Sustainability-Oriented Innovation in the Minerals Industry: An Empirical Study on the Effect of Non-Geographical Proximity Dimensions

Babak Ghassim

doi:10.3390/su10010282

Abstract

Minerals mining and processing companies (hereinafter referred to as “minerals industry”) face the increasing demand for a comprehensive approach towards innovations aimed at sustainability. While the ability to learn from external sources of knowledge is at the core of this process, lack of geographical proximity and multiplicity of external sources impose challenges for mineral companies in this respect. The present study proposes that organizational, institutional and cognitive proximities could provide a platform for this industry to overcome those challenges, thereby achieving a superior innovation performance across various sustainability dimensions. Results of an analysis based on a sample of 101 mineral companies in Norway reveal that these dimensions of proximity are conducive to process, product and social innovation in different ways. More specifically, organizational proximity (diversity of non-local collaborations) and informal institutional proximity (shared cultural norms and values) spur social innovation. Furthermore, formal institutional proximity (similarity of rules and laws) and cognitive proximity (familiarity of knowledge base) support both process and product innovations. This paper provides some insights on the determinants of innovation in sustainability contexts, and contributes to the recent debate on the role of non-spatial proximity dimensions for innovation in the peripheral regions.

Highlights

While there is a wide opposition to further development of the minerals industry due to its negative social and environmental impacts, pursuing a comprehensive sustainability strategy may help the industry to reduce those impacts while maximizing the financial benefits [1]
This paper provides some insights on the determinants of innovation in sustainability contexts, and contributes to the recent debate on the role of non-spatial proximity dimensions for innovation in the peripheral regions
Considering the extensiveness of sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) that necessitates a variety of competencies beyond the internal firm-level innovation capabilities [4], research has shown that companies have to open up their innovation process in order to spur the inflow of knowledge from outside [5]

Summary

Introduction

While there is a wide opposition to further development of the minerals industry due to its negative social and environmental impacts, pursuing a comprehensive sustainability strategy may help the industry to reduce those impacts while maximizing the financial benefits [1]. This paper adopts a broad conceptualization of sustainability, as it better reflects the diverse range of challenges in industrial settings, in the case of mineral companies that should balance the economic, environmental and social aspects of their business [1] In this regard, innovation for sustainability goes beyond ad-hoc activities with short-term benefits, and is conceived as a strategic orientation for transition towards more profitable, socially acceptable and cleaner business practices, referred to as sustainability-oriented innovation [3]. Adams et al [5] define SOI as “making intentional changes to an organization’s philosophy and values, as well as to its products, processes or practices to serve the specific purpose of creating and realizing social and environmental value in addition to economic returns” By building on this definition, the current study assumes three general pathways for innovation in sustainability contexts: process, product and social innovations. While I follow the same logic as Schiederig et al [30] in differentiating between technological and non-technological innovations, dedicating a separate category to social innovations brings about a valuable chance to study the idiosyncrasies of this type of SOI

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion