Green Innovation Development: A Multiple Case Study Analysis

Attention to environmental sustainability today represents an essential issue for companies working in non-green industries. Companies are changing their attitude not only because they are forced by national and international law or by pressure from consumers but also because the adoption of environmental management strategies creates opportunities for business organizations. One of the ways through which companies integrate environmental concerns into their strategies while consolidating their competitive advantage is through innovations that can have positive environmental effects. Green innovation - defined as "innovations that consist of new or modified processes, practices, systems and products which benefit the environment and contribute to environmental sustainability" - can constitute an important source of cost reduction or improve environmental attributes of new products and services and can be used for marketing differentiation. Implementing green innovations represents an important challenge for non-green companies because it often requires the acquisition of new resources and competences that differ significantly from their existing competences. Previous studies on green innovations have often neglected this latter aspect because they have generally been focused on defining the specific features that distinguish green innovations from generic ones, on the effect of environmental policies, on fostering these innovation activities, or on the drivers of green innovations and its effect on firms' competitiveness. Thus, to the best of our knowledge, the majority of studies have focused on "who" has pushed green innovations, "why" they occur and with which results without noting "how" they are developed This paper attempts to contribute to the studies on this topic by proposing a theoretical framework that classifies green innovations by considering the impact of these innovations on a company's resources and competences. In particular, we focus on green innovation developed in non-green industries, where innovation development lies far from the company's core business and current resources and capabilities. To identify the different typology of green innovation according to their fit with existing market or technical capabilities, we employed the "Innovation Landscape Map" of Pisano (2015) and developed a multiple case study analysis in the non-green industry.