Abstract
When companies pursue sustainability, it's usually to demonstrate that they are socially responsible. They expect that the endeavor will add to their costs, deliver no immediate financial benefits, and quite possibly erode their competitiveness. Meanwhile, policy makers and activists argue that it will take tougher regulations and educated, organized consumers to force businesses to adopt sustainable practices. But, say the authors, the quest for sustainability can unearth a mother lode of organizational and technological innovations that yield both top-line and bottom-line returns. That quest has already begun to transform the competitive landscape, as companies redesign products, technologies, processes, and business models. By equating sustainability with innovation today, enterprises can lay the groundwork that will put them in the lead when the recession ends. Nidumolu, Prahalad, and Rangaswami have found that companies on the journey to sustainability go through five distinct stages of change: (1) viewing compliance as opportunity; (2) making value chains sustainable; (3) designing sustainable products and services; (4) developing new business models; and (5) creating next-practice platforms. The authors outline the challenges that each stage entails and the capabilities needed to tackle them.
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- Therefore, the combination of sustainability and innovation is indispensable to realize new combinations, which can lead to an innovation process tackling the current sustainability challenges. Nidumolu et al. described sustainability as the relevant key driver for innovation in the 21st century[15]. The expressions for combining innovation and sustainability include sustainable innovation, sustainability-driven innovation and eco-innovation.
- Therefore, the combination of sustainability and innovation is indispensable to realize new combinations, which can lead to an innovation process tackling the current sustainability challenges. Nidumolu et al. described sustainability as the relevant key driver for innovation in the 21st century[15]. The expressions for combining innovation and sustainability include sustainable innovation, sustainability-driven innovation and eco-innovation.
- When a company is engaged in innovative and strategic socially responsible practices that encourage the development of products and services that benefit workers in the supply chain, fair trade, and transparency of ethical data, and help communities surrounding the supply chain, it may signal the legitimacy of the company and reinforce the social contract it has with society (Kozlowski et al. 2015). Implementing innovative supply chain sustainability practices can result in new products and the opening of new markets for the supply chain (Nidumolu et al. 2009;Pagell and Wu 2009). Design changes to reduce societal impact that are below regulatory requirements have no benefits for companies.
- When a company is engaged in innovative and strategic socially responsible practices that encourage the development of products and services that benefit workers in the supply chain, fair trade, and transparency of ethical data, and help communities surrounding the supply chain, it may signal the legitimacy of the company and reinforce the social contract it has with society (Kozlowski et al. 2015). Implementing innovative supply chain sustainability practices can result in new products and the opening of new markets for the supply chain (Nidumolu et al. 2009;Pagell and Wu 2009). Design changes to reduce societal impact that are below regulatory requirements have no benefits for companies.
- This section presents the results of the study and discusses them. First of all,Table 1Waas et al., 2012;Brandli et al., 2015;Leal Filho et al., 2015b) or on innovation at universities (Cameron, 1996;Clugston, 1999;Crossan and Apaydin, 2010;Dahle and Neumayer, 2001;Hart and Milstein, 2003;Paech, 2007;Hockerts and Morsing, 2008;Nidumolu et al., 2009;Barbieri and Silva, 2011;Hockerts and Morsing, 2008;Cars and West, 2015;European Commission, 2016;Ferreira and Dionísio, 2016), and do not have an integrated vision about innovation and SD. The evaluation of the importance of the barriers identified inTable 1points out the fifteen most significant barriers according to the results of the Likert scale (for each scale there was a weight correspondent, for example, the scale 5 expressed a greater degree of relevance in comparison to weight 1).Table 2shows the results of the statistical analysis andFig.
