How to serve sustainability performance <i>in</i> businesses? An appetizing recipe to link practices to performance in business sustainability research

Imbrogiano, Jean‐Pierre; Nichols, Elizabeth

doi:10.1002/bse.2697

Cited by 17 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 110 publications

(148 reference statements)

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“…Scholars and practitioners argue that introducing innovation into business practices and products should not be merely profit‐driven and should address the environmental priorities and securing social well‐being (Bag et al, 2021). Despite the continuous effort to promote sustainable industrial operations, businesses are still struggling with meeting stakeholders' growing sustainability expectations (Awan et al, 2021; Imbrogiano & Nichols, 2020). Nowadays, sustainable innovation is required more than ever to promote energy‐aware production, cleaner technologies, eco‐friendly yet customized products, and an overall sustainable industry (Chiarini, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Industry 4.0, innovation, and sustainable development: A systematic review and a roadmap to sustainable innovation

et al. 2021

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Despite the recent interest in the Industry 4.0 applications for sustainability, little is known on the processes through which digital transformation and Industry 4.0 technologies enable sustainable innovation in manufacturing. The present study addresses this knowledge gap by developing a strategic roadmap that explains how businesses can leverage Industry 4.0 technologies to introduce sustainability into innovative practices. For this purpose, the study conducts a systematic review of extant literature to identify Industry 4.0 functions for sustainable innovation and applies interpretive structural modeling to devise the promised roadmap. The results offer interesting insights into Industry 4.0 applications for sustainable innovation.The strategic roadmap developed reveals that Industry 4.0 enables sustainable innovation through 11 functions. Industry 4.0 and the underlying digital technologies and principles allow businesses to improve interfunctional collaboration and better integrate with internal and external stakeholders. Industry 4.0 further improves the knowledge base and advanced manufacturing competency and promotes organizational capabilities valuable to sustainable innovation such as green absorptive capacity, sustainable partnership, and sustainable innovation orientation. Through these functions, Industry 4.0 subsequently enhances green process innovation capacity and the ability to develop or reintroduce eco-friendly products economically and competitively. Overall, the roadmap explains the complex precedence relationships among the 11 sustainable innovation functions of Industry 4.0, offering important implications for businesses that seek to leverage Industry 4.0 sustainability implications and manage sustainable development.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Industry 4.0, innovation, and sustainable development: A systematic review and a roadmap to sustainable innovation

et al. 2021

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“…Lastly, in relating the aspect of innovative activity of business and its relationship with sustainable development, the recent study of Imbrogiano and Nichols (2021) is a familiar literature in this regard. Indeed, the impact of innovation on the sustainability of companies' development remains underexplored, including in relation to SMEs.…”

Section: Research Theory and Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the interaction of sustainable innovation activity and the life cycle of small high‐tech enterprises

2021

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The direction of this study was engineered by the need to increase the innovation activity of high-tech enterprises (primarily small enterprise) and to test the hypothesis that the innovation activity of such enterprises depends on the stage of their life cycle. At the first stage, we formulated the assumptions and prerequisites for the formation of a sample for the study: 106 small enterprises of the electric power industry of the Chelyabinsk region of Russia Federation. At the second stage, we developed a method to determine an enterprise's life cycle stage, taking into account the specifics of small industrial enterprises. Our method involves the sequential implementation of two steps. In the first, we use the traditional indicator of age of the enterprise, and in the second, we assess the degree of stability of key financial indicators of enterprise activities. At the third stage, based on the proposed method, the sample was divided into three groups: growing, mature, and long-lived enterprises, for each of which an assessment of innovation activity was carried out. As a result, we determined that small Russian enterprises in the high-tech industry demonstrate an increase in innovation activity at the stage of maturity, as a rule. However, even at this stage, only one in three enterprises shows such activity. This can be explained by the low demand for small businesses in the Russian national innovation system, as well as the lack of highly qualified personnel and the prevailing stereotypes of attitudes toward small businesses. As captured in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), the proposed approach can be applied in the development of regional support programs and strategies for the development of small high-tech enterprises.

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“…Therefore, leaders' mindsets, attitudes and behaviours must also change. Imbrogiano & Nichols, (2020), argue leaders are able to set targets and deliberately incentivize the management of specific sustainability issues to create the desired performance outcome. Additionally, Sharma, et al, (2020), suggest there must be "management will" towards the adoption of CE.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circular economy: a conceptual model to measure readiness for manufacturing SMEs

Thorley

Garza‐Reyes

Anosike

2021

BIJ

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PurposeOver the last decade, circular economy (CE) has gathered interest from both industrialists and academics alike. Whilst CE research is widespread in such areas as supply chain and larger organisations, there is limited research into how small to medium enterprises (SMEs) can prepare for adopting CE. There is no comprehensive readiness model for SMEs adopting CE. The purpose of this paper is to explore the literature on change readiness and generate knowledge to fill this gap by developing a conceptual model to measure change readiness for SMEs' adopting CE.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on a comprehensive literature review of change readiness models and frameworks. The paper reviews publications from Science Direct, Web of Science, Emerald, Scopus and Google Scholar. The readiness for change models and frameworks from the selected publications are evaluated and synthesised to develop a comprehensive conceptual model for change readiness for SMEs adopting a circular economy.FindingsA readiness conceptual model is developed by incorporating several factors as precursors to readiness, i.e. individual/collective difference, structural, contextual factors and related barriers. Eleven factors make up the individual/collective difference. Three factors make up the structural and contextual factors.Practical implicationsThis paper develops a conceptual model that can aid academics and practitioners in better understanding SMEs readiness to adopt CE.Originality/valueThis paper makes a unique contribution by proposing a comprehensive conceptual model of readiness for SMEs adopting CE.

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How to serve sustainability performance in businesses? An appetizing recipe to link practices to performance in business sustainability research

Cited by 17 publications

References 110 publications

Industry 4.0, innovation, and sustainable development: A systematic review and a roadmap to sustainable innovation

Industry 4.0, innovation, and sustainable development: A systematic review and a roadmap to sustainable innovation

Examining the interaction of sustainable innovation activity and the life cycle of small high‐tech enterprises

Circular economy: a conceptual model to measure readiness for manufacturing SMEs

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