Upon completing the course, the student should be
able to
1. describe, classify and critically discuss the concept of
sustainability for products, services, technologies, and business
practices,
2. explain the systemic nature of sustainability and the sources of
uncertainty and controversy this gives rise to,
3. account for the basic principles of assessing sustainability,
such as environmental impact assessment, such as life cycle
analysis, cradle-to-crade, carbon accounting, and the triple bottom
line,
4. account for the variety of “greentech” innovations and
industries and the various ways in which the systemic nature of
sustainability manifests in these industries,
5. describe, classify and critically discuss the theories, methods,
and models of company strategy and innovation strategy selected for
the course (henceforth “theories” for short), both as they apply in
general to the “greentech” area and, when prompted, as they would
apply to a specific example,
6. apply the theories to a detailed real-world greentech innovation
case in the mini-project by presenting relevant facts and context
of the case and identifying the key problems, justifying the choice
of theories and relevant data, using the theories to analyze the
chosen problem, providing tentative managerial implications, and
critically reflecting upon the theories used and provide
suggestions for extending or combining theories to better fit the
problem at hand. |
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The urgent need for new technologies, products and processes
that are environmentally sustainable (“greentech” for short) will
fundamentally alter competitive positions in existing industries
and at the same time create new commercial opportunities and
entirely new markets and industries. When considering
appropriate strategies for innovation and the theoretical
frameworks one might apply to develop them, the question naturally
arises: What is special about greentech innovations? How do
they differ from other types of innovations? What theoretical
frameworks can point to appropriate innovation strategies?
This course is about the special challenges and opportunities in
developing business strategies and creating innovations where
sustainability is the key driver.
We approach the issue in three different ways: 1) By
characterizing and categorizing greentech innovations and comparing
them to other types of innovations; 2) by applying selected
theories, concepts, models, and methods from the general strategy
literature to greentech innovation cases; and 3) by presenting
additional approaches specifically designed to address greentech
innovations and sustainability strategies.
The first theme includes alternative concepts of sustainability
and tools for measuring environmental impact, the significant role
of government regulation, public attitudes, the “green consumer”
and other stakeholder influences, barriers and drivers of the green
payoffs, underlying causes of current controversies, and the
implications of the highly systemic nature of sustainability for
implementing green technologies. Thus, some greentech
innovations require complex societal changes in order to succeed in
the market place. Electric-drivetrain vehicles (EV’s, plug-in
hybrids, hydrogen cars), for example, need a new refueling or
recharging infrastructure. And renewable energy sources
require a redesign of the entire system of electricity production,
distribution, and consumption to accommodate the intermittent
decentralized electricity production.
The second theme is based on selected theories from the strategy
and innovation literature, such as industrial-organization
economics (Porter), the resource-based view of the firm, strategic
alliances, first- and second-mover advantage, platform strategy,
and open innovation, all applied to greentech innovation.
The third theme presents frameworks specifically addressing
sustainable innovation such as the “natural resource based view”,
systems thinking and system dynamics, environmental management, and
alternative classifications of archetypical greentech
strategies.
Having moved through these three perspectives, we will discuss the
current frontier of thinking in greentech innovation strategy and
where it is moving.
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(Subject to change)
Literature will be based on electronic downloads rather than a
printed compendium (to save paper and retain flexibility).
