Dual agenda innovation: How firms pursue economic and environmental goals simultaneously

• Main Author: XIE, Tianni
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: innovation; economic performance; environmental performance; sustainable development goals; digitalization; sustainability; Strategic Management Policy; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/etd_coll/382; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/etd_coll/article/1380/viewcontent/GPGM_AY2018_PhD_Tracy_XIE_Tianni.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

With the increasing prevalence of UN SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) and ESG movement, more and more companies have started to include environmental performance as part of their strategic goals. From both risk management and value creation perspectives, not only is the positive environmental performance socially desirable, but it also can affect the economic performance. Companies strive to achieve superior environmental and economic performance (i.e.E2 performance), but few have succeeded. In this dissertation research, the author proposed that firms are more likely to achieve superior E2 performance by engaging in dual agenda innovation that integrates environmental goal and economic goal in the innovation process. Based on extensive interviews of sixteen large companies in different industries, this study identified common challenges that companies are facing, how these challenges could be overcome by dual-agenda innovation in those companies with successful E2 performance, and what the key capabilities are that can lead to such success. The research also explored the role of digital transformation in the dual agenda innovation to achieve E2 performance. The in-depth examination of the interview data reveals four themes in the key capabilities that require to be embedded in dual-agenda innovation: Value Identification & Quantification, Stakeholder Management, Cross-boundary Collaboration and Digital Transformation. Based on these findings, the author developed an evaluation scheme to assess the performance of dual-agenda innovation in the sixteen companies. Next, the author applied fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method to analyze how different combinations of these key capabilities may contribute to the E2 performance of the sample companies. The analysis indicated that not all key capabilities contribute equally to the superior E2 performance, and some combinations of the key capabilities can have a stronger effect on E2 performance than other combinations. Thus, the qualitative and quantitative analysis in this study supported the proposed dual-agenda innovation hypotheses. The dissertation concluded by discussing the theoretical and managerial implications of the empirical findings for companies to find win-win solutions in achieving superior E2 performance.