IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v7y2015i10p13726-13760d56991.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding Innovation for Sustainable Business Management Capabilities and Competencies under Uncertainty

Author

Listed:
  • Kuo-Jui Wu

    (Department of Industrial Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan)

  • Ching-Jong Liao

    (Department of Industrial Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan)

  • Ming-Lang Tseng

    (Department of Business Administration, Lunghwa University of Science and Technology, No. 300, Sec. 1, Wanshou Road, Taoyuan County 33306, Taiwan)

  • Pei-Jay Chou

    (Department of Business Administration, Lunghwa University of Science and Technology, No. 300, Sec. 1, Wanshou Road, Taoyuan County 33306, Taiwan)

Abstract

In recent years, many firms have come to understand that innovation is an important issue in sustainable business management, as it helps improve firm capabilities and competencies. Because of the fiercely competitive environment in the hotel industry, innovation has become a critical factor in the process of hotel differentiation, leading to sustainable business success. However, the literature has not thoroughly examined the role of innovation or the hierarchical structure of the capabilities and competencies in sustainable business management. This study adopts interval-valued triangular fuzzy numbers and grey relational analysis to provide a competitive priority ranking for the aspects and criteria that assist firms in decision-making. The study results indicate that innovation in technology capabilities and networking and social capabilities—in addition to competencies in systemic thinking—are the most important aspects of sustainable business management. In particular, this study indicates that to succeed in building a sustainable business in the hotel industry, firms should upgrade and integrate their business technologies, collaborate with actors inside and outside the firm, build trust as well as a shared vision that includes common agreement, and develop competencies in inventive thinking to support innovation and foster changes in strategy, structure, administrative procedures, and systems when necessary.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:10:p:13726-13760:d:56991
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/10/13726/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/10/13726/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer W. Spencer, 2003. "Firms' knowledge‐sharing strategies in the global innovation system: empirical evidence from the flat panel display industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 217-233, March.
    2. 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.
    3. Hjalager, Anne-Mette, 2010. "A review of innovation research in tourism," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 1-12.
    4. Wu, Lei-Yu, 2010. "Which companies should implement management innovation? A commentary essay," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 321-323, March.
    5. Erik G. Hansen & Friedrich Grosse-Dunker & Ralf Reichwald, 2009. "Sustainability Innovation Cube — A Framework To Evaluate Sustainability-Oriented Innovations," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 13(04), pages 683-713.
    6. Schoenherr, Tobias, 2012. "The role of environmental management in sustainable business development: A multi-country investigation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 116-128.
    7. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    8. Sarah Clarke & Nigel Roome, 1999. "Sustainable business: learning – action networks as organizational assets," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(5), pages 296-310, September.
    9. Michael J. Tippins & Ravipreet S. Sohi, 2003. "IT competency and firm performance: is organizational learning a missing link?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(8), pages 745-761, August.
    10. Shantanu Dutta & Om Narasimhan & Surendra Rajiv, 2005. "Conceptualizing and measuring capabilities: methodology and empirical application," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 277-285, March.
    11. Becker, Wolfgang & Dietz, Jurgen, 2004. "R&D cooperation and innovation activities of firms--evidence for the German manufacturing industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 209-223, March.
    12. Nick Bontis & Mary M. Crossan & John Hulland, 2002. "Managing An Organizational Learning System By Aligning Stocks and Flows," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 437-469, June.
    13. Pim Den Hertog, 2000. "Knowledge-Intensive Business Services As Co-Producers Of Innovation," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 4(04), pages 491-528.
    14. Orfila-Sintes, Francina & Mattsson, Jan, 2009. "Innovation behavior in the hotel industry," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 380-394, April.
    15. Kevin Zheng Zhou & James R Brown & Chekitan S Dev & Sanjeev Agarwal, 2007. "The effects of customer and competitor orientations on performance in global markets: a contingency analysis," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(2), pages 303-319, March.
    16. Erlend Nybakk, 2012. "Learning Orientation, Innovativeness And Financial Performance In Traditional Manufacturing Firms: A Higher-Order Structural Equation Model," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(05), pages 1-28.
    17. Stefan Schaltegger & Marcus Wagner, 2011. "Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability innovation: categories and interactions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 222-237, May.
    18. Liao, Tung-Shan & Rice, John, 2010. "Innovation investments, market engagement and financial performance: A study among Australian manufacturing SMEs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 117-125, February.
    19. Alessia D'amato & Nigel Roome, 2009. "Leadership of organizational change toward an integrated model of leadership for corporate responsibility and sustainable development: A process model of corporate responsibility beyond management inn," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/164611, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    20. Wu, Kuo-Jui & Liao, Ching-Jong & Tseng, Ming-Lang & Chiu, Anthony S.F., 2015. "Exploring decisive factors in green supply chain practices under uncertainty," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 147-157.
