Communication strategy tool user guide

The application of Cradle to Cradle (C2C) principles in business sites is likely to be hampered by several barriers, some of which are socio-cultural in nature. To promote change and new thinking in the way business sites are designed, built and operated, there is the need to properly understand socio-cultural issues that create ‘lock-in’ to existing practices (Peterson and Anderson, 2009) so that these can be taken into account in the way C2C is presented to different business site stakeholders to secure their commitment to C2C inspired projects. These socio-cultural barriers are deeply rooted in the basic assumptions and value priorities of stakeholders. Strategies for communicating and promoting the C2C vision must therefore be aligned with such stakeholder value priorities and assumptions

Overcoming Challenges: Promoting Green Entrepreneurship in Developing Muslim Countries Through Digital Innovation

This research aims to address the challenges in promoting green entrepreneurship in developing muslim countries through digital innovation. The research methods used Qualitative comparative analysis by comparing 7 developing Muslim countries with 3 developed countries that successfully adopted green entrepreneurship. The results of this study show that Green entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly relevant in the face of climate change impacts and diminishing natural resources.  This research presents practical recommendations for governments, businesses and civil society in developing countries to accelerate the growth of green entrepreneurship through digital innovation. By addressing the challenges and maximizing the potential of digital technology, developing Muslim countries can move towards a sustainable and environmentally friendly economic model. The research also explores policy strategies that can help overcome these barriers and encourage the adoption of digital innovation in the green entrepreneurship sector

Carving out new business models in a small company through contextual ambidexterity: the case of a sustainable company

Business model innovation (BMI) and organizational ambidexterity have been pointed out as mechanisms for companies achieving sustainability. However, especially considering small and medium enterprises (SMEs), there is a lack of studies demonstrating how to combine these mechanisms. Tackling such a gap, this study seeks to understand how SMEs can ambidextrously manage BMI. Our aim is to provide a practical artifact, accessible to SMEs, to operationalize BMI through organizational ambidexterity. To this end, we conducted our study under the design science research to, first, build an artifact for operationalizing contextual ambidexterity for business model innovation. Then, we used an in-depth case study with a vegan fashion small e-commerce to evaluate the practical outcomes of the artifact. Our findings show that the company improves its business model while, at the same time, designs a new business model and monetizes it. Thus, our approach was able to take the first steps in the direction of operationalizing contextual ambidexterity for business model innovation in small and medium enterprises, democratizing the concept. We contribute to theory by connecting different literature strands and to practice by creating an artifact to assist managemen

Competing by Saving Lives: How Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Companies Create Shared Value in Global Health

This report looks at how pharmaceutical and medical device companies can create shared value in global health by addressing unmet health needs in low- and middle-income countries. Companies have already begun to reap business value and are securing competitive advantages in the markets of tomorrow

Innovation for a circular economy : exploring the adoption of PSS by UK companies in the baby products sector

Several authors have commented on the relatively slow rate at which Product Service Systems (PSS) have been adopted in B2B networks. Despite some prominent examples, such as the provision of integrated lighting systems to Sainsbury’s (supermarket chain) by Parkersell in the UK, and the ‘pay per copy’ (lease and take back) systems provided by copier companies such as Xerox and Canon, PSS has not been widely adopted even though the business case seems sound. Consequently, the question of identifying and overcoming barriers to PSS adoption has become an important research topic. In this study we explore barriers to the adoption of PSS in the UK baby products industry using a qualitative research design employing in-depth interviews with baby products suppliers (manufacturers) and buyers (retailers). The novelty of the approach adopted in this study is that key concepts from the Industrial Networks Approach are used to frame the analysis. Buyers and suppliers of baby products acknowledge the value of the PSS approach, but PSS adoption is found to require considerable adaptation to conventional patterns of inter-organizational interaction

Breaking the Barriers to Specialty Care: Practical Ideas to Improve Health Equity and Reduce Cost - Call to Action for a System-wide Focus on Equity

