Sustainable Operations Management (SOM) Strategy and Management: An Introduction to Part I

Sustainable operations management (SOM) and strategy concerns the procedures, processes, practices and systems through which firms—individually or organized in wider inter-organizational structures—initiate, create and deliver outputs that are both profitable from a business perspective, using the resources at their disposal while at the same time taking preservation or even improvement of the natural and/or social environment into account. This builds on the recognition, that companies must also take sustainability issues into account in order to ensure long-term success and survival (Hart, 2005; Starik, Kanashiro, & Collins, 2017). Thus, in a sustainable business context, strategy and management research builds on more general insights from these disciplines but seeks to apply it in the context of sustainability. Sustainable operations provide an interesting context for exploring further the nature of strategizing. However, concepts and insights emanating from a sustainability focus may also provide important insights to the strategy and management disciplines. Research on the triple bottom line is an influential point of reference for strategizers as well as for strategic research linking to the SOM agenda (Lee, 2004). Another important conversation relates to the crucial link between research on strategic innovation and blueprinting sustainable operation systems with a strategic impact on company identity and operations. Research on strategic innovation and disruption may find disruptive operations management designs not only useful as research areas but they also have the potential to provide insights that fundamentally challenge existing conceptualizations. Understanding the meaning of market disruption as opposed to market discovery, discussed among entrepreneurs and new business venturists, are anchor points.