Systematic Review - Network for Business Sustainability

Businesses face increasing pressure to change. This
pressure is both internal and external. Businesses have
historically seen themselves as separate from the rest
of society. As a result, they have been singled out as
being particularly responsible for environmental and
social harms. Now, many businesses are recognizing
the opportunities of greater integration with the
world outside their boundaries. Firms are also being
asked, and sometimes are obliged, to attend to the
environmental, social and economic implications of
their activities. Together, these factors (people, planet
and profit) constitute the Triple Bottom Line 1 (TBL) of
business sustainability (Elkington, 1997).
In the future, firms will need to adopt more sustainable
practices and outputs if they are to retain their
legitimacy — their social licence to operate — and
thrive. Thus, the ability to innovate in the domain of
sustainability is a capability that firms need. But is
Sustainability-Oriented Innovation (SOI) any different
from more traditional forms of innovation; and, if so,
what defines it?
Some firms are keen to respond to these challenges,
but are unsure of the actions they need to take. They
need guidance to identify and adopt SOI practices.
Other firms have already responded to the sustainability
challenge and may see themselves as part of the
solution rather than part of the problem. These firms
need direction on how to progress.
1 Also referred to as the integration of social, environmental and economic considerations (Elkington, 1997).
To help firms move toward sustainability, Network for
Business Sustainability commissioned this systematic
review of the literature relating to the practice and
management of SOI. This systematic review provides
guidance by identifying activities that firms could and
should be doing to adapt their innovation systems and
thereby drive sustainable outcomes. Consequently, in
this review, we address the question:
What innovation activities do firms
engage in to become sustainable?
It became apparent early in our review that two
schools of thought have emerged: one sees SOI
as a series of small incremental steps in the right
direction, and the other sees the need for more radical,
disruptive transformations. Based on these insights,
we developed a model (Figure 1) that distinguishes
between these different contexts of SOI, which we term
“Operational Optimization” (small, incremental changes)
and “Systems Building” (radical, disruptive changes).
The relative size of each context in Figure 1 suggests
the distribution of the literature. Further, we argue that
the move from Operational Optimization to Systems
Building requires an abrupt step-change, both in
mindset and behaviour, and that numerous firms have
entered a period of Organizational Transformation as
they experiment with moving toward Systems Building.
Innovating for Sustainability 8