Integrating Environment for Innovation

Environmental innovations have been emphasized for effectively solving environmental problems. In the innovation literature, organizational factors have been listed among the determinants of innovations, and firm-level research and development (R&D) has been perceived crucial. This indicates that environmental considerations should be integrated into all organizations, especially in R&D, to promote environmental innovation. A typology of six forms of “environmental integration” in product development is created based on organizational integration and product development literatures, and the occurrence of the different integration forms in the product development of four Nordic paper and packaging companies is studied. The results show that although environmental considerations in research and product development are standard practice on some level, the practice still varies a great deal between companies. Furthermore, different combinations of the environmental integration forms used in organizations have implications on the source from which environmental information for innovation originates.