How Can Business Enterprises Use Sustainability-Oriented Innovations as a Strategic Tool?

Abstract

Today, companies' incremental innovations and reactive approaches remain insufficient to cope with shocks like the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. Thus, they need to start with a radical shift in their thinking to be responsible and sustainable at the minimum level. Furthermore, companies must build, transform, and adapt an innovation ecosystem with stakeholders who interact to create and diffuse innovation. The author suggests that ‘organizational transformation', which emphasizes creating more shared value within society, and ‘system building', which highlights the company that goes beyond the institutional borders and redefines the purpose of the company's mission in society, are essential innovation strategies in overcoming the shocks generated by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate crisis. This chapter aims to clarify the meaning of the innovation terms related to sustainability and provide responsible and sustainable business practices from traditional resources and gray literature based on organizational transformation and system building approaches.