    21. Sinan Erzurumlu, S. & Erzurumlu, Yaman O., 2015. "Sustainable mining development with community using design thinking and multi-criteria decision analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P1), pages 6-14.
    22. Thomas Dyllick & Kai Hockerts, 2002. "Beyond the business case for corporate sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(2), pages 130-141, March.
    23. William Young & Fiona Tilley, 2006. "Can businesses move beyond efficiency? The shift toward effectiveness and equity in the corporate sustainability debate," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 402-415, November.
    24. Lim, Jee-Hae & Stratopoulos, Theophanis C. & Wirjanto, Tony S., 2012. "Role of IT executives in the firm's ability to achieve competitive advantage through IT capability," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 21-40.
    25. Yang, Yi & Narayanan, V.K. & Zahra, Shaker, 2009. "Developing the selection and valuation capabilities through learning: The case of corporate venture capital," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 261-273, May.
    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. Hossein Mombeini & Abdolreza Yazdani-Chamzini & Dalia Streimikiene & Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas, 2018. "New fuzzy logic approach for the capability assessment of renewable energy technologies: Case of Iran," Energy & Environment, , vol. 29(4), pages 511-532, June.
    2. Hong-Lei Mu & Young-Chan Lee, 2021. "How Inclusive Digital Financial Services Impact User Behavior: A Case of Proximity Mobile Payment in Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-23, August.
    3. Jeou-Shyan Horng & Chung-Jen Wang & Chih-Hsing Liu & Sheng-Fang Chou & Chang-Yen Tsai, 2016. "The Role of Sustainable Service Innovation in Crafting the Vision of the Hospitality Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-18, March.
    4. Ben Zhang & Lei Ma & Zheng Liu & Ping Wang, 2019. "Sustainable Technology Innovation Path Recognition: An Evaluation of Patent Risk of International Trade," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-17, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Enhou Zu & Shao-Yu Liu & Bi-Min Hsu & Yu-Cheng Wang & Edwin M. Lau, 2020. "An Analysis of the Success Factors for Passenger Boarding Enthusiasm for Low-Cost Regional Airline Routes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-26, August.
    7. Won Sang Lee & So Young Sohn, 2017. "Identifying Emerging Trends of Financial Business Method Patents," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-21, September.
    8. I Nyoman Normal & Made Setini, 2022. "Absorption Capacity and Development of Photocatalyst Green Ceramic Products with Moderation of Green Environment for Sustainability Performance of Developing Industries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-18, August.
    9. Baoshan Ge & Dake Jiang & Yang Gao & Sang-Bing Tsai, 2016. "The Influence of Legitimacy on a Proactive Green Orientation and Green Performance: A Study Based on Transitional Economy Scenarios in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-20, December.
    10. Mariia Iamkovaia & Manuel Arcila & Filomena Cardoso Martins & Alfredo Izquierdo, 2019. "Sustainable Development of Coastal Food Services," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-16, July.
    11. Edilson Bacinello & Gérson Tontini & Anete Alberton, 2020. "Influence of maturity on corporate social responsibility and sustainable innovation in business performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 749-759, March.
    12. Tseng, Ming-Lang & Wu, Kuo-Jui & Chiu, Anthony SF. & Lim, Ming K. & Tan, Kimhua, 2019. "Reprint of: Service innovation in sustainable product service systems: Improving performance under linguistic preferences," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C), pages 159-170.
    13. Dejin Su & Qixia Du & Dongwon Sohn & Libo Xu, 2017. "Can High-Tech Ventures Benefit from Government Guanxi and Business Guanxi ? The Moderating Effects of Environmental Turbulence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, January.
    14. Grigorescu Adriana & Maer Matei Monica Mihaela & Mocanu Cristina & Zamfir Ana-Maria, 2019. "Key drivers and skills need for innovative companies focused on sustainability," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 13(1), pages 717-727, May.
    15. Ana Beatriz Hernández-Lara & Juan Pablo Gonzales-Bustos & Amado Alarcón-Alarcón, 2021. "Social Sustainability on Corporate Boards: The Effects of Female Family Members on R&D," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    16. Llorenç Bagur-Femenias & Dolors Celma & Josep Patau, 2016. "The Adoption of Environmental Practices in Small Hotels. Voluntary or Mandatory? An Empirical Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-14, July.
    17. Arief Kusuma Among Praja & Rian Adi Septiawan & Tantri Yanuar Rahmat Syah & Endah Murtiana Sari & Maya Puspita Dewi & Purwanto Sarjana Katijan & Tezara Cionita & Yin Ling Lai, 2023. "Sustainable Development Strategy of Low-Cost Airlines: Empirical Evidence for Indonesia Based on Analysis of Passenger Loyalty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-12, January.
    18. Wu, Kuo-Jui & Tseng, Ming-Lang & Chiu, Anthony S.F. & Lim, Ming K., 2017. "Achieving competitive advantage through supply chain agility under uncertainty: A novel multi-criteria decision-making structure," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 96-107.
    19. Hong-Jing Jia & Zi-Yin Zhuang & Yan-Xiang Xie & Yi-Xi Wang & Shi-Ying Wu, 2023. "Research on Dynamic Capability and Enterprise Open Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-23, January.
    20. Sheng-Fang Chou & Jeou-Shyan Horng & Chih-Hsing Liu & Yung-Chuan Huang & Yu-Chun Chung, 2016. "Expert Concepts of Sustainable Service Innovation in Restaurants in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-19, August.
    21. Hideaki Sakawa & Naoki Watanabel, 2021. "Family Control and Corporate Innovation in Stakeholder-Oriented Corporate Governance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-13, April.
    22. Llorenç Bagur-Femenías & Jordi Perramon & Marc Oliveras-Villanueva, 2019. "Effects of Service Quality Policies in the Tourism Sector Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Spanish Hotels and Restaurants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, February.
    23. Yao-Chin Lin & Chun-Liang Chen & Cheng-Fu Chao & Wei-Hung Chen & Henry Pandia, 2020. "The Study of Evaluation Index of Growth Evaluation of Science and Technological Innovation Micro-Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-25, August.

