Sustainable innovation through management systems integration

Abstract

In an increasingly competitive world driven by fast changes, companies are challenged to pursue sustainable development through innovation. This matter has led to the discussion about how organizations manage to innovate in a way that they meet the demands of sustainability. Recently, researchers have identified the integration of management systems (IMS) as a potential practice to support both innovation and sustainability. This research aims to contribute to this field by exploring the relationship between IMS and sustainable innovation. European and Latin-American countries are included to contribute to the still scarce empirical evidence analyzing developed and less developed countries. Results suggest that IMS provides the managerial support to foster the adoption of cleaner production technologies. (...)