Tremendous health outcome inequities remain in the U.S. across race and ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and geography—particularly for those with serious conditions such as lung or skin cancer, HIV/AIDS, or cardiovascular disease.These inequities are driven by a complex set of factors—including distance to a specialist, insurance coverage, provider bias, and a patient's housing and healthy food access. These inequities not only harm patients, resulting in avoidable illness and death, they also drive unnecessary health systems costs.This 5-part series highlights the urgent need to address these issues, providing resources such as case studies, data, and recommendations to help the health care sector make meaningful strides toward achieving equity in specialty care.Top TakeawaysThere are vast inequalities in access to and outcomes from specialty health care in the U.S. These inequalities are worst for minority patients, low-income patients, patients with limited English language proficiency, and patients in rural areas.A number of solutions have emerged to improve health outcomes for minority and medically underserved patients. These solutions fall into three main categories: increasing specialty care availability, ensuring high-quality care, and helping patients engage in care.As these inequities are also significant drivers of health costs, payers, health care provider organizations, and policy makers have a strong incentive to invest in solutions that will both improve outcomes and reduce unnecessary costs. These actors play a critical role in ensuring that equity is embedded into core care delivery at scale.Part 5: "Call to Action for a System-wide Focus on Equity"These solutions create value not only for patients, but also for health care providers and public and private payers.  Each of these actors have a role to play in scaling and sustaining the health equity solutions.

Is 'Open Innovation' Re-Inventing Innovation Policy for Catching-up Economies?

This paper discusses the current state of the .open innovationÿ thinking in the context of core economic challenges faced by catching-up and developing countries. The main argument of the paper is that due to the paradoxes and contradictions between the .mainstreamÿ innovation discourse and practice and the peculiar challenges of the catching-up countries, applying the concept of .open innovationÿ may have unintended or reverse effects on catching-up development. This problem can be remedied by more conscious attention to the basic contradictions and paradoxes that requires a more comprehensive analytical focus on innovation and technological development at the levels of firm, industry and policy.

L'émergence des comportements pro-environnementaux en milieu du travail : une recherche exploratoire dans divers contextes organisationnels