- This section presents the results of the study and discusses them. First of all,Table 1Waas et al., 2012;Brandli et al., 2015;Leal Filho et al., 2015b) or on innovation at universities (Cameron, 1996;Clugston, 1999;Crossan and Apaydin, 2010;Dahle and Neumayer, 2001;Hart and Milstein, 2003;Paech, 2007;Hockerts and Morsing, 2008;Nidumolu et al., 2009;Barbieri and Silva, 2011;Hockerts and Morsing, 2008;Cars and West, 2015;European Commission, 2016;Ferreira and Dionísio, 2016), and do not have an integrated vision about innovation and SD. The evaluation of the importance of the barriers identified inTable 1points out the fifteen most significant barriers according to the results of the Likert scale (for each scale there was a weight correspondent, for example, the scale 5 expressed a greater degree of relevance in comparison to weight 1).Table 2shows the results of the statistical analysis andFig.
- In fact,Griggs et al. (2013)propose a new paradigm for sustainable development in which the global economy is seen as nested within society, which itself lies within and is symbiotically dependent upon a healthy biophysical system. In the past, many business students have typically been disconnected from environmental education (Becker, 1997), but with declining natural resources, shifting climate conditions, deteriorating ecosystem services, and the consumer-driven push toward transparent supply chains, knowledge of ecological impact and sustainable initiatives has become a driver for business success (Nidumolu, Prahalad, & Rangaswami, 2009). The five SDGs that are closely linked to the Environmental Responsibility theme of SEERS are: water and sanitation (#6), affordable and clean energy (#7), climate action (#13), life below water (#14), and life on land (#15) (seeTable 1).
- In fact,Griggs et al. (2013)propose a new paradigm for sustainable development in which the global economy is seen as nested within society, which itself lies within and is symbiotically dependent upon a healthy biophysical system. In the past, many business students have typically been disconnected from environmental education (Becker, 1997), but with declining natural resources, shifting climate conditions, deteriorating ecosystem services, and the consumer-driven push toward transparent supply chains, knowledge of ecological impact and sustainable initiatives has become a driver for business success (Nidumolu, Prahalad, & Rangaswami, 2009). The five SDGs that are closely linked to the Environmental Responsibility theme of SEERS are: water and sanitation (#6), affordable and clean energy (#7), climate action (#13), life below water (#14), and life on land (#15) (seeTable 1).
- Innovation was made a key to understanding the linkage between CSR and a company's social and financial performance (Visser, 2010). Nidumolu,Prahalad and Rangaswami (2009)pointed out conclusively that CSR is a fundamental driver of innovation. EuropeanCommission (2006)argued that CSR may contribute to sustainable development and simultaneously increase corporate competitive potential by stimulating innovation.
- Innovation was made a key to understanding the linkage between CSR and a company's social and financial performance (Visser, 2010). Nidumolu,Prahalad and Rangaswami (2009)pointed out conclusively that CSR is a fundamental driver of innovation. EuropeanCommission (2006)argued that CSR may contribute to sustainable development and simultaneously increase corporate competitive potential by stimulating innovation.
- The uncertainty of green purchase is modeled in the fraction of consumers at each preference location x.malized to[0,1]. We want to assist the second mover (Company 1) to catch up with the environmental quality of the early mover (Company 2) (Nidumolu et al. 2009); thus, we are unwilling to deal with non-environmental-friendly products and pure price competition; therefore, we assume that θ 1 = θ 2 .Relaxing the uniform assumption in the consumer population is essential to our analysis. In classical spatial competition models, the number of consumers with all types of preferences was assumed to be constant along the linear city, which is an over-simplified assumption.
- The uncertainty of green purchase is modeled in the fraction of consumers at each preference location x.malized to[0,1]. We want to assist the second mover (Company 1) to catch up with the environmental quality of the early mover (Company 2) (Nidumolu et al. 2009); thus, we are unwilling to deal with non-environmental-friendly products and pure price competition; therefore, we assume that θ 1 = θ 2 .Relaxing the uniform assumption in the consumer population is essential to our analysis. In classical spatial competition models, the number of consumers with all types of preferences was assumed to be constant along the linear city, which is an over-simplified assumption.
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