- Ambec, S; Lanoie, P (2008): Does It Pay to Be Green? A
Systematic Overview Academy of Management Perspectives, 22 (4):
45-62. (18 p). --- Source: EBSCO host: AN 35590353
- Braungart, M; McDonough, W; Bollinger A, 2007, Cradle-to-cradle
design: creating healthy emissions - a strategy for eco-effective
product and system design. Journal of Cleaner Production 15:
1337-1348. --- Source: ScienceDirect:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.08.003
- Chesbrough, H (2010) Business Model Innovation: Opportunities
and Barriers, Long Range Planning 43(2-3): 354-363 --- Source:
ScienceDirect: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.010
- Chesbrough, H.W. and M.M Appleyard (2007): Open Innovation and
Strategy, California Management Review, 50: 57-76. (21 p.) ---
Source: EBSCO host: AN 27340265
- Cusumano, Michael A., and Annabelle Gawer. 2002. The Elements
of Platform Leadership. MIT Sloan Management Review 43, no. 3:
51-58. --- Source: EBSCO host: AN 6553425
- Day, GS; Schoemaker, PJH (2011) Innovating in Uncertain
Markets: 10 Lessons for Green Technologies. Sloan Management
Review 52(4): 37-45. --- Source: Download:
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/files/saleable-pdfs/52411.pdf
- Economist (2010) Wheels when you need them: Car-sharing is
becoming big business. 4. September 2010. --- Source:
Factiva:
- Esty, D.C., Winston, A.S. (2009) Why Environmental Initiatives
Fail, Ch. 10 in Green to gold: How smart companies use
environmental strategy to innovate, create value, and build
competitive advantage, paperback edition, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, p.
235-259. --- Source: PDF file.
- Fairley, P. (2011) Will Electric Vehicles Finally Succeed?
Technology Review Jan/Feb 2011, p. 58-63. --- Source: EBSCO host:
AN 61356596
- Ghosh, S.; Nanda, R. (2011) Venture Capital Investment in the
Clean Energy Sector. Working paper no. 11-020. Harvard
Business School. --- Source: Download:
http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-020.pdf
- Hall, J. and H. Vredenburg (2003): The Challenge of Innovation
for Sustainable Development, MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall:
61-68. (8 p.) --- Source: EBSCO host: AN 11162971
- Henningsen, J (2012) EU's Emission Trading System, ETS: A
political miracle for the climate or a disaster? Memo, Concito,
June 27, 2012. --- Source: Download:
http://www.concito.info/sites/concito.dk/files/dokumenter/artikler/eu_ets_-_climate_policy_miracle_or_disaster_0.pdf
- IBM (2009) Realizing the potential of a Smarter Planet:
Interview with Jon Iwata, IBM Forward View newsletter. --- Source:
PDF file.
- Kates, R., Parris, T. & Leiserowitz, A. (2005). What is
Sustainable Development? Environment 47(3): 8-21 --- Source:
Download:
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sustsci/ists/docs/whatisSD_env_kates_0504.pdf
- Kiron, D; Kruschwitz, N; Haanes, K; von Streng Velken, I (2012)
Sustainablity nears a tipping point. Sloan Management Review
53 (2): 69-74. --- Source: Download:
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/feature/sustainability-strategy/
- Kolk, A. and J. Pinkse (2005): Business Responses to Climate
Change: Identifying Emergent Strategies, California Management
Review, 47 (3): 6-20. (15 p.) --- Source: EBSCO host: AN
17070057
- Lash, Jonathan, and Fred Wellington. 2007. COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE ON A WARMING PLANET. Harvard Business Review 85, no. 3:
94-102. --- Source: EBSCO host: AN 23926966
- Lieberman, M.B. and David B. Montgomery (1988): First-mover
advantages, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 9, pp. 41-58. (18
pp.) --- Source: JSTOR:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2486211
- Lovins, Amory B., L. Hunter Lovins, and Paul Hawken. 2007. A
Road Map for Natural Capitalism. Harvard Business Review 85, no.
