Managing innovation for sustainability

Authors: Seebode, Dorothea; Jeanrenaud, Sally; Bessant, John

Source: R&D Management, Volume 42, Number 3, 1 June 2012 , pp. 195-206(12)

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Abstract:

`Sustainability' is a major and growing driver of business change. Its implications for innovation are clear - living and working in a world of up to 9 billion people with rising expectations, providing energy, food and resource security, dealing with climate change, ecosystem degradation, a widening economic divide and a host of other interdependent issues will require massive change in products, services, processes, marketing approaches and the underlying business models which frame them. The focus of this paper is to develop an understanding of new approaches to innovation management required to take account of the growing pressures and emerging opportunities in the `sustainability' agenda. In particular, it draws on case studies of a variety of organisations to help answer the question of what practical actions might be taken beyond the rhetoric of moving towards greater sustainability or `greening' of business.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9310.2012.00678.x

Publication date: 2012-06-01