Table 3. Sustainable innovation types in...

Table 3.

Sustainable innovation types in an industrial context

Sustainable innovation type	Illustrative case examples	Primary controls involved	Performance outcomes	Transformative potential*
Product innovations	Modular product designs (allows for retrofitting and remanufacturing) service agreements R&D developments, including but not limited to those in the industrial network, for example electrification	Requires tracking and monitoring of the information exchanged along the customer interface and between infrastructural partners (e.g. battery recycling partners or charging providers) as diagnostic controls that inform internal decision making	Economic and environmental performance savings for industrial organisations and customers	Moderate → High (BC2–BC3), potential for BC4 with collaboration
Process innovations	Digitalisation Automation Machine telematics Lifecycle traceability	Adherence to and from boundary systems such as codes of conduct aim to ensure behavioural alignment (social and environmental behaviours) in the value chain; monitored through diagnostic controls	Risk management and compliance outcomes that support environmental and social performance concerns	Low → Moderate (BC1–BC3), typically efficiency-focused but enabling systemic change
Service innovations	Sustainable services such as remanufacturing and maintenance contracts, Circular service agreements Batteries as a service Education initiatives linked to circularity	Requires tracking and performance information along customer interface for timely service offerings (decision-making) Incentives for selling sustainable/circular services support behavioural alignment Education programmes promote behavioural alignment between industrial organisations and other up/downstream actors	Economic, environmental and social benefits (customer health and safety) related to service agreements as main revenue generating stream; Value outcomes for the value chain (as per CSRD, CSDDD)	Moderate → High (BC2–BC4), depending on customer uptake and network collaboration
Social innovations	Safety programmes Community initiatives (caring for employee/community welfare by water extraction projects, healthcare provision, diversity management etc.)	Stimulates autonomous or increasingly internalised motivational factors; behavioural alignment within the industrial firms and throughout the value chain	Economic, environmental and social performance benefits by gaining both local and global legitimacy	Low → Moderate (BC1–BC3), foundations for broader system change but rarely transformative alone

Sustainable innovation type	Illustrative case examples	Primary controls involved	Performance outcomes	Transformative potential*
Product innovations	Modular product designs (allows for retrofitting and remanufacturing) service agreements R&D developments, including but not limited to those in the industrial network, for example electrification	Requires tracking and monitoring of the information exchanged along the customer interface and between infrastructural partners (e.g. battery recycling partners or charging providers) as diagnostic controls that inform internal decision making	Economic and environmental performance savings for industrial organisations and customers	Moderate → High (BC2–BC3), potential for BC4 with collaboration
Process innovations	Digitalisation Automation Machine telematics Lifecycle traceability	Adherence to and from boundary systems such as codes of conduct aim to ensure behavioural alignment (social and environmental behaviours) in the value chain; monitored through diagnostic controls	Risk management and compliance outcomes that support environmental and social performance concerns	Low → Moderate (BC1–BC3), typically efficiency-focused but enabling systemic change
Service innovations	Sustainable services such as remanufacturing and maintenance contracts, Circular service agreements Batteries as a service Education initiatives linked to circularity	Requires tracking and performance information along customer interface for timely service offerings (decision-making) Incentives for selling sustainable/circular services support behavioural alignment Education programmes promote behavioural alignment between industrial organisations and other up/downstream actors	Economic, environmental and social benefits (customer health and safety) related to service agreements as main revenue generating stream; Value outcomes for the value chain (as per CSRD, CSDDD)	Moderate → High (BC2–BC4), depending on customer uptake and network collaboration
Social innovations	Safety programmes Community initiatives (caring for employee/community welfare by water extraction projects, healthcare provision, diversity management etc.)	Stimulates autonomous or increasingly internalised motivational factors; behavioural alignment within the industrial firms and throughout the value chain	Economic, environmental and social performance benefits by gaining both local and global legitimacy	Low → Moderate (BC1–BC3), foundations for broader system change but rarely transformative alone

Note(s):

Transformative potential assessed using Schaltegger and Burritt (2018) business cases BC1–BC4. BC1 = reactionary, BC2 = reputational, BC3 = responsible, BC4 = collaborative

Sources(s): Authors’ own work

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