IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v6y1998i2p49-58.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Innovation towards sustainable economy - the integration of economy and ecology in companies

Author

Listed:
  • Birgit Blättel-Mink

    (University of Stuttgart, Germany)

Abstract

Ecological innovation includes the development and implementation of new products, new technologies, new production processes, new resources, new markets and new systems that integrate economy and ecology, i.e. introduce ecological aspects in economic strategies. Six qualitative case studies give insight into intraorganizational conditions of ecological innovation, also asking for companies' perception of external needs. As a result, the following hypothesis was developed: if the integration of economy and ecology becomes a factor of competition, dynamic and innovative companies will be proactive in this area. Five distinct results lead to this conclusion: a normative conflict between economy and ecology does not exist for ecologically innovative companies; ecological innovations, the integration of economy and ecology, are intrinsically motivated; cultural identity and quality orientation are necessary, in spite of insufficient prerequisites for the readiness to execute ecological innovations; ecological innovations are part of an ongoing improvement and learning process of a company and innovative companies create their own relevant environments and use them for their own purposes. Communication is an absolute imperative for sustainable development. Finally it is necessary to discuss some critical points apt to hamper an ongoing process towards sustainable economy. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Birgit Blättel-Mink, 1998. "Innovation towards sustainable economy - the integration of economy and ecology in companies," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(2), pages 49-58.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:6:y:1998:i:2:p:49-58
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1719(199808)6:2<49::AID-SD84>3.0.CO;2-I
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giovanni Dosi & Christopher Freeman & Richard Nelson & Gerarld Silverberg & Luc Soete (ed.), 1988. "Technical Change and Economic Theory," LEM Book Series, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy, number dosietal-1988, November.
    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. Tomas Hellström, 2007. "Dimensions of environmentally sustainable innovation: the structure of eco-innovation concepts," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(3), pages 148-159.

    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. Uwe Cantner & Martin Kalthaus & Matthias Menter & Pierre Mohnen, 2023. "Global knowledge flows: characteristics, determinants, and impacts," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 32(5), pages 1063-1076.
    2. Heijs, Joost, 2003. "Freerider behaviour and the public finance of R&D activities in enterprises: the case of the Spanish low interest credits for R&D," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 445-461, March.
    3. Dirk Boehe & Luciano Barin Cruz, 2010. "Corporate Social Responsibility, Product Differentiation Strategy and Export Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 91(2), pages 325-346, February.
    4. Colin Wessendorf & Alexander Kopka & Dirk Fornahl, 2021. "The impact of the six European Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) on regional knowledge creation," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2127, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2021.
    5. Michael J. Radzicki, 2003. "Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Forrester, and a Foundation for Evolutionary Economics," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(1), pages 133-173, March.
    6. Matthias Firgo & Peter Mayerhofer, 2015. "Wissens-Spillovers und regionale Entwicklung - welche strukturpolitische Ausrichtung optimiert des Wachstum?," Working Paper Reihe der AK Wien - Materialien zu Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft 144, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik.
    7. José Monteiro-Barata, 2005. "Innovation in the Portuguese Manufacturing Industry: Analysis of a Longitudinal Company Panel," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 11(3), pages 301-314, August.
    8. Caroline Lanciano & Marc Maurice & Hiroatsu Nohara & Jean-Jacques Silvestre, 1992. "Societal Analysis of Innovation: Genesis and Development [Analyse Sociétale de l'Innovation : Genèse et Développement]," Working Papers halshs-03388659, HAL.
    9. Alessandro Muscio, 2007. "THE IMPACT OF ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY ON SMEs' COLLABORATION," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(8), pages 653-668.
    10. Jan Ende & Wilfred Dolfsma, 2004. "Technology-push, demand-pull and the shaping of technological paradigms - Patterns in the development of computing technology," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 83-99, January.
    11. Mark Knell & Simone Vannuccini, 2022. "Tools and concepts for understanding disruptive technological change after Schumpeter," Jena Economics Research Papers 2022-005, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    12. Havas, Attila & Weber, K. Matthias, 2017. "The 'fit' between forward-looking activities and the innovation policy governance sub-system: A framework to explore potential impacts," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 327-337.
    13. Pontus Braunerhjelm, 2007. "Academic entrepreneurship: Social norms, university culture and policies," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 34(9), pages 619-631, November.
    14. Andre Nassif & Carmem Aparecida Feijo & Eliane Araújo, 2016. "Structural change, catching up and falling behind in the BRICS: A comparative analysis based on trade pattern and Thirlwall’s Law," PSL Quarterly Review, Economia civile, vol. 69(279), pages 373-421.
    15. Ajay Thutupalli & Michiko Iizuka, 2016. "Catching-up in agricultural innovation: the case of Bacillus thuringiensis cotton in India," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(6), pages 923-940.
    16. Jaewon Lim & Changkeun Lee & Euijune Kim, 2015. "Contributions of human capital investment policy to regional economic growth: an interregional CGE model approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 55(2), pages 269-287, December.
    17. Maxim Kotsemir & Alexander Abroskin & Dirk Meissner, 2013. "Innovation concepts and typology – an evolutionary discussion," HSE Working papers WP BRP 05/STI/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    18. André Lorentz & Maria Savona, 2009. "Evolutionary micro-dynamics and changes in the economic structure," Springer Books, in: Uwe Cantner & Jean-Luc Gaffard & Lionel Nesta (ed.), Schumpeterian Perspectives on Innovation, Competition and Growth, pages 137-160, Springer.
    19. Vialle, Pierre & Song, Junjie & Zhang, Jian, 2012. "Competing with dominant global standards in a catching-up context. The case of mobile standards in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 832-846.
    20. Jeffrey T. Macher & Barak D. Richman, 2004. "Organisational Responses To Discontinuous Innovation: A Case Study Approach," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(01), pages 87-114.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:sustdv:v:6:y:1998:i:2:p:49-58. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    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.