Case Study Method in Addressing Sustainable Innovation in Business and Management

The SAJBMC editorial team is grateful to Hanna Lehtimäki, University of Eastern Finland, Anna Heikkinen, Tampere University and Johanna Kujala, Tampere University for helping us as guest editors to put the issue with curated collection of five cases. We hope you will enjoy them.

Our ways of organizing, managing and running businesses need fresh perspectives because business and society need to meet the sustainability criteria in an urgent manner. While there is an increased interest in sustainability research and practice (Tapaninaho & Kujala, 2019), complex sustainability challenges, such as climate change, social inequity, poverty, biodiversity loss and resource depletion require urgent changes and innovations in ways of organizing, managing and running businesses to develop sustainable solutions. In business and management studies, those studying sustainability examine the ways in which companies contribute to societal-level sustainability objectives by integrating economic, environmental and social aims while balancing the various stakeholder interests involved in the current operations without compromising the needs of future stakeholders (Bansal, 2002; Bansal & Song, 2017; Dyllick & Hockerts, 2002; Hörisch et al., 2014; Marjamaa et al., 2021).

In business and management research, there is call for research on social, business, organizational, management and behavioural innovations that support sustainable development (Lubbernik et al., 2017). Such innovations comprise business innovations related to sustainable product and service development, value creation processes that build on triple-bottom line and innovative sustainable business models, to mention a few (Bocken et al., 2019). They also comprise a variety of management and leadership innovations related to, for instance, change management, human resource management and novel ways of organizing and strategizing (Bocken et al., 2019; Crossan & Apaydin, 2010; Lehtimäki, 2016).

This issue of South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases presents five case studies on sustainable innovation. The case study method is particularly useful in examining novel phenomena, because it allows for learning from unique or unusual cases (Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2015). A case study investigates a contemporary phenomenon by presenting a rich story about local sensemaking on the topic. The case is investigated in relation to its historical, economic, technological, social and cultural context (Creswell, 2013; Eriksson & Kovalainen, 2015). The purpose is to transcend the empirical context to broader theoretical understanding through abstraction (Yin, 2018).

The case study method is an excellent choice in studying sustainable innovation that is an emerging and innovative phenomenon in business and society. The method allows for elaborating existing concepts and theories and introducing novel lines of inquiry. Since the interest lies in understanding the phenomenon as it unfolds in the local context and as those involved experience it, the case study method allows for interpretive sensemaking and contextualized explanation (Welch et al., 2011). In a case study, the rich contextual description that is essential for understanding the phenomenon enables elaboration of the uniqueness of the case, embracing the local narratives and sensemaking of the people. The aim is a thick description that explicates the researcher’s appreciation of the ways in which the social context imbues human action with meaning (Stake, 2005; Welch et al., 2011).

The case studies presented in this issue provide a broad selection of case study approaches on sustainable innovation. Shirin M. Khokhawala and Radha Iyer present a comparative case study of two sustainable enterprises in India. By comparing two cases, the authors produce a rich empirically embedded analysis of sustainability driven business models and future challenges that the companies face. The study increases our understanding about sustainable entrepreneurship in Indian context in particular, and in emerging country contexts more broadly.

Ville-Veikko Piispanen, Sini-Tuulia Suokas, Kaisa Henttonen and Hanna Lehtimäki present a multiple case study with six pioneering entrepreneurs on innovative circular economy in wood construction industry in Finland. The study elaborates sustainable business opportunity recognition theory by providing a rich empirically embedded description of drivers in sustainable business opportunity recognition and by presenting an analysis about the ways in which the entrepreneurs identify sustainable business opportunities in a particular industrial and national context.

Lotta Sihvo Matikainen presents a single case study to examine stakeholder engagement in a mining region in Germany. The results of the study elaborate stakeholder engagement theory by presenting rich empirically grounded analysis of a unique context that has received little attention in the previous stakeholder engagement literature.

Johanna Kujala, Anna Heikkinen, Ari Jokinen and Riikka Tapaninaho examine stakeholder engagement in urban ecosystem services with a single case study. The study presents a comprehensive and rich description of stakeholder engagement in an ecological innovation, storm water system, in a new and innovative residential area in Finland. The study contributes to urban ecosystem services literature.

Terhi Chakhovich and Tuija Virtanen examine interfirm control in the context of sustainability with a single case study. The study examines a forerunner company recognized for its advanced sustainability reporting. A detailed in-depth analysis of the single firm seeks to elaborate theorizing on sustainability and control by highlighting empirically grounded perspectives to control that are missing in the existing control package literature.

Sustainable innovation is an emerging phenomenon and contextualized examination allows for incorporating complexity in theoretical accounts. The challenge to overcome in case studies, in general, and thereby also in sustainable innovation cases is to find ways to treat contextualizing and rigorous explanation as complementary in theorizing (Welch et al., 2011). The case studies of this volume show that an increased understanding of sustainable innovation in different cultural, national, industrial and institutional contexts provides for learning about the conditions in which business management makes decisions about sustainability. Moreover, the contextualized examination and explanation increases understanding about the ways in which business actors shape and impact the context and promote sustainability in society.

We hope the readers will like the collection of cases covering sustainable innovation. Some of these cases have the potential of redirecting existing businesses to adopt a sustainable model. If some of the thoughts shared in these cases can enhance the academic debate around innovation and sustainability issues in the larger context, our purpose would be achieved. Send your comments to ak.dey@bimtech.ac.in.