The front-end of eco-innovation for eco-innovative small and medium sized companies

Abstract

This paper studies the Front End of Eco-Innovation (FEEI), the initial phase of the ecoinnovation process. Incorporating environmental concerns at the front-end of innovation is important, as product parameters are still flexible. This paper investigates the FEEI for 42 small and medium sized eco-innovators in the Netherlands by using a survey. The results show that SMEs embrace informal, systematic, and open innovation approaches at the FEEI. Teams appear to be multidisciplinary, and creativity and environmental knowledge are essential. Experimentation played a significant role at the FEEI. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research and implications for managers.

Lessons for Responsible Innovation in the Business Context: A Systematic Literature Review of Responsible, Social and Sustainable Innovation Practices

“…Subsequently, companies aim to generate innovative ideas that respond to the expressed needs or problems. Traditional ways like 'pen and pencil', brainstorming activities and idea boxes are still used to generate innovative ideas [52]. However, there are also examples of multi-stakeholder ideation (e.g., crowdsourcing of focus groups) that are initiated to generate innovative ideas together with the target group or consumers [53][54][55][56].…”

“…Values and motivations are used as heuristics when decisions have to be made under uncertainty or when faced with conflicting options [40]. That is why it is worrying that drivers such as profit or legislation are still the primary motivations when innovating for sustainability [44,52,58,[73][74][75]. Personal ethics appear to be critical for achieving truly sustainable or social innovations when they are compatible with business sensibilities [52,76,77].…”

“…That is why it is worrying that drivers such as profit or legislation are still the primary motivations when innovating for sustainability [44,52,58,[73][74][75]. Personal ethics appear to be critical for achieving truly sustainable or social innovations when they are compatible with business sensibilities [52,76,77]. This is especially true of the personal ethics of the owner/manager, as their values and motivations affect leadership, organisational culture and ultimately the management of the innovation project.…”

Critical success factors in early new product development: a review and a conceptual model

“…Cooperation among functions and departments Cross-functional cooperation has been identified as essential to front-end success (Bocken et al 2014;Wilemon 2002a, 2002b;Smith and Reinertsen 1992;Verganti 1997). One explanation may be that cross-functional cooperation benefits task analysis and reduces uncertainty in the front end (Moenaert et al 1995).…”

“…Therefore, Börjesson et al (2006) warn practitioners against taking too narrow a focus that may lead to ideas for products already available. Hence, it is recommended that firms adopt a scanning process, which includes more experimentation than the strategy literature suggests when they engage in NPD (e.g., Bocken et al 2014).…”