Systematic Review - Network for Business Sustainability

More documents

Recommendations

Info

where innovators understand customers (Lettice & Parekh, 2010), as with the Grameen Village Phone Project (Singhal et al., 2008). In Practice In China, mobile telephone services were principally targeted toward relatively affluent individuals living in urban areas. To the extent that they were served at all, bottomof-the-pyramid (BOP) customers in rural areas were sold “out-of-date” phones. This business model was changed with the introduction of a new, domestically developed chip: simpler and cheaper than other chips, but with limited stability. Existing manufacturers would not use the chip because of the stability issue, but it provided a “good enough” cell phone for BOP users. A network of users, distributors, designers and manufacturers united around the opportunity that this chip offered in a “network-based value eco-system.” Within this eco-system, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and local entrepreneurs worked with BOP groups to design products that showed an understanding of local needs and local manufacturing capability. The cellular phone was technologically “deskilled,” thereby allowing local entrepreneurs and SMEs to be involved and thus building local capability from the bottom up and providing access to mobile telephony. Adapted from Zhou et al. (2011). SUMMARY In Organizational Transformation, SOI takes on an increasingly societal and systemic character, which involves a change in the firm’s underlying motivations. Innovation goes beyond mere compliance and the boundaries of the firm’s manufacturing and production processes into the market, the supply chain and the wider social and institutional environment: areas where managers have less control and must take on a wider systems perspective. Firms are also experimenting with sustainability at a sub-organizational level. Firms may appear to be inconsistent: sustainably oriented in one domain, while business-as-usual in the other. Indeed, concurrently holding two such positions has much in common with the notion of the ambidextrous organization. 17 Ambidexterity emphasizes the firm’s ability to re-allocate, re-combine and reconfigure assets, resources and structures in face of environmental change. There are also echoes of the skunk works made famous by Lockheed — in an effort to foster innovation, organizations split off from the main body to gain physical and cultural distance from established ways of doing things. The best prospects for transition may then be areas where the firm is able to initiate a “shadow-track” activity alongside regular business activities (Loorbach et al., 2010). Incumbent firms may need to develop capabilities to manage the disruptive implications of 17 The term ambidexterity was coined by Duncan (1976) to describe firms that perform exploratory and exploitative activities one after the other, not concurrently. The more contemporary view suggests that ambidexterity is the contemporaneous practice of both. Too much structure leads to rigidity, and too much exploration leads to chaos. Ambidexterity is characterized by the effective balance between the two. Innovating for Sustainability 54
such innovations. Much more difficult, however, is the transition to a Systems Builder orientation, which demands wholesale organizational change. We found no examples of such a transformation having been successfully achieved. SOI in the context of systems building Systems Building is an aspirational context. It is, arguably, a logical extension of the ambitions of more progressive firms and reflects the ideas of more prescriptive research. Systems Builders: 1. Derive new value propositions from entire sociotechnical and ecosystem value network to make a positive impact with an inclusive business 2. Engage in institutional dialogues to “change the rules of the game” 3. Reframe the purpose of the firm: suffuse and infuse all dimensions of TBL into the organization 4. Initiate, mobilize, lead and inspire systems change 5. Apply equal weight to all aspects of the TBL in organizational thinking and decision-making 1. Derive new value propositions from entire sociotechnical and ecosystem value network to make a positive impact with an inclusive business Systems Building goes beyond the SOI of individual firms, to consider how the relationships between business practice, government policy and cultural behaviour co-evolve and can be leveraged for wider systemic change. This is about business acknowledging its responsibility to employees, citizens, communities and the natural environment. 