Abstract
Previous studies discuss how regulatory, technological and market drivers increasingly challenge manufacturing industries to adopt eco-innovations. However, the understanding of the process by which eco-innovations are developed and commercialized as a result of these drivers is not yet well established, in particular because these drivers are perceived differently by the end-users and their suppliers. In this paper, we address the following research question: How do eco-innovation drivers shape processes in value-creating networks? To answer this question, we carried out a case study purposely selected to understand how eco-innovation drivers, such as regulation, market pull and technology, interact and affect the eco-innovation decisions in a given industry. We analyzed the processes in an eco-innovation initiative about retrofitting old ships, contextualized in the maritime equipment and supply industry. The paper makes two novel contributions: First, we develop a framework that can support supply-network eco-innovation initiatives to deal with changes at the regulatory, market and technology levels. The framework includes elements, such as value co-creation to explore technological opportunities emerging from the interaction of the drivers or value proposition development to align multiple actors’ interests in the network and agree on shared expectations to exploit the opportunities. Second, we contribute to the emerging research area on eco-innovation processes by highlighting the lesser-known role of value-creating network dynamics. Value-creating networks can be a platform for the development of more radical eco-innovations if actors in the networks can align their value creation and capture objectives.
Highlights
Research about eco-innovation has moved beyond understanding what drivers or barriers face companies in the development/adoption of technologies with economic and environmental goals [1]
With insights from the literature on supply chain management, we present an analytical model to understand the drivers and processes of value creation in supply networks
The insights from the case study are translated into a framework, which presents three overall propositions about how collaborative eco-innovation networks can deal with external changes/drivers:
Summary
Research about eco-innovation has moved beyond understanding what drivers or barriers face companies in the development/adoption of technologies with economic and environmental goals [1]. Eco-innovation literature in particular stresses the importance of technological push, market pull and regulatory push/pull as drivers of eco-innovation [8] and provides a comprehensive knowledge base of eco-innovation drivers [9,10,11] This literature often fails to explain how these drivers influence and shape the eco-innovation process, including its activities and events. Extant research about eco-innovation processes highlights that changes in the environment (technology, regulations, market) can affect stakeholders’ relations within collaborative networks [12,13]. We intend to contribute to the literature on eco-innovation taking place in value-creating networks of suppliers from a process perspective. We contribute to a better understanding about how a network of firms shapes the value proposition by offering a green retrofit service for old ships. We develop a knowledge framework to organize the impact of drivers, such as regulation, market and technology, in collaborative eco-innovation processes
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