    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. Camisón, César & Monfort-Mir, Vicente M., 2012. "Measuring innovation in tourism from the Schumpeterian and the dynamic-capabilities perspectives," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 776-789.
    2. Nieves, Julia & Segarra-Ciprés, Mercedes, 2015. "Management innovation in the hotel industry," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 51-58.
    3. repec:aly:journl:202189 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Julija Cerović Smolović & Sanja Janketić & Danijela Jaćimović & Maja Bučar & Metka Stare, 2018. "Montenegro’s Road to Sustainable Tourism Growth and Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Muñoz, Pablo & Dimov, Dimo, 2015. "The call of the whole in understanding the development of sustainable ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 632-654.
    6. 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.
    7. Inigo, Edurne A. & Albareda, Laura, 2019. "Sustainability oriented innovation dynamics: Levels of dynamic capabilities and their path-dependent and self-reinforcing logics," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 334-351.
    8. Hung, Richard Yu Yuan & Lien, Bella Ya-Hui & Yang, Baiyin & Wu, Chi-Min & Kuo, Yu-Ming, 2011. "Impact of TQM and organizational learning on innovation performance in the high-tech industry," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 213-225, April.
    9. Camisón, César & Forés, Beatriz, 2015. "Is tourism firm competitiveness driven by different internal or external specific factors?: New empirical evidence from Spain," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 477-499.
    10. Brunella Arru, 2020. "An integrative model for understanding the sustainable entrepreneurs’ behavioural intentions: an empirical study of the Italian context," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3519-3576, April.
    11. Jeou-Shyan Horng & Chung-Jen Wang & Chih-Hsing Liu & Sheng-Fang Chou & Chang-Yen Tsai, 2016. "The Role of Sustainable Service Innovation in Crafting the Vision of the Hospitality Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Stefan Schaltegger & Markus Beckmann & Erik G. Hansen, 2013. "Transdisciplinarity in Corporate Sustainability: Mapping the Field," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 219-229, May.
    13. Nigel Roome & Céline Louche, 2016. "Journeying Toward Business Models for Sustainability: A Conceptual Model Found Inside the Black Box of Organisational Transformation," Post-Print hal-01183743, HAL.
    14. Maria Vincenza Ciasullo & Raffaella Montera & Nicola Cucari & Francesco Polese, 2020. "How an international ambidexterity strategy can address the paradox perspective on corporate sustainability: Evidence from Chinese emerging market multinationals," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 2110-2129, July.
    15. Benjamin Weber & Sven Heidenreich, 2016. "Improving Innovation Capabilities By Cooperation: Examining Effects Of Core Network Management Functions And Relational Mechanisms In The Industrial Goods Sector," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(07), pages 1-29, October.
    16. Fraj, Elena & Matute, Jorge & Melero, Iguácel, 2015. "Environmental strategies and organizational competitiveness in the hotel industry: The role of learning and innovation as determinants of environmental success," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 30-42.
    17. Jones, Jane & Corral de Zubielqui, Graciela, 2017. "Doing well by doing good: A study of university-industry interactions, innovationess and firm performance in sustainability-oriented Australian SMEs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 262-270.
    18. Dhir, Sanjay & Ongsakul, Viput & Ahmed, Zafar U. & Rajan, Rishabh, 2020. "Integration of knowledge and enhancing competitiveness: A case of acquisition of Zain by Bharti Airtel," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 674-684.
    19. Garcia Martinez, Marian & Zouaghi, Ferdaous & Sanchez Garcia, Mercedes, 2017. "Capturing value from alliance portfolio diversity: The mediating role of R&D human capital in high and low tech industries," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 55-67.
    20. Amador Durán-Sánchez & José Álvarez-García & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama & Beatriz Rosado-Cebrián, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Knowledge Base on Tourism Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-17, June.
    21. Troise, Ciro & Tani, Mario & Dinsmore, John & Schiuma, Giovanni, 2021. "Understanding the implications of equity crowdfunding on sustainability-oriented innovation and changes in agri-food systems: Insights into an open innovation approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:10:p:13726-13760:d:56991. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.