Importance of Sustainable Innovation: A Case Study Analysis

This report discusses the importance of sustainable innovation and offers the biobean as a primary example. It explores the development of novel services and products, changing operational processes, and how sustainable innovation leads to sustainable businesses. The report also discusses how to comply with sustainability ideas, including saving energy, eating less meat, using reusable alternatives, and more.

Individual case study
analysis

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Part A...............................................................................................................................................3
Importance of sustainable innovation..........................................................................................3
Part B...............................................................................................................................................6
Complying with the sustainability ideas......................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The need for the organisations to become and inculcate the sustainability for executing
the business activities in increasing day by day as the globe is developing in a very efficient way
which is the sustainable use has become very important. The employment branding, cost savings
and the reputation management are one of the most important reasons that the sustainability is
becoming crucial in the businesses. With the assistance of the creation of strategy of the
sustainability, the companies can even balance the environmental, financial and the social issues
and the relevant risks that some with these issues and with also the responsibilities in the longer
period of the time. The sustainability strategy means that examining the main purpose and the
vision and mission of the organisation by altering the stakeholders at first and then the company
as the usual mindset to collaborate that takes in consideration the development of the money in
numerous ways (Aguilar-Fernández and Otegi-Olaso, 2018).
This report will discuss the necessity of the sustainable innovation by offering the bio-
bean as the primary example along with the ideas of the sustainability that are made on the basis
of the existing situations.
MAIN BODY
Part A
Importance of sustainable innovation
The sustainable innovation consists of the development of the intentional modifications
of the services, products and the procedures of the organisation for the creation of the benefits
related to the environment and the social aspect for the long term and along with that the
revenues are also being generated. This particular definition was provided by a popular
researcher Richard Adams, who analysed the industry research and the academic research in this
aspect. The sustainable innovation is linked with the services and the products. The sustainable
innovation addresses the social influences and the unintended environmental factors. It also
develops the impact that the companies can provide the services and the products that are much
better for themselves along with the community for a longer period of time (Adomako and
Nguyen, 2020).
Development of novel services and products
With the assistance of the novel services and the products, the organisations can create and offer
the novel services and the products that contribute to their actions in fulfilling the sustainability

directly. One such kind of the instance is of the Bio- bean that is British start up and is being
given the certificate by the B Corp, developed an eco friendly biofuel that is being made from the
waste of the coffee grounds and converted into the eco friendly products and goods such as the
coffee pellets and the coffee logs. These are also used as an alternative to the carbon heavy fuels
such as the coal briquettes and the wood logs which are usually imported. The bio- bean is also a
utilising a material that was considered as a waste in the past that help in the circular economy
but at the same time also developing a huge revenue on the annual basis in the year 2020
(Delmas and Pekovic, 2018).
Changing operational processes
The sustainable innovation is being utilised in the creation of the novel services and products but
at the same time it is also used by the companies to develop sustainably and also offering the
existing services and products while they change their processes. The modification in the process
can take place in various areas such as the marketing, HR, design and also the production. One
such instance of the fluctuating operational processes is the fair phone that is a Dutch social
enterprise which provides its customer with the smartphones that are not like the bio bean that
creates the novel products such as the logs and the pallets created from the waste of the coffee,
the fair phone products do not provide any new technical features. Rather, the fair phone change
the production of the smartphones to switch it into more sustainable with increased
accountability. The use of the recycles and the mined materials and provide their employees with
the proper amount of the wages and the good labour conditions. Around 80% of the emissions of
the gas from the smartphones are formed from its process of production, the fair phone creates or
design their phones in such a manner that they retain for the long run. They acquire that design
which is modular and form the upgrades and also repair it in an easy way which leads to the
decrease the electronic waste (Berkowitz, 2018).
Sustainable innovations leads to sustainable businesses
The primary goal of the sustainable innovation is to meet the needs of the prevailing generations
without preventing or neglecting the requirements of the generations in the future. It requires the
businesses to utilise the challenges like the rights of the human along with the climatic change
into the innovation process. The organisations that practice the sustainable innovation move
more than just acquiring for the quick revenues. They develop the plans for a longer period of the
time about the technological investment and the staff for the potential use in the future.

