What is green Innovation? A quantitative literature review

The importance of green innovation management is growing in practice and academia likewise. To our knowledge, a recent and comprehensive literature review is lacking. In this paper we contribute to a clarification of the concept green innovation and provide an overview of the existing body of literature in the field of green innovations identifying the most active scholars, institutions and relevant publications. We find that the three different notions of green, eco/ecological and environmental innovation are used largely synonymously while the notion of sustainable innovation broadens the concept and includes a social dimension. We find further that the most active scholars are situated in Europe (i.e. Netherlands, Italy and Germany) and identified three innovation management journals leading the field. --Innovation management,green innovations,eco innovations,environmental innovations,sustainable innovations,literature review

Firms' transition towards green product service system innovators

Within this paper we explore transition paths firms can take to become product service system (PSS) innovators. Applying the dynamic capability approach we study how three firms have developed PSS innovations in the mobility sector (Car2Go by Daimler AG, Connect by Hertz by The Hertz Corporation, Better Place). We explore the different paths the firms have taken originating from different capability sets. Based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with project managers of successful PSS innovations we propose a framework that incorporates three major transition paths. We derive propositions for necessary capability sets for different firm types, the sequence of necessary capability sets along the innovation process and discuss different types of environmental gains realized through PSS. --Innovation management,product service system,transition path,sustainability

Die Implementierung von performanz-orientierten Systemen

Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht die strategische Perspektive des aufstrebenden Phänomens von Performanz-orientierten Systemen, z.B. Car-Sharing oder Cloud Computing. In zahlreichen Branchen haben Firmen gleichermaßen eine neuartige System-Innovation implementiert, die die Performanz von Produkten zur geteilten Nutzung anbietet. Die existierende Literatur ist bruchstückhaft über verschiedene Fachrichtungen verteilt. Der Schwerpunkt der Beiträge liegt auf der operativen Ebene und eine konsistente strategische Innovations-Management-Perspektive ist bisher nicht vorhanden. Daher strebt die Arbeit eine Zusammenführung der Literatur und die Erarbeitung einer Strategie-basierten Erklärung für das Phänomen an. Die Arbeit folgt einem iterativen, interpretativen Ansatz, der an den Forschungsansatz der 'Grounded Theory' angelehnt ist, um die Motivation und die Unterschiede dieser System-Innovation zu klären. Die Ergebnisse basieren auf semistrukturierten, qualitativen Interviews mit Führungskräften in siebenundzwanzig Fallbeispielen aus vier Branchen. Elemente des etablierten 'Dynamic Capabilities'-Konzept und der vergleichsweise jungen 'Strategy of Superior Archtiectural Knowledge' werden in einem neuartigen Ansatz zur Interpretation genutzt. Die Studie leitet aus den erhoben Daten zehn Propositionen ab, die die strategischen Besonderheiten der Fallbeispiele beschreiben, bringt diese in ein Bezugssystem und identifiziert neun Erfolgsfaktoren. Die Forschung zeigt, dass neue Nutzer-Präferenzen zugunsten einer höheren Elastizität im Ressourceneinsatz die System-Entwicklung gefördert haben. Die untersuchten Firmen haben sich abwärts in die Nutzungsphase integriert und explizit diese Bedürfnisse berücksichtigt, indem sie die Performanz von mehreren Komponenten anbieten, anstatt diese einzeln zu verkaufen. Der geschaffene Wert wird durch die Implementierung einer zentralen Plattform geschützt. Die Kontrolle der Plattform sichert drei Arten von verdeckter Information: über die Kapazität, den Bedarf und die Effizienz. Diese Informations-Basis bestimmt den Wettbewerbsvorteil der Firma, da das Anreizregime inhärent an Ressourceneffizienz orientiert ist. Daher muss die Firma kontinuierlich Prozess-Innovationen entwickeln und systematisch den Schlupf in den Komponenten reduzieren. Die Arbeit bietet einen Managementleitfaden für zukünftige System-Entwicklungen, steuert der Literatur eine neue Perspektive bei und stärkt bestehende, konzeptionelle Arbeiten im Bereich von 'Superior Architectural Knowledge'.The study at hand examines the strategic perspective of the emerging phenomenon of performance-oriented systems, e.g. car-sharing or cloud computing, in the mobility, IT, energy and chemical industries. In all four industries, firms have likewise implemented a novel system-based offering recently, which is providing the performance of their products for shared use. The existing literature that has already acknowledged the phenomenon is fragmented across different areas of expertise. The emphasis of the contributions resides on the operational level and a consistent strategic innovation management perspective is absent. Thus, the study strives to synthesize the literature into a larger perspective and provide a strategic rationale to explain the phenomenon. The study follows an iterative, interpretative approach based on the methodological foundations of Grounded Theory. The findings are based on semi-structured, qualitative interviews with executives from twenty-seven system examples from four industries, clarifying the motivation for and differences in system development. Items from the substantive concept of dynamic capabilities and the juvenile strategy of superior architectural knowledge are used in a novel approach for interpretation. Based on the compiled data, the study derives ten founding propositions that delineate the strategic characteristics of the case examples, composes a coherent framework and identifies nine initial enabling factors that illustrate the context. The research reveals that novel user preferences towards a higher elasticity of resource deployment have facilitated the system development. The examined firms have integrated downward into the use phase and explicitly met the identified demand in offering the performance of several joint resources to the user instead of selling single complements. The created value is protected through the implementation of a central platform. The governance of the platform secures three types of hidden information; the capacity, the user demand and the efficiency information. The information base in the platform determines the firm's competitive advantage, as the incentive regime of a performance-oriented system is inherently oriented towards resource efficiency. Thus, the implementing firms need to continuously develop process innovations and systematically reduce slack of the system components. The study provides managerial guidance for future system developments, contributes a novel perspective on the phenomenon and qualifies recent conceptual work on superior architectural knowledge

Firms’ transition towards green product service system innovators

Within this paper we explore transition paths firms can take to become product service system (PSS) innovators. Applying the dynamic capability approach we study how three firms have developed PSS innovations in the mobility sector (Car2Go by Daimler AG, Connect by Hertz by The Hertz Corporation, Better Place). We explore the different paths the firms have taken originating from different capability sets. Based on semi-structured qualitative interviews with project managers of successful PSS innovations we propose a framework that incorporates three major transition paths. We derive propositions for necessary capability sets for different firm types, the sequence of necessary capability sets along the innovation process and discuss different types of environmental gains realized through PSS

What is Green Innovation? : A quantitative literature review

The importance of green innovation management is growing in practice and academia likewise. To our knowledge, a recent and comprehensive literature review is lacking. In this paper we contribute to a clarification of the concept “green innovation” and provide an overview of the existing body of literature in the field of green innovations identifying the most active scholars, institutions and relevant publications. We find that the three different notions of green, eco/ecological and environmental innovation are used largely synonymously while the notion of sustainable innovation broadens the concept and includes a social dimension. We find further that the most active scholars are situated in Europe (i.e. Netherlands, Italy and Germany) and identified three innovation management journals leading the field