Developing capabilities and competence for sustainable business management as innovation: a research agenda

This paper frames the response by business to the challenge of sustainable development in terms of innovation. It addresses how the shift in business focus from competitiveness to sustainability impacts the capabilities and competence for innovation. A review of the literature suggests that innovation for sustainability requires the active involvement of a broader and more diverse network of actors, including those with more local knowledge of the implications of innovations than is the case with more conventional forms of innovation. The paper also identifies a systematic failure to address the need for inventiveness as a cornerstone of innovation. The paper puts forward elements of an applied research agenda to support the development of a better understanding of the capabilities that foster the competence by business to innovate in ways that are more sustainable. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.