Different Ways to Access Knowledge for Sustainability-Oriented Innovation. The Effect of Foreign Direct Investment

Abstract

Sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI), which displays an intention to develop a product or service that contributes to economic, environmental, and social sustainability, has drawn growing institutional and academic attention, due to the general consideration that innovation is an essential part of achieving sustainability. For developments of this nature, it is considered that foreign direct investment (FDI) helps companies to meet the requirements demanded by SOI, however, they show different cooperation patterns, and so it is not known what path they must take to achieve it. In this context, this paper uses comparative analysis to try to shed light on the possible differences in the paths taken to achieve SOI by companies with and without FDI, taking into account their different form of knowledge management. To achieve this objective, it has been necessary to build new sustainability indicators (economic, environmental, and social) that allow the evaluation of the sustainability of these processes, considering the sustainability objectives that guided companies towards innovation. Using a logit model for 5897 Spanish companies during the period 2009–2014, this paper contributes both theoretically and empirically to emerging research into the opening of sustainable innovation. It provides a better understanding of the different channels for accessing knowledge for SOI, and examining these channels through absorptive capacity and cooperation, according to its age and size.

The Role of Social and Institutional Contexts in Social Innovations of Spanish Academic Spinoffs

“…Hence, these innovations do not occur within a vacuum, but within an entrepreneurial ecosystem [10,52]. Within this entrepreneurial ecosystem, recent studies grant major importance to the social and institutional contexts, because these can provide access to the various types of knowledge that these firms need for the development of social innovations through a process of co-creation [10][11][12][13][14]18]. With respect to the institutional context, Melane-Lavado and Álvarez-Herranz [13] found that universities can provide knowledge regarding unsatisfied social demands and regarding how to meet these demands from a sustainability point of view.…”

“…Within this entrepreneurial ecosystem, recent studies grant major importance to the social and institutional contexts, because these can provide access to the various types of knowledge that these firms need for the development of social innovations through a process of co-creation [10][11][12][13][14]18]. With respect to the institutional context, Melane-Lavado and Álvarez-Herranz [13] found that universities can provide knowledge regarding unsatisfied social demands and regarding how to meet these demands from a sustainability point of view. Considering the social context, on the one hand, firms may rely on relationships with customers to access highly specialized market knowledge on the existing or latent needs of society [12].…”

“…On the other hand, firms may co-create with their competitors in order to develop innovations focused on social products and services [12]. Finally, suppliers may provide information on raw materials and inputs that firms can use in their production processes to reduce resource intensity, emissions, and waste in order to render social innovations more sustainable [13].…”

“…Relationships with suppliers, customers, and competitors may play a critical role in improving social innovation of ASOs, since they provide a direct source of various types of knowledge related to existing and latent social problems that is necessary for the development of social innovations through a process of co-creation [12,13].…”

“…Specifically, several studies point out that among the various contexts that comprise the entrepreneurial ecosystem, the social and institutional contexts acquire special relevance since they allow ASOs to gain access to critical resources and capacities for social innovation [4,9]. Thus, from the social context, ASOs access knowledge regarding existing or latent social needs and how to meet such needs [12,13]. The institutional context provides ASOs with information on specific fiscal regimes, public financial resources, and managerial and entrepreneurial skills [11,14,15].…”