Systematic Review - Network for Business Sustainability

Internally, SOI can require working with different
departments and functions, and the integration of
internal and external expertise. These interactions and
inter-functional communications lead to sharing of
information across functions, transfer of practices and
a culture of embedded sustainability. Collaborations
tend to broaden as sustainability develops greater
significance in the firm. For example, incremental,
add-on innovations to address emissions are unlikely to
require or result from extensive collaborations.
3. Work with customers to identify their
sustainability concerns (and thus opportunities for
adding value) and to enhance legitimacy and social
licence to operate
Customer engagement provides a classic source of
innovation opportunity in conventional innovation theory.
Incorporating customers’ sustainability concerns in the
new-product development process is also a useful way
to identify where to add value. Initially, this approach
may involve simply assisting customers by responding
to the “bureaucratic inconvenience” of compliance with
regulation rather than responding to the sustainability
agenda (Foster & Green, 2002). For example, the
focal company might adopt “green” certification of
its products and processes, thereby establishing its
“green credentials” according to customer requirements
— or the engagement may be deeper. User groups
contribute to the technological development of the
innovation and provide opportunities for diffusion
and uptake, which can be particularly helpful when
technologies lack market legitimacy (Hart & Sharma,
2004; Ornetzeder & Rohracher, 2006).
CAPACITY AND CLIMATE
1. Exploit existing innovation capabilities to facilitate
adoption of incremental innovations
2. Empower the top team to set the direction of and
climate for SOI and ensure clarity of the innovation
purpose
3. Codify and formalize SOI targets and policies;
integrate sustainability goals into existing technical
specifications
4. Monitor performance against specific SOI criteria
1. Exploit existing innovation capabilities to
facilitate adoption of incremental innovations
According to the traditional neo-classical economic
model, the primary obligation of corporations is
to maximize profits for shareholders. This view fits
comfortably with the idea of Operational Optimization,
particularly the notion that sustainability principles can
be integrated into the firm’s existing model without
compromising product quality, performance and
reliability. Thus, organizations that lack a pervasive
culture of sustainability can exploit their existing
capabilities for innovation by adopting relatively simple
SOIs, such as technological add-on solutions.
Supportive climates are important for any innovation.
These can involve senior management support,
a sense of individual safety that encourages both
participation and the contribution of new ideas, a
clearly articulated vision and a clear task orientation or
commitment (Anderson & West, 1998). The additional
complexity of SOI makes a supportive environment
Innovating for Sustainability 25