Sustainability and innovation: an investigation of its integration into organizational activities

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between sustainability and innovation in organizations, under the premise that sustainable development is important for the maintenance of the planet's social and environmental resources. For the development of the research, in-depth interviews were conducted with managers of a group of organizations that were winners of the Ozires Silva Award for Sustainable Entrepreneurship. The results of the analyzes show that organizations, although they have knowledge and a certain degree of control of the Triple Bottom Line proposed by Elkington (2012), are not fully applied, nor are their pillars treated equally; on the contrary, there is a prevalence of the economic pillar in this relation, the environmental one is relegated to the treatment of waste and the social to the assist people in need. As for the innovative activities, the efforts focused on the products and processes are objectified by the organizations, besides being incremental innovations the main typology found, evidencing an emphasis on the economic viability and future profitability of the innovations. It can be seen, therefore, that the convergence between sustainability and innovation is still incipient and very much in actions aimed at efficiency, not effectiveness.