The cradle-to-cradle me
Page 49 and 50: In Practice InterfaceFLOR is gradua
Page 51 and 52: In Practice There is a potentially
Page 53 and 54: development on the needs of the poo
Page 55 and 56: such innovations. Much more difficu
Page 57 and 58: discussion Firms are re-embedding t
Page 59 and 60: competitive advantages. Third, firm
Page 61 and 62: previous reviews Earlier literature
Page 63 and 64: The current study extends these pre
Page 65 and 66: additional materials The appendices
Page 67 and 68: appendix 1: methodology The systema
Page 69 and 70: SEARCHING THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE
Page 71 and 72: Search methods We used the followin
Page 73 and 74:
At the outset of this project, the
Page 75 and 76:
Data were coded according to biblio
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Table 8 JOURNALS PROVIDING ONLY A S
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DESIGN OF STUDIES Sectoral distribu
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which speaks to the contestation ar
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The studies in our sample are mixed
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THE ELEMENTS OF INNOVATION A tradit
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appendix 3: definitions of SOI This
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SUSTAINABILITY-RELATED AND SUSTAINA
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STUDY MODEL Alexander Ballard Ltd.
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appendix 6: frugal, reverse and soc
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Benyus, J.M. (1997). Biomimicry: in
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Del Río, P., Carrillo-Hermosilla,
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Hunt, C.B. & Auster, E.R. (1990). P
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Machiba, T. (2010). Eco-innovation
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Reay, T., Berta, W. & Kohn, M.K. (2
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Wagner, M. (2007). On the relations
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Network for Business Sustainability
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