Ultimately, the organisations become successful when they execute in a sustainable way.
At first, the sustainable organisations attracts the skilled and the talented employees and then
comparing them to those competitors who are non sustainable, improved people are drawn to
those companies which are sustainability oriented. In the survey of millennials that was executed
by Deloitte and the Gen Zs, the 49% of the population stated that the ethics played a necessary
function in the choices that they make in field of their career. In the second part, those companies
which think that the stakeholders creates more patents along with the influencing patents, that
wqas according to the research done by Caroline Flammer and Aleksandra Kacperczyk. The
improved and better innovation is the main outcome of the orientation of sustainability. The
organisations which are being included in the sustainable innovation develop the ideas from a big
picture and thus they also learn from different perspectives. They also acquire the data and the
solutions from various other industries and stakeholders. Moreover, those organisations that care
more about the sustainability are considered to be much more resilient in comparison to their
competitors especially important in the turbulent sectors. The companies which utilises the
sustainability orientation go through the crisis and also less share price volatility along with the
increased amount of the revenue in the longer run as compared to those without the sustainability
orientation that was being researched by Natalia Ortiz-de-Mandojana and Tima Bansal (Mousavi
and Bossink, 2020).
Bio-bean- an example of sustainable innovations
The primary goal of the bio-bean is to convert the waste coffee grounds for the heated
buildings and the advancing of the transport systems into the advanced bio fuels. Another
objective of this company is to work with the existing supply chain of coffee in the industry for
the gathering and using the thousands of the tones of coffee grounds which are wasted created by
the factories of coffee, coffee shops, transport hubs and the offices along with that it also
develops a positive impact on the development of the economy which is circular in nature. The
closed loop processes of the manufacturers of the bio bean uses the biomass heating pellets with
the biodiesel that is being created from the waste of the used coffee grounds. The coffee
companies were drawn b the business models and the technological advancement along with the
sustainability industry and the media across the world including the UK investment and trade.
Endorsement from shell, the Mayor of London, the Ellen MacArthur foundation and the London
sustainable commission. The other main objective of the bio-bean is helping the coffee

companies to reduce the emitants of the green house gases and then creating zero waste carbon
neutral fuels. The improvement in the technology has led to the expansion of the life cycle of the
product and help the businesses to examine the objectives of the sustainability. The approach
which is being used by the bio bean is to highlight the new financial management opportunities
by shifting the waste into the furl. The time when this particular approach is being enhanced and
is being used on an industrial level; then it will automatically lead to the enhanced growth in the
future and by adopting it globally but keeping in account the positive changes of the environment
benefits to be fulfilled. Around 5 lakh tonnes of the waste of the coffee is being formed in the
UK nation per year and majority of that particular waste is considered to be viable on an
economic level. This provides a big opportunity for the finance groups that are looking for the
low cost along with cost savings and reduce their chances of the carbon footprint (Godin and
Gaglio, 2019).
The bio-bean gives an example of the sustainable innovation and the manner in which the
the circular economy operates by shifting the waste into the fully latest product or goods that can
also be considered valuable and can be viable on the commercial basis and provide the solutions
to the primary issues related to the surrounding. IT also defines the important role which the
innovation can play in helping to address the issues with the supply chain.
Part B
Complying with the sustainability ideas
Sustainable living involves the reduction in the amount of the resources of the Earth
which can be used to help in the protection and preservance of it. This can be done in multiple
ways by limited energy amount which is used by the eco friendly products and by changing the
diet. The production of the resources by the utilisation of the creation of waste and the energy at
a specific rate that is not sustainable.
Saving energy
By implementing the decreased amount of the energy in our routine lives, it will lead to the
decrease in the carbon emissions. There prevails various ways in which the energy could be
saved including ;the switching off standby goods, creating the heating down and not utilising the
drier for letting the clothes dry (Van Wassenhove, 2019).
Eating less meat

