Why Sustainability Innovations Benefit Firms’ Competitiveness
Advantages of caring for the environment and society
Credit: This article is based on the scientific article “Sustainability Innovations and firm competitiveness: A review” by Fanny Hermundsdottir and Arild Aspelund (Full citations and link available at the end of the article)
With a growing global population and economy, the amount of resources we use and greenhouse gases we emit in the atmosphere is increasing. This not only has negative consequences for the environment such as climate change, it has also undesirable social effects such as social degradation. For companies, these environmental and social changes, plus increased competition due to globalization, are important to take into account to survive in the future. That is why more and more companies are willing to adapt through sustainability innovations.
Sustainability innovations focus on improving performance on the three dimensions of sustainability: environment, economic, and social. This means that a company realizes that its success or health not just depends on its finances, but also on how it contributes to society and the environment.
