IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v34y2025i3p3114-3140.html

Dynamic Capabilities as Enablers for Sustainability‐Oriented Innovation: A Case Study in a Footwear Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Cláudia Fabiana Gohr
  • Bruna Cavalcanti Barros Rodrigues

Abstract

The literature indicates the relevance of sustainability‐oriented innovation (SOI). However, the knowledge about the influence of dynamic capabilities (DCs) and critical factors (CFs) in developing these innovations is still insufficient. This paper aims to analyze the DCs' influence (through CFs) in developing SOIs through an in‐depth explorative case study in two Brazilian unities at a multinational shoe company. The empirical results showed that the development of SOIs depends on the high influence on environmental, resource integration, and technological capabilities and moderate influence on absorptive, organizational, and networking capabilities due to the absence or nonstructuring of its CFs. “Waste management” (related to environmental DC) and “reputation (related to organizational DC)” emerged from empirical evidence. The paper provides empirical evidence of DC's influence (through CFs) in developing SOIs by suggesting eight propositions.

Suggested Citation

  • Cláudia Fabiana Gohr & Bruna Cavalcanti Barros Rodrigues, 2025. "Dynamic Capabilities as Enablers for Sustainability‐Oriented Innovation: A Case Study in a Footwear Industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 3114-3140, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:34:y:2025:i:3:p:3114-3140
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.4141
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.4141
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.4141?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. Costa, Cláudia & Lages, Luis Filipe & Hortinha, Paula, 2015. "The bright and dark side of CSR in export markets: Its impact on innovation and performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 749-757.
    2. Gautam Ray & Jay B. Barney & Waleed A. Muhanna, 2004. "Capabilities, business processes, and competitive advantage: choosing the dependent variable in empirical tests of the resource‐based view," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 23-37, January.
    3. Matthew Coffay & Ragnar Tveterås & Nancy Bocken & Marcel L.A.M Bogers, 2024. "Sustainable business model innovation, dynamic capabilities, and organizational design: Insights from Norwegian aquaculture," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(6), pages 5386-5404, September.
    4. Ching‐Hsun Chang, 2018. "How to Enhance Green Service and Green Product Innovation Performance? The Roles of Inward and Outward Capabilities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(4), pages 411-425, July.
    5. Nigel Roome & Han van Kleef, 2007. "Developing capabilities and competence for sustainable business management as innovation: a research agenda," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/14319, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Miriam Delgado-Verde & Javier Amores-Salvadó & Gregorio Martín-de Castro & José Emilio Navas-López, 2014. "Erratum: Green intellectual capital and environmental product innovation: the mediating role of green social capital," Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 350-350, August.
    7. Gema Albort-Morant & Jörg Henseler & Gabriel Cepeda-Carrión & Antonio L. Leal-Rodríguez, 2018. "Potential and Realized Absorptive Capacity as Complementary Drivers of Green Product and Process Innovation Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, February.
    8. Yi-Chun Huang & Min-Li Yang & Ying-Jiuan Wong, 2016. "The effect of internal factors and family influence on firms’ adoption of green product innovation," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(10), pages 1167-1198, October.
    9. Edurne A. Inigo & Laura Albareda & Paavo Ritala, 2017. "Business model innovation for sustainability: exploring evolutionary and radical approaches through dynamic capabilities," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(5), pages 515-542, July.
    10. Pilar Portillo-Tarragona & Sabina Scarpellini & Jose M. Moneva & Jesus Valero-Gil & Alfonso Aranda-Usón, 2018. "Classification and Measurement of the Firms’ Resources and Capabilities Applied to Eco-Innovation Projects from a Resource-Based View Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, September.
    11. Tseng, Ming-Lang & Wu, Kuo-Jui & Chiu, Anthony SF. & Lim, Ming K. & Tan, Kimhua, 2018. "Service innovation in sustainable product service systems: Improving performance under linguistic preferences," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 414-425.
    12. Larissa Marchiori Pacheco & Marlon Fernandes Rodrigues Alves & Lara Bartocci Liboni, 2018. "Green absorptive capacity: A mediation‐moderation model of knowledge for innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1502-1513, December.
    13. Luciana Oranges Cezarino & Marlon Fernandes Rodrigues Alves & Adriana Cristina Ferreira Caldana & Lara Bartocci Liboni, 2019. "Dynamic Capabilities for Sustainability: Revealing the Systemic Key Factors," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 93-112, February.
    14. Yi-Chun Huang & Min-Li Yang & Ying-Jiuan Wong, 2016. "The effect of internal factors and family influence on firms’ adoption of green product innovation," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(10), pages 1167-1198, October.
