Systematic Review - Network for Business Sustainability

In Practice
There is a potentially non-sustainable dimension
to biomimicry (Chang, 2010). For example, the
natural world includes predators and parasites, and
organizations could adopt predatory and parasitic
behaviours.
In Practice
Self-healing plastics inspired by the body’s
ability to heal wounds; the design of energyefficient
buildings drawn from termites’
capability to keep their mounds at a
constant temperature despite the fluctuation
of outside temperatures; solar cells that
mimic the photosynthesizing processes of
plants; the hooking mechanisms on seeds
that led to the invention of Velcro. Source:
Chang (2010).
University of Leeds researchers are studying
the jet-based defence mechanism of the
bombardier beetle to determine whether
the insect can assist them in designing a
re-ignition system for a gas-turbine aircraft
engine in mid-flight. The beetle is capable of
spraying potential predators with a highpressure
stream of boiling liquid. Source:
Rice and Martin (2007).
The key message of biomimicry for business models is
the systems view: nature does not degrade the systems
it relies on to survive. Society’s organizations, similarly,
should not emit more carbon than plants can absorb,
capture more fish than can reproduce or dump more
materials than the local ecosystem can metabolize
(Chang, 2010).
These objectives are difficult for businesses to achieve
in isolation, and thus call for universal attention, the
redesign of institutions and infrastructures, and a
reconceptualization of the purpose of business.
3. Be attentive to disruptive and systems-changing
innovation happening elsewhere
Firms can be constrained by existing infrastructural,
institutional and regulatory frameworks. Developing
economies are often unhindered by these legacy
systems and thus are freer to redesign how products
and services are delivered. Firms can be attentive to
developing countries’ systems-changing innovations
that have the potential to change the basis of
competition in domestic markets.
In Practice
In December 2009, Tata Chemicals Ltd.
(TCL) introduced the “Tata Swach” (Hindi
for “clean”), the world’s cheapest household
water purification system. Tata Group
Chairman Ratan Tata stressed that the quest
was not to create the cheapest product
but to reach the largest number of people.
The Swach, which was developed by TCL’s
Innovation Centre and built around natural,
locally sourced materials and cutting-edge
nanotechnology, does not use any harmful
chemicals such as chlorine. Tata Swach
became the world’s most inexpensive water
purifier, enabling a 50 per cent savings
compared with its nearest competitor. The
water purifier is a disruptive “good enough”
product that reportedly complies with the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
standards. Adapted from Tiwari and Herstatt
(2012).
Innovating for Sustainability 51