Organizational learning and sustainability-oriented innovation in industrial symbiosis

Organizational learning and sustainability-oriented innovation in industrial symbiosis: The case of an eco-industrial park in Taiwan

The manufacturing industry has been identified as one of the key sectors that require sustainable transformation because of its massive environmental impacts and material waste in the production chain (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2013). Circular Economy (CE) represents a promising approach to sustainable transformation with a goal to close the resource loop through intentionally designing an industrial economy incorporating restoration and regeneration (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2013; Bocken et al., 2014). Various schools of thoughts contribute to the concept of CE, such as Cradle to Cradle, Biomimicry, and Industrial Ecology. Industrial Ecology denotes the importance of designing and optimizing the total materials cycle and energy flows through integrating industrial systems. (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2013) While the operations of IE can range from firm level to global level, the practice of industrial symbiosis (IS) focuses at the inter-firm level and explore collaborations and exchanges among organizations (Chertow, 2000).

IS can be defined as “(…) engaging diverse organizations in a network to foster eco-innovation and long-term culture change. Creating and sharing knowledge through the network yields mutually profitable transactions for novel sourcing of required inputs, value-added destinations for non-product outputs, and improved business and technical processes.” (Lombardi and Laybourn, 2012). From an individual firm’s aspect, IS engages firms in sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) at the process level through redesigning production activities with improved eco-efficiency (Klewitz and Hansen, 2014), which can be adopted as one type of sustainable business model to address sustainability issues (Bocken et al., 2014). Additionally, the dynamic of IS network has the potential to stimulate different types of innovation that contribute to sustainability (Mirata and Emtairah, 2005; Lombardi and Laybourn, 2012) and enable long-term competitive advantage for firms (Tidd and Bessant, 2013).

The exchanges in IS go beyond physical goods to include intangible resources such as knowledge, experience, and information, which create collective benefits of organizational learning (OL) among network actors (Mirata and Emtairah, 2005; Gibbs and Deutz, 2007). OL is the process through which the firms systematically and efficiently accumulate and utilize knowledge (Huber, 1991; Dodgson, 1993). Through OL, firms can potentially develop new capabilities, change organizational behavior, and improve their future performance, and, as a result, generate sustainable competitive advantage (Dodgson, 1993; Crossan et al., 1999; Huber, 1991; Argote and Ingram, 2000). Collective learning among organizations in IS can contribute to sustainable development as a system-level outcome (Baas and Boons, 2004) and potentially initiate higher-level learning inside an individual firm with cultural changes associated with sustainable development (Mirata and Emtairah, 2005; Gibbs and Deutz, 2007).

While recent literature focuses on OL in IS at a network level, more studies should be done on the organizational level and explore the relationship between SOI and OL (Walls and Paquin, 2015; Dzhengiz, 2020). Through a case study of an eco-industrial park in Taiwan, the research focuses on the following questions: (1) What is the role of OL in pursuing SOI in IS? (2) How does IS network support OL and SOI in individual firms? (3) What are success factors for OL and SOI in the context of Taiwanese companies? The research is carried out as a master thesis, conducted by Xiao-Yin Xu, a student in Global Technology and Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship. The supervisor is Luise Degen, a doctoral student at the Institute of Technology and Innovation Management at the Technical University Hamburg (TUHH).

Literature has suggested a positive link between OL and innovation (Jiménez-Jiménez and Sanz-Valle, 2011). Additionally, the importance of external linkages is addressed in terms of access to potential knowledge sources (Tidd and Bessant, 2013; Adams et al., 2016), which is specifically true when firms lack the necessary knowledge and capabilities to foster SOI (Cainelli et al., 2015). Factors such as absorptive capacity, organizational culture, and shared goals and vision among network actors are critical to a success OL at the interorganizational level. The aim of the study is to explore the relationship between OL and SOI in IS network and to validate findings in literature on success factors for OL and SOI. Taiwan plays a crucial role in the global supply chain with its strong manufacturing performance in semiconductors, electronics and textile (United Nations Industrial Development Organization, 2020; MOEA, 2021). Through a case study of an eco-industrial park in Taiwan, this research will contribute to a global understanding of IS practice and uncover additional success factors for OL and SOI in the context of Taiwanese companies.

Contact:
Xiao-Yin Xu: xiao-yin.xu@tuhh.de
Luise Degen: luise.degen@tuhh.de

Some of the most cited publications in the field of OL, SOI and IS:
Adams, R., Jeanrenaud, S., Bessant, J., Denyer, D. and Overy, P. (2016), “Sustainability-oriented Innovation: A Systematic Review”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 180–205.
Argote, Linda; Lee, Sunkee; Park, Jisoo (2020): Organizational Learning Processes and Outcomes: Major Findings and Future Research Directions. In Management Science. DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2020.3693.
Chertow, M.R. (2000), “INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS Literature and Taxonomy”, Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 313–337.
Crossan, M. M.; Lane, H. W.; White, R. E. (1999): Organizational Learning Framework From Intuition to Institution. In Academy of management review 24, pp. 522–537.
Damanpour, Fariborz (1991): Organizational Innovation: A Meta-Analysis of Effects of Determinants and Moderators. In Academy of management journal 34, pp. 555–590.
Inkpen, A. C.; Tsang, E. W. (2005): Social capital, networks, and knowledge transfer. In Academy of management review 30, pp. 146–165.
Klewitz, Johanna; Hansen, Erik G. (2014): Sustainability-oriented innovation of SMEs: a systematic review. In Journal of Cleaner Production 65, pp. 57–75. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.07.017.
Schaltegger, Stefan; Wagner, Marcus (2011): Sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability innovation: categories and interactions. In Bus. Strat. Env. 20 (4), pp. 222–237. DOI: 10.1002/bse.682.

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