IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v19y2010i7p417-435.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate sustainability and innovation in SMEs: Evidence of themes and activities in practice

Author

Listed:
  • Hilke Elke Jacke Bos‐Brouwers

Abstract

Recently, innovation processes towards sustainable development have received increasing attention in academic literature. This research introduces the combination of insights from innovation theory, sustainable development practice and small business characteristics to unlock new knowledge on factors that influence the translation of sustainable innovation within small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) into practice. The sustainability themes and activities as described for large companies (i.e. in the sustainability reporting and management literature) were used as starting point in this study. It presents empiric results of the PRIMA Project conducted within the rubber and plastics industry (RPI) on sustainable innovation activities. It will show that many sustainable innovations are directed at the improvement of technological processes (eco‐efficiency) and to lower costs of production. These innovations can be seen as incremental. Companies with sustainability integrated in their orientation and innovation processes show value creation: the development of products new to the market (radical innovations) and cooperation with stakeholders. The PRIMA project shows that more insight in SME innovative characteristics and (e)valuation of sustainable innovation efforts provides opportunities to improve the sustainability performance of SMEs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Hilke Elke Jacke Bos‐Brouwers, 2010. "Corporate sustainability and innovation in SMEs: Evidence of themes and activities in practice," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(7), pages 417-435, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:19:y:2010:i:7:p:417-435
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.652
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.652
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.652?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kittiya Yongvanich & James Guthrie, 2006. "An extended performance reporting framework for social and environmental accounting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 309-321, September.
    2. Carl‐Johan Hedberg & Fredrik von Malmborg, 2003. "The Global Reporting Initiative and corporate sustainability reporting in Swedish companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(3), pages 153-164, September.
    3. Zoltan J. Acs & David B. Audretsch, 2008. "Innovation in Large and Small Firms: An Empirical Analysis," Chapters, in: Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy, chapter 1, pages 3-15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Kraft, Kornelius, 1989. "Market Structure, Firm Characteristics and Innovative Activity," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3), pages 329-336, March.
    5. Tether, B. S., 1998. "Small and large firms: sources of unequal innovations?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 725-745, November.
    6. Stephen Brammer & Stephen Pavelin, 2008. "Factors influencing the quality of corporate environmental disclosure," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(2), pages 120-136, February.
    7. Amanda Ball & David L. Owen & Rob Gray, 2000. "External transparency or internal capture? The role of third‐party statements in adding value to corporate environmental reports1," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, January.
    8. O'Dwyer, Brendan & Owen, David L., 2005. "Assurance statement practice in environmental, social and sustainability reporting: a critical evaluation," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 205-229.
    9. Stefan Schaltegger & Marcus Wagner, 2006. "Integrative management of sustainability performance, measurement and reporting," International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 3(1), pages 1-19.
    10. Dosi, Giovanni, 1988. "Sources, Procedures, and Microeconomic Effects of Innovation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 1120-1171, September.
    11. Daniel Tyteca & Jérôme Carlens & Frans Berkhout & Julia Hertin & Walter Wehrmeyer & Marcus Wagner, 2002. "Corporate environmental performance evaluation: evidence from the MEPI project," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, January.
    12. Ans Kolk, 2008. "Sustainability, accountability and corporate governance: exploring multinationals' reporting practices," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 1-15, January.
    13. Andrea L. Larson, 2000. "Sustainable innovation through an entrepreneurship lens," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(5), pages 304-317, September.
    14. Abernathy, William J. & Clark, Kim B., 1985. "Innovation: Mapping the winds of creative destruction," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 3-22, February.
    15. Dave Owen, 2006. "Emerging issues in sustainability reporting," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(4), pages 217-218, July.
    16. Martina Blum‐Kusterer & S. Salman Hussain, 2001. "Innovation and corporate sustainability: An investigation into the process of change in the pharmaceuticals industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(5), pages 300-316, September.
    17. Eden, Colin, 2004. "Analyzing cognitive maps to help structure issues or problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(3), pages 673-686, December.
    18. David Campbell, 2003. "Intra‐ and intersectoral effects in environmental disclosures: evidence for legitimacy theory?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(6), pages 357-371, November.
    19. R. Scott Marshall & Darrell Brown, 2003. "Corporate environmental reporting: what's in a metric?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 87-106, March.
    20. Gretchen C. Daily & Brian H. Walker, 2000. "Seeking the great transition," Nature, Nature, vol. 403(6767), pages 243-245, January.
    21. S. J. Fowler & C. Hope, 2007. "Incorporating sustainable business practices into company strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 26-38, January.
    22. Déirdre Crowe & Louis Brennan, 2007. "Environmental considerations within manufacturing strategy: an international study," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 266-289, May.
    23. Zoltan J. Acs, 2005. "Innovation and the Growth of Cities," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: Urban Dynamics and Growth: Advances in Urban Economics, pages 635-658, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    24. John Maddox, 2000. "Positioning the goalposts," Nature, Nature, vol. 403(6766), pages 139-139, January.
    25. Francesco Perrini & Antonio Tencati, 2006. "Sustainability and stakeholder management: the need for new corporate performance evaluation and reporting systems," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 296-308, September.