Les organisations - publiques, privées et à but non lucratif - sont responsables pour une large part des impacts environnementaux. Selon certaines estimations, les activités manufacturières représentent 30 % des émissions mondiales de CO2, alors que les services commerciaux et publics représentent 10 % de ces émissions. Étant donné que cette pollution est le résultat d‘activités humaines au sein des organisations, une attention accrue doit être portée aux comportements individuels des employé(e)s. En favorisant et en encourageant les comportements plus écoresponsables chez les employé(e)s, il est possible de minimiser l‘impact négatif des organisations et s‘assurer d‘un avenir plus durable. Cependant, la transformation des comportements individuels nécessite l‘examen minutieux d‘un grand nombre de facteurs, dont certains ont été peu ou pas explorés dans la littérature scientifique. Composée de trois études distinctes mais étroitement liées, cette thèse entend contribuer à la littérature sur les comportements individuels proenvironnementaux dans les organisations. Spécifiquement, la thèse est centrée sur la question de recherche suivante : Pourquoi certain(e)s employé(e)s sont-ils(-elles) plus enclins que d‘autres à adopter des comportements verts dans leur milieu de travail et quelles mesures peuvent être prises par les organisations pour stimuler les initiatives pro-environnementales de leur personnel? Le premier article de la thèse propose une revue systématique de la littérature sur les comportements pro-environnementaux des employé(e)s. Cet article a démontré que peu d‘études dans le domaine étaient basées sur les théories comportementales, ce qui est surprenant en considérant la nature comportementale du phénomène. Aussi, seulement quelques études ont été faites en dehors des entreprises, démontrant l‘impossibilité de généraliser les résultats à d‘autres contextes organisationnels. Finalement, les études démontraient également une séparation entre les suggestions pratiques et les barrières qui influencent les comportements, ce qui peut entraîner des actions promotionnelles inefficaces au sein des organisations. Les deux autres articles de la thèse répondent à ces lacunes à partir d‘études empiriques. Ainsi, l‘objectif du deuxième article est d‘évaluer l‘importance de chaque obstacle associé aux comportements verts des employé(e)s non académiques d‘une université. Basée sur la théorie du comportement planifié, cette étude examine les croyances des employé(e)s envers deux types de comportements pro-environnementaux : l‘utilisation des transports alternatifs et la suggestion d‘idées écologiques. Les résultats de cette recherche démontrent qu‘il est possible de prédire l‘intention des individus d‘exercer des actions vertes au travail, mais aussi de les amener à modifier iii ces actions grâce à des interventions. Plus important encore, les facteurs associés au milieu de travail, tels que l‘opinion des collègues et la nécessité de remplir des formulaires officiels afin de changer les routines administratives, ont joué un rôle significatif dans les décisions des employé(e)s de s‘engager à accomplir des comportements verts. Cela signifie que les organisations sont en mesure d‘accroître la fréquence des comportements pro-environnementaux en ciblant ces facteurs à travers des pratiques de gestion qui sont expliquées dans l‘article. En ce qui concerne le troisième article, celui-ci porte sur les facteurs qui entravent l‘émergence d‘innovations pro-environnementales de la part des employé(e)s dans des ministères et organismes publics québécois. Les résultats de cette recherche indiquent que deux aspects contextuels déterminent les facteurs qui influencent de telles innovations : le type d‘organisation et l‘initiateur de l‘idée. En lien avec la littérature, les innovations initiées dans les organismes publics où le développement durable est profondément intégré dans les pratiques quotidiennes faisaient face à moins de barrières en comparaison avec les organismes où le développement durable est intégré de façon superficielle. Simultanément, contrairement à ce qui était initialement prévu, les employé(e)s travaillant sur des tâches en lien avec l‘environnement ont eu plus de facteurs à considérer avant de lancer les innovations (par exemple, la nécessité d‘être transparent(e)s aux yeux de la population et la prise en compte de l‘agenda politique), comparativement aux employé(e)s qui travaillent dans d‘autres départements. Cette recherche met en lumière deux types d‘innovations proenvironnementales (proactives et contributives) et donne quelques conseils pratiques afin de favoriser l‘émergence de ces idées. Bien que les trois recherches portent sur des contextes organisationnels différents, elles offrent des perspectives complémentaires au même phénomène. Généralement, les résultats de cette thèse sont les premiers pas vers une vue plus nuancée des comportements verts exercés par les employé(e)s, comportements qui ne doivent pas être considérés comme un seul type monolithique d‘actions.Various types of organizations (public, private, non-profit) bear a large part of responsibility for the constantly deteriorating environment. According to some estimates, manufacturing activities account for 30% of global CO2 emissions, and commercial/public services account for 10% of such emissions. As this pollution is the result of human activities within organizations, an increased attention should be paid to individual behaviors of employees. Greening daily actions of employees can minimize negative impacts of organizations and lead to a more sustainable future. However, the transformation of individual behaviors requires a careful examination of a large number of factors, many of which have not been explored in the academic literature. In this context, this thesis, composed of three distinct but tightly connected studies, is dedicated to the following research question: Why some employees are more inclined to perform green behaviors in the workplace than others and what steps can be undertaken by organizations to increase the likelihood of voluntary pro-environmental activities among personnel? The first article of the thesis is a systematic review of the literature on pro-environmental behaviors in the workplace. It provides a comprehensive mapping of the literature on previously explored obstacles to such behaviors and managerial practices that are applied to encourage these individual actions. Also, this article points out several literature gaps that require further investigation, notably: the lack of studies based on behavioral theories (which is surprising given the fact that individual actions should be studied through the lens of psychological frameworks), the quantitative nature of most research in the domain (which means a relatively limited critical approach), the lack of articles with samples of employees working outside of the private sector (which points at the impossibility of generalizing results to other types of organizations), as well as the disconnection between practical suggestions and barriers that influence behaviors (which might lead to inefficient promotional measures within organizations and, as a consequence, useless expenditures). The two other articles of the thesis address these issues. The objective of the second article is to evaluate the relative importance of each obstacle associated with green behaviors of non-academic university employees. Based on the theory of planned behaviour, this study examines employees‘ beliefs towards two pro-environmental behaviors: the use of alternative transportation and the suggestion of ecological ideas at work. The results of this research demonstrate that it is possible to predict the intention of employees to perform green behaviors, and, as a consequence, they can be changed through an intervention. More importantly, v various factors linked with the workplace context (for example, the opinion of colleagues and the necessity to fill in forms to change administrative routines) played a significant role in the decision of employees to get involved in green behaviors. This signifies that organizations are capable of increasing the frequency of pro-environmental behaviors by targeting these factors through a range of managerial practices described in the article. Concerning the third article, it is based on a qualitative approach and discusses factors that impede the emergence of employee-driven pro-environmental innovations within ministries and public organizations in Quebec. The results of this research indicate that two contextual aspects determine which factors influence such innovations: the type of organization and the initiator of the idea. In line with the literature, innovations initiated in public organizations where sustainability was profoundly integrated in daily practices faced fewer barrriers in comparison with organizations where sustainability is taken into account superficially. At the same time, and contrary to the initial expectations, employees with environment-related duties have more factors to consider prior to launching innovations (for instance, the necessity of being transparent in the eyes of the population and the existence of the political agenda) in comparison with their colleagues from other departments. This study sheds light on two types of pro-environmental innovations (proactive and contributory) and the aspects that determine the likelihood of these ideas emerging in public organizations. Although the three studies of the thesis discuss different organizational contexts, they offer complimentary perspectives on the same phenomenon. In general, the results of this dissertation are one of the first steps towards a more nuanced view of workplace green behaviors that should not be considered as a monolithic type of individual actions performed by employees

