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Combating global warming, safeguarding ecological support systems and reducing energy and resource use as well as maintaining functioning societies are key challenges for many businesses today and in the near future. These problems have been addressed under the integrating concept of sustainable development. Implementing sustainable development in corporations, however, necessitates organizational learning. In light of a wide variation in corporate behaviour in accepting these challenges or not, the question arises of when and why companies pursue processes of learning and change to integrate sustainability, what effects these innovations have, and to what extent, and what factors promote or inhibit learning. This article addresses these questions on the basis of an empirical analysis of six companies. The study analyses internal and external explanatory factors for the occurrence of sustainability‐oriented learning and change processes in medium‐sized and large companies. Our findings highlight the role of learning mechanisms, leadership styles, internal networks and change agents. In terms of company‐external factors, the study focused on the pressure applied by stakeholders and governmental regulation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Despite the increasing interest in green innovation literature, little is known on how and under what conditions firms' knowledge transfer activities affect green innovation. There is lack of research that on how particular organizational capabilities are seen more useful and how it influences on green innovation performance. To address this research gap, we examine a mediation model in which we explore whether a firm's knowledge acquisition capability and investment in environmental management mediate the impact of buyer‐driven knowledge transfer activities on green product innovation and green process innovation. On the basis of an analysis of a sample of 239 manufacturing firms, we find that buyer‐driven knowledge activities have a greater positive impact on green product innovation than green process innovation. Investment in environmental management fully mediates the relationship between buyer‐driven knowledge transfer activities and green process innovation, and knowledge acquisition capability partially mediates the relationship between buyer‐driven knowledge transfer activities and green product innovation. The current study provides evidence that internal competencies and the role of buyers in knowledge transfer are critical for explaining the green product innovation and green process innovation. Our results suggest that buyer involvement pushes firms to develop resource acquisition capability to enhance green product innovation. Our results also highlight the importance of investment in environmental management for overcoming the environmental challenges in the manufacturing firms.

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Sustainability innovation research often focuses on the interrelation and the interaction of influencing factors and actors while neglecting the importance of firm internal initiatives. Based on a longitudinal case study of the Dutch company Royal Philips Electronics, we develop the concept of 'green flagging' as a groundbreaking corporate sustainability innovation strategy. This paper describes how Philips uses this approach in its Green Flagship Program (GFP). Philips' GFP is particularly interesting since it sets specific targets across all its business units, thus driving the integration of sustainability innovation into its core business. This study suggests that the impact of sustainability innovations can be improved by focusing on sustainability as an explicit goal as well as processes and projects instead of merely concentrating on content and structure. We discuss the possibilities and limitations of these findings for theory and research on sustainability innovation strategies. Copyright

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stress unsolved global topics such as mitigating poverty and exclusion. Inclusive approaches often highlight frugal innovations for the Base of the Pyramid and low income markets, mainly offered by private sector. In the contexts of sustainability, the private sector is both, a major driver of exclusionary processes as well as for enforcing new inclusive solutions enhancing quality of life, participation, and incomes. So it is of interest if and how the business sector contributes to enforcing SDGs. Therefore, 50 frugal innovations were analyzed for their contribution to the SDGs and their sustainability value creation patterns by content analysis. Main insights stress that social engagement is mainly value driven by small and medium enterprises and non‐governmental organizations. Institutional voids can function as drivers for multinational corporations to develop new and inclusive business models. An enforcement of the SDGs is primarily given on indirect and low level.

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Fa c h b e i t r a gZusammenfassung: Unternehmerische aktivitäten und strategische entscheidungen verursachen vielfältige ökologische und soziale Probleme. Zugleich bringen Unternehmen zahlreiche Lösungs-ideen für diese Probleme hervor und gestalten soziale und ökologische entwicklungen aktiv. Vor dem hintergrund des tiefgreifenden ökonomischen und gesellschaftlichen Wandels brauchen wir eine nachhaltige entwicklung - und diese braucht neue Strategien. Doch welche Faktoren fördern welche Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien? Die qualitative analyse von drei Fallbeispielen aus den aktivitätsfeldern chemie, recycling und information & Kommunikation zeigt wichtige Mechanismen für nachhaltige Strategiewechsel und zeigt Unterschiede von intensiven und proaktiven Nachhaltigkeitsstrategien auf. in der Studie werden organisationale, kulturelle und externe Faktoren herausgearbeitet, die nachhaltigkeitsbezogene proaktive und intensive Strategiewechsel fördern kön-nen. bedeutsame Faktoren für proaktive Strategiewechsel sind das strategische Verständnis des Managements, unternehmerische Freiräume für Mitarbeiter/innen und change agents, nachhaltigkeitsbezogene Konkurrenz und die bisherige Markt- bzw. technologienähe des Unternehmens zu nachhaltigeren alternativen. Strategische Wechsel mit einer hohen Nachhaltigkeitsintensität werden durch Visionen und unternehmerische Optionen, durch Stakeholder und vielschichtige organisationale Fähigkeiten gefördert.Schlüsselwörter: Strategische Wechsel · Proaktive und intensive Strategien · Nachhaltigkeit · Kulturelle, organisationale und externe Einflussfaktoren · Innovationen