ESCP EUROPE

INNOVATION + SUSTAINABILITY= NEW BUSINESS MODELS

Key Findings of a Survey on Sustainable Innovation by Profs Aurélien ACQUIER, Valentina CARBONE & Olivier DELBARD

Sustainability, Competitiveness & Innovation

Demographic trends

Source: UN predictions and US census bureau

Source: J.M Jancovici 2012 sur UNEP

Energy transition

World energy consumption

Supply of Raw materials

Innovation

?

How do companies respond?

• Innovation, sustainability, competitiveness… : what is the current level of awareness?

• What are the mechanisms enabling sustainability issues to be integrated into innovation strategies? What are the key success factors?

• Interviews with top managers

• On-line Questionnaire

The questions asked

The sampleFunctions: innovation Management, Marketing, sustainability… Sectors of activity: transportation, building, energy, luxury, mass retail…

312 international respondents on the importance and the management of sustainable innovation within their organizations.

36 top managers of big companies and start ups in Europe

The Results: 7 KEY

FINDINGS

The need to integrate sustainability into innovation strategies:

Key Finding n°1

A key issue, but a very destabilizing one!

« if I gather 10 people in the same room and ask them to define sustainable

innovation, I’ll get 30 different definitions! »

Trevor Davis, Global Expert, IBM

Innovation

Sustainability

Product process Business Models

&

Which actors?

Environmental Social Economic

Which focus?

Large organizations tend to deal with sustainable innovation as an incremental innovation process…

Key finding n°2

... Before re-designing business models

Sustainability and business model innovations

Circular economy

Not for Profit, Social Business and Bottom of the Pyramid

From product to service

sharing economy (Collaborative production and consumption)

Environmental scope Social scope

Consumption

Production

The ingredients of the sharing economy

« Wired to share »

Intensifying the use of material capital

… involve to rethink the relationship between the company and its ecosystem

Key finding n°3

Disruptive innovations in the field of sustainability …

Thinking at a broader scale

Companies

Public actors

DistributorsSuppliers

Other stakeholders

Research & Educational institutions

Standardization agencies

NGOs competitors

Natural eco-systems Business eco-systems

Clients

How to favor the emergence of sustainable business ecosystems ?

Big data

2. Sharing & Structuring informations, agreeing on shared objectives

3. Create platforms and rules for interconnecting actors

1. Capitalizing on distributed intelligence within the ecosystem

Intra-firm

Open innovation

Implementing sustainable innovation ...

Key Finding n°4

... Involves a total revamping of organizational strategies

Which organizational models?

Simplifiying innovation by desystemizing it

Monitoring a series of innovative projects

Conducting a policy of partnerships, acquisitions, financing

Creating new brands or divisions

Key Finding n°5

The need to mobilize new skills and new evaluation criteria

« I don’t think many people could claim to have all the skills required for sustainability. It is multidisciplinary by nature. We need scientists, technicians, public affairs specialists, lawyers… »

Catherine Tissot-Colle, Communication and Sustainability Director, Eramet

« Our sustainability approach has to be long term, but today’s societies all think short term, which is the crucial point. »

Sandrine Sommer, Sustainability Director, Guerlain

Key finding n°6

Government & the Consumer:

2 key players, whose role remains ambiguous!

Key Finding n°7

For sustainable innovation to be successful,

It is necessary to learn from failures and develop an iterative approach!

• Successful failures as sources of learning and opportunities

Pilar AcostaAurélien Acquier

Valentina Carbone Olivier Delbard

Julie Fabbri Florent Gitiaux

Delphine ManceauCatherine Ronge

The authors