Mainstreaming New Renewable Energy Technologies

This paper outlines the benefits, obstacles and options for governments to support international markets for technology development. International markets for new energy technologies offer greater scope, thereby increasing the incentives and opportunities for technology improvements. As the market is supported by more independent governments, the confidence of technology developers and producers that future markets for their products will exist is increasing, thus enabling capital access and inducing R&D investment and exploration of improved production processes. The bigger markets also allow for international competition, thus allowing for the application of the best available technology. The government challenge to induce sufficient RD&D remains and with international markets the benefits and costs of national governments free-riding on international effort needs to be addressed. Finally, we discuss how international co-operation can be used to evolve the energy system in such a way that it can integrate new technologies at minimum cost

Sustainable Open Innovation between Large Companies and Startups

In the contemporary business landscape, the complexity and seriousness of the global issues faced by our society have reached a turning point. Strong multilateral initiatives are needed in order to address the Grand Challenges of our times. Sustainable Open Innovation, characterised by collaborative practices between different partners, driven by sustainability, and transcending the firm’s innovation boundaries, can represent an extremely valuable asset to solve these challenges. This thesis investigates the dynamics of Sustainable Open Innovation between large companies and startups, aiming to elucidate the collaborative process, highlighting the main reasons behind the adoption of Open Innovation mechanisms, as well as presenting the main benefits, challenges and opportunities inherent in such a remarkable innovation approach. Grounded in a multidisciplinary theoretical framework encompassing innovation management, open innovation, sustainability, and finally the interrelation between open innovation and sustainability, this qualitative study employs a mixed-methods approach, through both an inductive and deductive reasoning, and combining semi-structured interviews and secondary data to shed light on the subject matter. The objective of this research is to provide theoretical and practical implication to the recent topic of Sustainable Open Innovation, with a specific focus on effective OI collaborations between large companies and startups. The findings contribute to both theory and practice by advancing our understanding of how large companies and startups can collaborate to foster innovation that is not only profitable and economically viable for both partners, but also socially and environmentally responsible. The results are summarised by taking into account the key research questions addressed in this study, aiming at providing insights on the discussed topic. In the end, this study provides practical recommendations for managers and entrepreneurs seeking to leverage Open Innovation for sustainable development goals