How (not) to innovate towards sustainable enterprise models: Lessons from an explanatory case study
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | IFKAD 2015 10th International Forum on Knowledge Asset Dynamics. Culture, Innovation and Entrepreneurship: connecting the knowledge dots |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://www.ifkad.org/Proceedings/2015 |
| Field | Management and administrative |
| Keywords | sustainability; knowledge management; LIR (Language-Information-Reality); explanatory case study; philosophy and theory of science |
| Description | Purpose – This contribution identifies and addresses two lacunae in research that may be considered essential when addressing enterprise sustainability. Firstly, it seeks to provide a theoretical explanation for, and justification of, the reasons why successful processes in social and individual experience, as well as activity within an enterprise, need to be supplemented by a “quasi-theoretical” understanding of what individuals are doing (viewed both from inside and outside) when they act upon their experience in the interests of sustainability. Further, it elucidates the way in which theoretical explanations and their practical application/projection into reality work in general together. The central aim is, however, to provide both empirical insights resting upon experiential success derived from a case study and a sort of theoretical foundation provided by philosophy and theory of science. As a result, we will provide means for decision support in an explanatory (and not just descriptive) way to understand and improve evolutionary processes influencing how to integrate the idea of sustainability into an innovative modelling of enterprises. Design/methodology/approach – A short review of related research traditions is provided, followed by both a conceptual framework LIR (Language-Information-Reality) that rests upon research in the philosophy and theory of science, and empirical evidence both to challenge unreflective or – in the Socratic sense – “unexamined” organizational life intended to innovate towards sustainable enterprise models. Originality/value – Research related to enterprise sustainability has expanded in recent years, making room in the “representational” approach to accommodate an “enactive” or rather performative one. However, it appears that at the point of this integration a theoretical explanation and justification in organizational and management research is still absent. This contribution seeks therefore to explicate the above-mentioned model-theoretic systemic framework of analysis LIR and point out the many ways in which the mutual limitations inherent in the two approaches mentioned above clash with respect to examining organizational life, and are in need of interaction if they are to avoid misapplication and overexploitation of organizational knowledge. Practical implications – The proposed theoretical extension and explanation facilitates understanding and controlled reproducibility of those events that are considered and accepted as examples of sustainable success within an enterprise, economic or otherwise. |
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