2. Engage in institutional dialogues to “change the rules of the game” Being a Systems Builder means leaving behind the dominant, traditional economic paradigm. This step beyond efficiency, notwithstanding organizational experimentations, continues to present an as yet insurmountable challenge: for incumbent firms, it requires transformational change, strong and visionary leadership, a shift in values and cultures, strategic repositioning and a readiness to sacrifice short-term self-interest for long-term community and environmental benefit. Transforming the system involves working collaboratively with government bodies and civil society groups to change the “rules of the game” in order to advance a broader sustainability agenda: for example, to influence capital markets and investors to attend to and integrate sustainability metrics. 3. Reframe the purpose of the firm: suffuse and infuse all dimensions of TBL into organization The firm seeks to make a net positive impact through a clearly articulated ethical position that is reflected in its multiple stakeholder relationships targeted toward contributing to wider social and environmental change. This change marks a radical reframing of the purpose of the firm and a new definition of corporate purpose within society. 18 However, it also requires a fundamental 18 BCorps, for example, express this as “Best for the World” as opposed to “Best in the World.” See http://www.bcorporation.net/. Innovating for Sustainability 55
Page 1 and 2:
innovating for sustainability A Sys
Page 3 and 4: Through innovation, companies can b
Page 5 and 6: Dear Reader, I’m pleased to share
Page 7 and 8: introduction This systematic review
Page 9 and 10: To address the needs of all firms,
Page 11 and 12: origins of SOI and its relation to
Page 13 and 14: customers or the acquisition of new
Page 15 and 16: We developed our model of contexts
Page 17 and 18: From the models reviewed, we envisi
Page 19 and 20: Dimension 2: Stand-alone/integrated
Page 21 and 22: OPERATIONAL OPTIMIZATION ORGANIZATI
Page 23 and 24: The previous chapters presented a m
Page 25 and 26: Internally, SOI can require working
Page 27 and 28: Operational Optimizers must source
Page 29 and 30: 2. Use available tools such as envi
Page 31 and 32: LCA has multiple variants (Kaval, 2
Page 33 and 34: • Reducing energy and chemical us
Page 35 and 36: 4. Ensure functionality is not comp
Page 37 and 38: In the Organizational Transformatio
Page 39 and 40: In Practice The contribution of lon
Page 41 and 42: sustainability goals and objectives
Page 43 and 44: eports or as social and environment
Page 45 and 46: PROCESS INNOVATION A number of cate
Page 47 and 48: In Practice The cradle-to-cradle me
Page 49 and 50: In Practice InterfaceFLOR is gradua
Page 51 and 52: In Practice There is a potentially
Page 53: development on the needs of the poo
Page 57 and 58: discussion Firms are re-embedding t
Page 59 and 60: competitive advantages. Third, firm
Page 61 and 62: previous reviews Earlier literature
Page 63 and 64: The current study extends these pre
Page 65 and 66: additional materials The appendices
Page 67 and 68: appendix 1: methodology The systema
Page 69 and 70: SEARCHING THE SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE
Page 71 and 72: Search methods We used the followin
Page 73 and 74: At the outset of this project, the
Page 75 and 76: Data were coded according to biblio
Page 77 and 78: Table 8 JOURNALS PROVIDING ONLY A S
Page 79 and 80: DESIGN OF STUDIES Sectoral distribu
Page 81 and 82: which speaks to the contestation ar
Page 83 and 84: The studies in our sample are mixed
Page 85 and 86: THE ELEMENTS OF INNOVATION A tradit
Page 87 and 88: appendix 3: definitions of SOI This
Page 89 and 90: SUSTAINABILITY-RELATED AND SUSTAINA
Page 91 and 92: STUDY MODEL Alexander Ballard Ltd.
Page 93 and 94: appendix 6: frugal, reverse and soc
Page 95 and 96: Benyus, J.M. (1997). Biomimicry: in
Page 97 and 98: Del Río, P., Carrillo-Hermosilla,
Page 99 and 100: Hunt, C.B. & Auster, E.R. (1990). P
Page 101 and 102: Machiba, T. (2010). Eco-innovation
Page 103 and 104: Reay, T., Berta, W. & Kohn, M.K. (2
Page 105 and 106:
Wagner, M. (2007). On the relations
Page 107:
Network for Business Sustainability
show all

Systematic Review - Network for Business Sustainability

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?