7/8: 172-183. --- Source: EBSCO host: AN 25358858
- Manget, J; Roche, C; Münnich, F (2009) 219 BCG 2009 Capturing
the Green Advantage for Consumer Companies. BCG Perspectives
(report). --- Source: Download:
https://www.bcgperspectives.com/Images/BCG_Capturing_the_Green_Advantage_for_Consumer_Companies_Jan_09_tcm80-15407.pdf
- Mann, Charles C. (2009), Beyond Detroit: On the Road to
Recovery, Let the Little Guys Drive, Wired, 17(6). --- Source:
Download:
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-06/nep_auto?currentPage=1
- McKinsey (2010) Impact of the financial crisis on carbon
economics: Version 2.1 of the global greenhouse gas abatement cost
curve, report --- Source: Download:
http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/sustainability/pdf/Impact_Financial_Crisis_Carbon_Economics_GHGcostcurveV2.1.pdf
- McKinsey (2011) The fast lane to the adoption of electric cars,
McKinsey Quarterly, February. --- Source: Download:
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_fast_lane_to_the_adoption_of_electric_cars_2738
- McKinsey (2011). The business of sustainablity: McKinsey
Global Survey results. McKinsey Quarterly, October 2011. ---
Source: Download:
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_business_of_sustainability_McKinsey_Global_Survey_results_2867
- McKinsey (2012) Mobilizing for a resource revolution.
McKinsey Quarterly. January 2012. --- Source: Download:
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Mobilizing_for_a_resource_revolution_2908
- Morelli, N (2006) Developing new product service systems (PSS):
methodologies and operational tools, Journal of Cleaner Production,
14: 1495-1501 --- Source: ScienceDirect:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2006.01.023
- Nidumolu, Ram, C. K. Prahalad, and M. R. Rangaswami (2009), WHY
SUSTAINABILITY IS NOW THE KEY DRIVER OF INNOVATION. (cover story),
Harvard Business Review 87, no. 9: 56-64 --- Source: EBSCO host: AN
43831035
- NovoNordisk (2010) Facing up to the climate change
challenge. Blueprint for change company newsletter, April.
--- Source: Download:
http://www.novonordisk.com/images/Sustainability/PDFs/Blueprint_ClimaChange.pdf
- Orsato, R.J. (2006): Competitive Environmental Strategies: When
Does it Pay to Be Green? California Management Review, 48 (2):
127-143. --- Source: EBSCO host: AN 17070057
- Porter, M.E. and Kramer, M.R. (2011) Creating Shared Value,
Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2): 62-77. --- Source: EBSCO host: AN
56698455
- Reinhardt, F.L. (1999): Bringing the Environment Down to Earth,
Harvard Business Review, July-August: 149-157. (8 p.) --- Source:
EBSCO host: AN 1980088
- Rothenberg, Sandra (2007) Sustainability Through Servicizing.
MIT Sloan Management Review 48, no. 2: 83-89 --- Source: EBSCO
host: AN 23701517
- Rotman, D. (2012) Can Energy Startups Be Saved? Technology
Review May/June 2012. (on-line version) --- Source: Download:
http://www.technologyreview.com/review/427665/can-energy-startups-be-saved/
- Struben, J; Sterman, JD (2008): Transition challenges for
alternative fuel vehicle and transportation systems. Environment
and Planning B-Planning & Design, 35 (6): 1070-1097. ---
Source: Download:
http://scripts.mit.edu/~jsterman/docs/Struben-2008-TransitionChallengesforAlternativeFuelVehicleandTransportationSystems.pdf
- Suarez, Fernando, and Gianvito Lanzolla. 2005. The Half-Truth
of First-Mover Advantage. Harvard Business Review 83, no. 4:
121-127. --- Source: EBSCO host: AN 16572727
- Thøgersen, J (2011) Green Shopping: For Selfish Reasons or the
Common Good? American Behavioral Scientist 55(8) 1052-1076. ---
Source: Download:
http://abs.sagepub.com/content/55/8/1052
- Victor, D.; Cullenward, D. (2007) Making Carbon Markets Work,
Scientific American, 297(6) (December): 44-51. (Extended
version on-line). --- Source: Download:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=making-carbon-markets-wor
- Walker, Brian (2008), You Are Only As Green As Your Supply
Chain. Harvard Business Review on-line forum, February 6, 2008. ---
Source: Download:
http://www.hbrgreen.org/2008/02/you_are_only_as_green_as_your.html
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