« How to reconcile business with sustainable development: an innovation approach »

International audiencePurpose – Sustainable development has first been perceived as a hindrance to economic growth.Today, the opposition between innovation and sustainable development is less evident. The purpose ofthis paper is to explore the potential complementarities that could emerge between innovationstrategies and sustainable development.Design/methodology/approach – As a conceptual paper, this article aims at developingpropositions.Findings – Sustainable development constitutes a new data of the macro-environmental context,likely to modify the competing industries and systems in which companies evolve. In return, theyrepresent many opportunities that companies can seize to model their strategies. Within theframework of such an approach, innovation and sustainable development constitute engines ofdevelopment which can get connected and virtuously feed themselves.Research limitations/implications – Because of the chosen research approach, the results lackgeneralisability. Therefore, academics are encouraged to further test the propositions developed in thearticle.Practical implications – Strategies, and their translation at the organisational level, integratingSD, may provide both a source of competitive advantage for companies and an enhancement of theircommitment to society.Social implications – The practices described in the article are aiming at stimulating the innovationof collaborators, in order to integrate the principles of sustainable development within the company.Originality/value – This paper fills a literature gap regarding the study of how managers can takesustainable development into account to build their strategies