Eating reduced amount of the meat can lead to the decrease in the implications or the negative
effects of the meat industry that has been developed on the Earth.
Using the reusable alternatives
By taking in account the single use goods primarily the plastic ones that will lead to the landfill
and the ocean that leads to the harmful impact on the environment and also the wildfire which
can be prevented by the selection of the environment friendly and the options that could be re
used.
Using the paperless
For the avoiding the waste of the paper and in place of that connecting into the technology would
be more meaningful.
Using renewable energy
The renewable energy must be used so as to decease the emissions of the carbon and by
replacing it with the diesel or the petrol vehicles which are electric in nature and that they help in
assisting it (Bag, 2018).
Recycling and reusing
It must be made sure that the reused items and the products along with the items must be utilised
as much as possible for the reduction of the wastes.
Growing own production
When an individual is planting his or her own fruits and the vegetables, then the use of the
pesticides will lead to the land and water pollution that will reduce the amount of the fossil fuels
which are being used for the purpose of transportation.
Donating unused items
The items which are not being used they must be donated to the charitable purpose so as to
maintain the sustainable innovation.
Wearing sustainable clothing
It reduces the influence of the polluting textile industries and their negative implication on the
planet (Gunarathne, 2019).
Buying the fair trade products
The products that has been labelled as the fair trade mark on them must be purchased and the
organisations that develops these kind of the products are concerned about the sustainable
innovation.

Driving less
Walking can be done instead of driving which will also increase the impacts of the sustainable
innovation (Lee and Trimi, 2021).
Using the eco friendly cleaning products
The green products and those that does not create any negative influence on the environment and
also are not made of any kind of the chemicals must be utilised.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been discussed the necessity of the sustainable innovation by
offering the bio-bean as the primary example along with the ideas of the sustainability that are
made on the basis of the existing situations. The sustainable innovation has proven out to be very
useful for the individuals along with their well being. It also assists in maintaining the equality in
each other's relationship and bonding where if any kind of the imbalances take place then it will
lead to the creation of the adverse effect on the economic and the social stability. When there are
changes in the climate, its impact, influences and the reactions of the policies merge with the
economic production and services, climatic change and the human societies which becomes the
primary factor in various factors regarding the sustainability development.
One of the main issue for the organisation related to the sustainability is to get the value
from the sustainability reporting in order to guide and convert the activities related to the
operations of the business, sustainable innovation requires an approach that is classy and which
combines the sustainable and the non financial approaches in the traditional reporting of a
company.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adomako, S. and Nguyen, N.P., 2020. Human resource slack, sustainable innovation, and
environmental performance of small and medium‐sized enterprises in sub‐Saharan
Africa. Business Strategy and the Environment.29(8).pp.2984-2994.
Aguilar-Fernández, M.E. and Otegi-Olaso, J.R., 2018. Firm size and the business model for
sustainable innovation. Sustainability.10(12).p.4785.
Bag, S., 2018. Supplier management and sustainable innovation in supply networks: an empirical
study. Global Business Review.19(3_suppl), pp.S176-S195.
Berkowitz, H., 2018. Meta-organizing firms' capabilities for sustainable innovation: A
conceptual framework. Journal of Cleaner Production.175.pp.420-430.
Delmas, M.A. and Pekovic, S., 2018. Corporate sustainable innovation and employee behavior.
Journal of business ethics.150(4).pp.1071-1088.
Godin, B. and Gaglio, G., 2019. How does innovation sustain ‘sustainable innovation’?. In
Handbook of Sustainable Innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Gunarathne, N., 2019. Sustainable innovation measurement: Approaches and challenges. In
Innovation for sustainability(pp. 233-251). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Lee, S.M. and Trimi, S., 2021. Convergence innovation in the digital age and in the COVID-19
pandemic crisis. Journal of Business Research.123.pp.14-22.
Mousavi, S. and Bossink, B., 2020. Corporate-NGO partnership for environmentally sustainable
innovation: Lessons from a cross-sector collaboration in aviation biofuels.
Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions.34.pp.80-95.
Van Wassenhove, L.N., 2019. Sustainable innovation: Pushing the boundaries of traditional
operations management. Production and Operations Management.28(12).pp.2930-
2945.