Editorial: Innovation and business strategy for sustainability

• Published in: Innovation & management review Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 174 - 179
• Main Authors: Stocker, Fabricio, Sajjad, Aymen, Raziq, Muhammad Mustafa, Pacheco, Larissa Marchiori
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: São Paulo Emerald Group Publishing Limited 14-06-2022; Emerald Publishing
• Subjects: Artificial intelligence; Business models; Case studies; Collaboration; Community; Competition; Competitive advantage; Innovations; Internet of Things; Qualitative research; Radio frequency identification; Sustainable development; Technological change; Brazil; Latin America
• ISSN: 2515-8961; 2515-8961
• DOI: 10.1108/INMR-07-2022-183

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2010), innovation relates to both the development of new products, processes and technologies as well as their diffusion and application that in turn translate into improved firm performance. The United Nations (2021) estimated that implementing the SDGs can create US$12 trillion in business opportunities, and without the interest and persistent support of the business sector, it will be impossible to successfully achieve the SDGs by 2030. [...]by aligning their strategies and practices to the SDGs, firms can make significant contributions to achieving the 2030 Agenda (Eweje et al., 2020). [...]firms have a pivotal role in creating innovative solutions for a long-standing problem that requires more concerted approaches (Cordova & Celone, 2019) to accelerate technology development and diffusion and bring innovative products to the market (OECD, p. 14). Increasingly, firms are adopting Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing technologies as well as cutting-edge information and communication technologies – cloud computing and cognitive computing, radio-frequency identification (RFID), green lean six sigma (GLSS) approach, cyber-physical systems (CSP), digital sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology, 3D printing, machine learning, Internet of things (IoT), robotics and big data and analytics – to achieve sustainable outcomes (Allam & Dhunny, 2019; Alves, Galina, & Dobelin, 2018 Dantas et al., 2020; Farrukh, Mathrani, & Sajjad, 2021; Malik & Raziq, 2022; Sarkis, Cohen, Dewick, & Schröder, 2020; Saunila, Nasiri, Ukko, & Rantala, 2019; Tjoa & Tjoa, 2016; Wu, Guo, Huang, Liu, & Xiang, 2018).