Systematic Review - Network for Business Sustainability

Operational Optimizers must source and integrate
knowledge relating to materials and energy use,
pollution and waste creation, and the product life cycle.
This knowledge can come from multiple sources, such
as databases that assess the life cycle impacts of
materials. Firms with effective knowledge management
processes are more likely to be sustainable innovators;
knowledge management is a necessary sub-capability
underlying sustainable innovation (Ayuso et al., 2011).
Firms must also be prepared to recruit external
expertise to assist in tasks such as life cycle analyses
and materials selection when necessary.
1. Exploit existing knowledge management
capabilities to identify and access relevant
knowledge; reframe internal communications to
focus on sustainability; unlearn existing knowledge
that contradicts the firm’s sustainability principles
Even at the beginning of the SOI journey, such as when
adopting cleaner technologies, lack of the appropriate
expertise can constrain firms’ efforts. Knowledge
management is important for conventional innovation,
but must be re-thought for SOI. Organizations must
reframe their internal communications, reconfigure
their internal relations, initiate new conversations and
“unlearn” and replace redundant knowledge, such as
that relating to unsustainable product components
(Bossink, 2007; Magnusson, Lindström & Berggren,
2003).
2. Fill competence gaps through training, targeted
recruitment and the import of expertise; integrate
diverse elements of TBL considerations across the
firm by issuing and monitoring guidelines
Collaborations provide access to useful knowledge for
SOI, but the newly acquired knowledge must then be
appropriately managed within the firm (Ayuso et al.,
2011). Firms must have sufficient absorptive capacity
(Cohen & Levinthal, 1990) — that is, the capability to
absorb and integrate new knowledge. For example, in a
novel partnering arrangement, suppliers worked with an
assembly plant together to implement new technology
by integrating the suppliers’ detailed knowledge of
paint chemistry and environmental effects with the
automakers’ detailed knowledge of final product
requirements and assembly plant operations (Geffen &
Rothenberg, 2000).
The likelihood of successful SOI increases when
more employees are specialized or have expertise in
sustainability-related domains (Lee, 2009). Firm-level
environmental capabilities can be enhanced in several
ways: benchmarking and programs for reviewing
products, services and operations; investments in
employee training; cross-functional working; and
inter- and intra-sectoral networking (Zwetsloot, 2001).
For example, ABB bought a manufacturing firm
that had the technical competences that it required
but lacked (Sandström & Tingström, 2008). Firms
can fill knowledge and competence gaps by hiring
environmental specialists and by recruiting employees
at all levels who have interests and skills in sustainability.
Environmental training programs, especially for R&D
staff, will support the firm’s culture of SOI (Lee, 2009;
Petruzzelli et al., 2011).
Environmental co-ordinators can further integrate
sustainability thinking and behaviour (e.g. Pujari, Wright
& Peattie, 2003) by integrating the diverse elements of
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