Utilities: Innovation and Sustainability

Loredo, Enrique; López-Mielgo, Nuria; Pineiro-Villaverde, Gustavo; García-Álvarez, María Teresa

doi:10.3390/su11041085

Cited by 21 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…SOI is often described as the cornerstone of proactive sustainability strategies. In fact, an orientation towards sustainability increases the likelihood of generating innovations in both products and processes [5,36]. However, this innovation poses greater complexity due to the increased sophistication of the learning and innovation networks [37].…”

Section: Soi Openness Through Cooperation Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperation Networks as a Driver of Sustainability-Oriented Innovation

Melane-Lavado

Álvarez-Herránz

2020

Sustainability

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Companies can contribute to sustainable development in a dynamic and globalized market, such as today’s, through Sustainability-Oriented Innovation (SOI). However, to do this implies meeting specific requirements and dealing with greater complexity because of the higher level of sophistication of cooperation networks for this kind of innovation. In this context, to meet the requirements demanded by SOI, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is considered fundamental. However, it is not known whether their capacity to focus more on heterogeneous knowledge sources, which, thanks to their cooperation networks, are broad and geographically diverse, would have a differential impact on SOIs. Through comparative analysis, this paper attempts to shed light on the possible network differences for companies, with and without FDI, looking to undertake SOI. It focuses on the knowledge framework and geographical scope stemming from cooperation for successfully undertaking sustainable developments. To this end, three networks had to be set up, which include diversity, scope, experience, and frequency of national, European, and global cooperation. The results lend strength to the theory that SOI is favored by European and global cooperation networks if companies have FDI, and by national networks if there is no foreign participation. For this, the role of absorptive capacity is key, understood as a joint analysis of R&D intensity and the skills and education of employees tasked with innovation, and the implementation of new organizational methods. Lastly, it is confirmed that having FDI allows companies to have qualified employees, and better methods and organizational practices in connection with an openness to innovation.

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Section: Soi Openness Through Cooperation Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperation Networks as a Driver of Sustainability-Oriented Innovation

Melane-Lavado

Álvarez-Herránz

2020

Sustainability

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“…Therefore, sustainability and innovation could be linked by focusing on the performance effects guaranteed by sustainable R&D processes. Based on all the above considerations, it is clear to understand why the obsolete concept of eco-innovation and eco-efficiency, basically oriented to ecological and green aspects, has slowly evolved into a more complete approach named sustainability-oriented innovation, making intentional changes to processes and/or products to create environmental and social value, but an economic return too [14]. Sustainability-oriented innovation proposes to alleviate the tensions between the company's environmental, social, and financial objectives, which are often at odds with each other.…”

Section: Sustainability and Innovationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Linkage between Sustainability and Innovation Performance in IT Hardware Sector

et al. 2019

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This work investigates the relationship between sustainability and innovation performance. Despite the relevance of the issue, few contributions deepen such a relationship after both a conceptual and a quantitative perspective. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to suggest a measure of sustainability for innovation processes and to define which innovation strategies can lead to more sustainable processes. The role of ambidexterity within the corporate sustainability framework is underlined: Ambidextrous organizations are able to improve the innovation performance and better use their resources, improving the sustainability of research and development (R&D) processes. By employing patent data and testing the framework on a sample of worldwide top R&D spending companies in the IT hardware industry, this work suggests which optimal value of ambidexterity will lead to more sustainable innovation. In addition, R&D processes with non-optimal levels of ambidexterity can be managed in a better way. Indeed, results show the usefulness of open innovation adoption to improve the performance of exploration processes. Moreover, R&D activities based on a preponderance of exploitation strategies are more sustainable if they fall into technological domains in which the focal company is highly specialized. The work also contributes to the conceptualization of sustainability and to definition of patent-based metrics related to sustainability.

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“…According to him, innovation can provide a firm with sustained competitive advantage because its' competitors cannot easily replicate it. Recent empirical studies confirm the significant role of innovation for firms' sustainable development [23,24]. Given the importance of innovation for a firm's and nation's sustainable development, it is a priority to mitigate the financing frictions of corporate innovation.…”

Section: Innovation and Sustainable Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interdependence of Debt and Innovation Sustainability: Evidence from the Onset of Credit Default Swaps

Chen

Zhang

2019

Sustainability

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Innovation sustainability requires sustainable financing. Extensive research suggests that debt is a disfavored source of innovation financing. In this study, we show that a recent financial development, credit default swaps (CDSs), may change the institutional logics of debt, making debt useful to the financing innovation. To be specific, we find that with CDS protection, creditors become less concerned with a borrowing firm’s credit risk and risk taking, making debt tolerant of early failures and reducing the negative impact of debt on the process of Innovation. In addition, we find that the availability of CDSs is more likely to change the nature of long-term debt than that of short-term debt, making long-term debt a useful instrument for the financing of innovation. Finally, the mitigation effect of CDS on the relation between debt and innovation is more pronounced for CDS firms with higher pay sensitivity to stock price volatility (Vega) and less financial constraints, revealing that a CEO’s incentive, rather than the relaxed financing constraints, is the underlying channel for the reduced negative impact of debt on innovation after CDS trading.

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Utilities: Innovation and Sustainability

Cited by 21 publications

References 50 publications

Cooperation Networks as a Driver of Sustainability-Oriented Innovation

Cooperation Networks as a Driver of Sustainability-Oriented Innovation

The Linkage between Sustainability and Innovation Performance in IT Hardware Sector

The Interdependence of Debt and Innovation Sustainability: Evidence from the Onset of Credit Default Swaps

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