    26. Peter van Hoesel & Petra Gibcus, 2004. "Transforming an idea into a strategic decision in SMEs," Scales Research Reports H200311, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    27. Jordan, Geraldine J. & Fortin, Marie-Josee, 2002. "Scale and topology in the ecological economics sustainability paradigm," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 361-366, May.
    28. Shuangyu Xie & Kohji Hayase, 2007. "Corporate environmental performance evaluation: a measurement model and a new concept," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 148-168, February.
    29. Andy Gouldson & Rory Sullivan, 2007. "Corporate environmentalism: tracing the links between policies and performance using corporate reports and public registers," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, January.
    30. Peter Dobers & Rolf Wolff, 2000. "Competing with ‘soft’ issues – from managing the environment to sustainable business strategies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(3), pages 143-150, May.
    31. Karlsson, Charlie & Olsson, Ola, 1998. "Product Innovation in Small and Large Enterprises," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 31-46, February.
    32. North, David & Smallbone, David & Vickers, Ian, 2001. "Public Sector Support for Innovating SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 303-317, June.
    33. Abigail Oxley Green & Lynsey Hunton‐Clarke, 2003. "A typology of stakeholder participation for company environmental decision‐making," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(5), pages 292-299, September.
    34. Giovanni Dosi, 2000. "Sources, Procedures, and Microeconomic Effects of Innovation," Chapters, in: Innovation, Organization and Economic Dynamics, chapter 2, pages 63-114, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    35. Zoltan Acs & David Audretsch, 1990. "Innovation and Small Firms," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262011131, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gotsch, Matthias & Kelnhofer, Anton & Jäger, Angela, 2019. "Environmental product innovations and the digital transformation of production: Analysing the influence that digitalising production has on generating environmental product innovations," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S07/2019, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    2. Justin Doran & Geraldine Ryan, 2016. "The Importance of the Diverse Drivers and Types of Environmental Innovation for Firm Performance," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 102-119, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matthias S. Fifka & Maria Drabble, 2012. "Focus and Standardization of Sustainability Reporting – A Comparative Study of the United Kingdom and Finland," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 455-474, November.
    2. Graham Hubbard, 2009. "Measuring organizational performance: beyond the triple bottom line," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 177-191, March.
    3. Alfred Haid & Markus Thomas Münter, 1999. "Neuere Entwicklungen in der industrieökonomischen Forschung und die aktuelle Berichterstattung über die technologische Leistungsfähigkeit Deutschlands," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 188, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    4. Patrycja Hąbek & Radosław Wolniak, 2016. "Assessing the quality of corporate social responsibility reports: the case of reporting practices in selected European Union member states," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 399-420, January.
    5. Mathew, Nanditha & Paily, George, 2020. "STI-DUI innovation modes and firm performance in the Indian capital goods industry: Do small firms differ from large ones?," MERIT Working Papers 2020-008, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. de Jong, Jeroen P.J. & Marsili, Orietta, 2006. "The fruit flies of innovations: A taxonomy of innovative small firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 213-229, March.
    7. Gabriele Pellegrino & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "How do new entrepreneurs innovate?," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 42(3), pages 323-341, September.
    8. Flaig, Gebhard & Stadler, Manfred, 1996. "On the dynamics of product and process innovations: A bivariate random effects probit model," Tübinger Diskussionsbeiträge 64, University of Tübingen, School of Business and Economics.
    9. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2009. "How Do Young Innovative Companies Innovate?," IZA Discussion Papers 4301, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Tsalis, Thomas A. & Nikolaou, Ioannis E. & Konstantakopoulou, Fotini & Zhang, Ying & Evangelinos, Konstantinos I., 2020. "Evaluating the corporate environmental profile by analyzing corporate social responsibility reports," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 63-75.
    11. Pellegrino, Gabriele & Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2012. "Young firms and innovation: A microeconometric analysis," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 329-340.
    12. José García-Quevedo & Gabriele Pellegrino & Marco Vivarelli, 2011. "The determinants of YICs’ R&D activity," Working Papers 2011/31, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    13. Concetta Carnevale & Maria Mazzuca & Sergio Venturini, 2012. "Corporate Social Reporting in European Banks: The Effects on a Firm's Market Value," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), pages 159-177, May.
    14. Conte, Andrea & Vivarelli, Marco, 2005. "One or Many Knowledge Production Functions? Mapping Innovative Activity Using Microdata," IZA Discussion Papers 1878, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. García-Quevedo, José & Pellegrino, Gabriele & Vivarelli, Marco, 2011. "R&D Drivers in Young Innovative Companies," IZA Discussion Papers 6136, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Ye Seul Choi & Up Lim, 2017. "Contextual Factors Affecting the Innovation Performance of Manufacturing SMEs in Korea: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-15, July.
    17. Romero, Isidoro & Martínez-Román, Juan A., 2012. "Self-employment and innovation. Exploring the determinants of innovative behavior in small businesses," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 178-189.
    18. García-Quevedo, José & Pellegrino, Gabriele & Vivarelli, Marco, 2014. "R&D drivers and age: Are young firms different?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1544-1556.
    19. Salvatore Farace & Fernanda Mazzotta, 2015. "The effect of human capital and networks on knowledge and innovation in SMEs," Journal of Innovation Economics, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(1), pages 39-71.
    20. Josef Kaenzig & Damien Friot & Myriam Saadé & Manuele Margni & Olivier Jolliet, 2011. "Using life cycle approaches to enhance the value of corporate environmental disclosures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(1), pages 38-54, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:19:y:2010:i:7:p:417-435. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.