Sociotechnical regimes, technological innovation and corporate sustainability: from principles to action

ABSTRACT

Increased environmental and social responsibility awareness, while producing unique opportunities for sustainability-oriented innovations, has generated important challenges for companies. The path to sustainability requires corporate strategies that guarantee profitability, managing simultaneously environmental and social responsibilities. An attempt is made to provide an understanding of sustainable development thinking in business, discussing how the combination of the transition management, adaptive planning and sociotechnical approaches can contribute towards an effective implementation of sustainability-oriented innovations in business context. The article proposes a conceptual model, which incorporates this contribution, developed through a four-year action-research project carried out within a large Brazilian energy company – Petrobras. The authors argue that the adoption of the proposed model by other large firms operating in different societal sectors might trigger organisational changes related to current corporate practices of technological innovation management.

KEYWORDS:

• Technological innovation
• sustainability
• transition management
• sociotechnical approach

Acknowledgements

This paper presents results from a four-year action-research project sponsored by Petrobras, in Brazil. Particularly, the authors would like to thank the managers and researchers of Petrobras Research Center-Cenpes, closely involved in this initiative, for their support and dedication. The authors also thank specialists and managers from the different areas of Petrobras, which integrate the ‘Petrobras Technology System’, for their effective participation in one or more sociotechnical experiments. Special thanks go to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Maria Fatima Ludovico de Almeida is an Assistant Professor in the Post-Graduation Programme in Metrology for Quality and Innovation at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). She has a D.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering at PUC-Rio, a M.Sc. degree in Innovation and Technology Management at University of Manchester (England) and a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA) in Information Science and Competitive Intelligence from Université Aix-Marseille III (France). Since 2005, Dr Almeida has also been working as a technical consultant for industrial and government projects focusing on innovation and sustainability issues, and technological foresight for S,T&I research studies and public policies. Email: [email protected]

Maria Angela Campelo de Melo, has completed Ph.D. in Social Systems Sciences from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, M.Sc. degree in Systems Analysis and its Applications from Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) and BSc. in Civil Engineering from Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE). Currently, she is Member of the Board Assembly of Associação Faculdades Católicas, sponsor of the Pontifícal Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), and an Associate Professor of IAG, the Business School of PUC-Rio. Her areas of interest include: planning and organisation of sociotechnical systems, strategic planning; policy and management of CT&I, focusing on the following themes: planning process, adaptive planning and socio-technological approach. Email: [email protected]