    15. Longzheng Du & Zhenglin Zhang & Taiwen Feng, 2018. "Linking green customer and supplier integration with green innovation performance: The role of internal integration," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1583-1595, December.
    16. Kammerer, Daniel, 2009. "The effects of customer benefit and regulation on environmental product innovation.: Empirical evidence from appliance manufacturers in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(8-9), pages 2285-2295, June.
    17. Delin Zeng & Jingbo Hu & Taohua Ouyang, 2017. "Managing Innovation Paradox in the Sustainable Innovation Ecosystem: A Case Study of Ambidextrous Capability in a Focal Firm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-15, November.
    18. Rosa Maria Dangelico & Devashish Pujari & Pierpaolo Pontrandolfo, 2017. "Green Product Innovation in Manufacturing Firms: A Sustainability‐Oriented Dynamic Capability Perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 490-506, May.
    19. María Sanzo & Luis Álvarez & Marta Rey & Nuria García, 2015. "Business–nonprofit partnerships: a new form of collaboration in a corporate responsibility and social innovation context," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 9(4), pages 611-636, December.
    20. Caroline Danièle Mothe & Thuc Uyen Nguyen-Thi, 2017. "Persistent openness and environmental innovation: An empirical analysis of French manufacturing firms," Post-Print hal-01609129, HAL.
    21. Miriam Delgado-Verde & Javier Amores-Salvadó & Gregorio Martín-de Castro & José Emilio Navas-López, 2014. "Green intellectual capital and environmental product innovation: the mediating role of green social capital," Knowledge Management Research & Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 261-275, August.
    22. Janine Fleith Medeiros & Gabriel Vidor & José Luís Duarte Ribeiro, 2018. "Driving Factors for the Success of the Green Innovation Market: A Relationship System Proposal," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 147(2), pages 327-341, January.
    23. Antonioli, Davide & Mancinelli, Susanna & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2013. "Is environmental innovation embedded within high-performance organisational changes? The role of human resource management and complementarity in green business strategies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 975-988.
    24. Kuo-Jui Wu & Ching-Jong Liao & Ming-Lang Tseng & Pei-Jay Chou, 2015. "Understanding Innovation for Sustainable Business Management Capabilities and Competencies under Uncertainty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-35, October.
    25. Bisma Mannan & Sonal Khurana & Abid Haleem, 2016. "Modeling of critical factors for integrating sustainability with innovation for Indian small- and medium-scale manufacturing enterprises: An ISM and MICMAC approach," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1140318-114, December.
    26. Anke Buhl & Susanne Blazejewski & Franziska Dittmer, 2016. "The More, the Merrier: Why and How Employee-Driven Eco-Innovation Enhances Environmental and Competitive Advantage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-17, September.
    27. Ching‐Hsun Chang, 2016. "The Determinants of Green Product Innovation Performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 23(2), pages 65-76, March.
    28. Yu-Shan Chen & Yu-Hsien Lin & Ching-Ying Lin & Chih-Wei Chang, 2015. "Enhancing Green Absorptive Capacity, Green Dynamic Capacities and Green Service Innovation to Improve Firm Performance: An Analysis of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(11), pages 1-19, November.
    29. Constance E. Helfat & Margaret A. Peteraf, 2003. "The dynamic resource‐based view: capability lifecycles," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 997-1010, October.
    30. Yi-Chun Huang & Min-Li Yang & Ying-Jiuan Wong, 2016. "The effect of internal factors and family influence on firms’ adoption of green product innovation," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(10), pages 1167-1198, October.
    31. Suman Phalswal & Rohit Bhardwaj & Arunaditya Sahay & M. Akbar, 2024. "Dynamic Capabilities of Environmentally Sustainable Enterprises: An Exploratory Study," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 13(2), pages 148-165, August.
    32. Yu-Shan Chen & Ching-Hsun Chang & Yu-Hsien Lin, 2014. "The Determinants of Green Radical and Incremental Innovation Performance: Green Shared Vision, Green Absorptive Capacity, and Green Organizational Ambidexterity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-20, November.
    33. Yali Zhang & Jun Sun & Zhaojun Yang & Shurong Li, 2018. "Organizational Learning and Green Innovation: Does Environmental Proactivity Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, October.
    34. Afris Widya-Hasuti & Abbas Mardani & Dalia Streimikiene & Ali Sharifara & Fausto Cavallaro, 2018. "The Role of Process Innovation between Firm-Specific Capabilities and Sustainable Innovation in SMEs: Empirical Evidence from Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-26, June.
    35. Pascual Berrone & Andrea Fosfuri & Liliana Gelabert & Luis R. Gomez‐Mejia, 2013. "Necessity as the mother of ‘green’ inventions: Institutional pressures and environmental innovations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(8), pages 891-909, August.
    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. Carol Jennifer Cardozo Jiménez & Sandra Cristina Riascos Erazo & Héctor Eduardo Hernández-Núñez & Fernando Casanoves, 2025. "Green Businesses in the Colombian Amazon: Dynamic Capabilities, Elements of Sustainable Development, and Characteristics of Innovative Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-18, September.

    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. Tulin Dzhengiz & Eva Niesten, 2020. "Competences for Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic Review on the Impact of Absorptive Capacity and Capabilities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(4), pages 881-906, April.
    2. Zeeshan Ullah & Ahmad Arslan & Vesa Puhakka, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility strategy, sustainable product attributes, and export performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1840-1853, November.
    3. Sher Jahan Khan & Amandeep Dhir & Vinit Parida & Armando Papa, 2021. "Past, present, and future of green product innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 4081-4106, December.
    4. Endah Rahayu Lestari & Nimas Mayang Sabrina Sunyoto, 2023. "Fostering green innovation in achieving sustainable performance," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(3), pages 413-434, August.
    5. Seyedesmaeil Mousavi & Bart Bossink & Mario van Vliet, 2019. "Microfoundations of companies' dynamic capabilities for environmentally sustainable innovation: Case study insights from high‐tech innovation in science‐based companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 366-387, February.
    6. Ayça Kubra Hizarci‐Payne & İlayda İpek & Gülüzar Kurt Gümüş, 2021. "How environmental innovation influences firm performance: A meta‐analytic review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 1174-1190, February.
    7. Juanru Wang & Yajiong Xue & Jin Yang, 2020. "Boundary‐spanning search and firms' green innovation: The moderating role of resource orchestration capability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 361-374, February.
    8. Zeeshan Ullah, 2021. "Sustainable product attributes and firm performance: The moderating role of marketing resource intensity," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(8), pages 4107-4120, December.
    9. Luca Marrucci & Fabio Iannone & Tiberio Daddi & Fabio Iraldo, 2022. "Antecedents of absorptive capacity in the development of circular economy business models of small and medium enterprises," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 532-544, January.
    10. Muhammad Ibrahim & Rosli Mahmood & Hishamuddin Md Som, 2025. "Green absorptive capacity and environmental performance: a perspective of SMEs’ relational capability and green supply chain management practices," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(6), pages 13947-13971, June.
    11. Giacomo Buzzao & Francesco Rizzi, 2021. "On the conceptualization and measurement of dynamic capabilities for sustainability: Building theory through a systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 135-175, January.
    12. Hoang Thu Thao & Xuemei Xie, 2024. "Fostering green innovation performance through open innovation strategies: do green subsidies work?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(7), pages 18641-18671, July.
    13. Cai Li & Sadaf Akhtar & Jan Muhammad Sohu & Sonia Najam Shaikh & Ikramuddin Junejo & Muhammad Iatzaz-Ul-Hassan, 2025. "Navigating the SMEs Green Path: Exploring the Role of Green Absorptive Capacity, Green Innovation, and Environmental Regulation in Enhancing Environmental Performance," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(2), pages 21582440251, June.
    14. Yali Zhang & Jun Sun & Zhaojun Yang & Shurong Li, 2018. "Organizational Learning and Green Innovation: Does Environmental Proactivity Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-14, October.
    15. Hanna Lehtimäki & Kristina Leppälä & Nuppu Mielonen & Ville‐Veikko Piispanen & Kaisa Henttonen & Subhanjan Sengupta & Ida Parkkinen & Olena Liakh, 2026. "Sustainable Innovation Framework: A Review of Organization, Strategic Management, and Entrepreneurship Literature," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(S1), pages 34-64, January.
    16. Siying Long & Zhongju Liao, 2021. "Are fiscal policy incentives effective in stimulating firms' eco‐product innovation? The moderating role of dynamic capabilities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(7), pages 3095-3104, November.
    17. Sheikh Farhan Ashraf & Cai Li & Muhammad Umair Wattoo & Majid Murad & Babak Mahmood, 2024. "Green horizons: Unleashing green innovation through green business strategies and competencies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4233-4251, July.
    18. Gema Albort-Morant & Jörg Henseler & Gabriel Cepeda-Carrión & Antonio L. Leal-Rodríguez, 2018. "Potential and Realized Absorptive Capacity as Complementary Drivers of Green Product and Process Innovation Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, February.
    19. Francesco Chirico & Kimberly A. Eddleston & Pankaj C. Patel, 2025. "Does it Pay to Patent Green Innovations? Stock Market Reactions to Family and Nonfamily Firms’ Green Patents," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 198(4), pages 947-970, May.
    20. Marco-Lajara, B. & Úbeda-García, M. & Zaragoza-Sáez, P. & Manresa-Marhuenda, E., 2023. "The impact of international experience on firm economic performance. The double mediating effect of green knowledge acquisition & eco-innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

    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:34:y:2025:i:3:p:3114-3140. 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.