In this article we systematically review the literature relating to Sustainability-Oriented Innovation (SOI), and present a model to help understand different types and phases of SOI in companies. SOI involves making intentional changes to organizational mind-sets and values, as well as the products, processes or practices that produce environmental and/or social benefits in addition to economic value. The model distinguishes between contexts of Operational Optimization, Organizational Transformation, and Systems Building, and is populated with a range of innovation practices illustrating what firms do to become more sustainable. The model is developed from a review of 127 articles from the academic and practitioner literature and focuses on the period between the two Earth Summits . The systematic review forms the foundation of this paper, but we supplement and populate the model with instances of SOI activity drawn from more recent practitioner literature to provide richer insights into contemporary pioneering SOI practice.

'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, service, 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 organizations to help answer the question of what practical actions might be taken beyond the rhetoric of moving towards greater sustainability or 'greening' of business.

Nature-inspired innovation (NII) is an increasingly common innovation strategy, yet little is known about its implementation within corporate innovation settings. This paper asks what factors influence the application of NII in corporate contexts. It combines theoretical perspectives from innovation adoption and sustainabilityoriented innovation to explore factors that influence the implementation of NII. Six case studies of multinational corporations applying NII were analyzed, using data collected through semistructured interviews (N = 45), a review of internal project documents, and publicly available materials. Results indicate that successful implementation depends upon the characteristics of the innovation context, decision-making units, and the innovation itself, such as an advanced organizational progression of corporate sustainability, senior leadership support of NII, design expertise within innovation teams, flexible innovation management processes, and collaboration with outside enabling stakeholders. NII should be viewed as a longer-term investment in developing organizational sustainability culture rather than a one-off approach to innovation.

No abstract

No abstract