Can Innovations That Are Good for Environment Be Also Good Business? A Case Study on Biodiversity Loss Mitigation

ABSTRACT

The adoption of biodiversity loss mitigation innovations (BLMIs) in business markets depends on customers recognizing their value. Current literature lacks sufficient understanding of the decision processes, through which suppliers and customers make the ecological value of BLMIs visible, credible, and economically actionable. This paper explores decision‐making concerning and development of BLMIs at the supplier‐customer interface, using an interventionist research approach. The paper combines the switching path analysis technique (SPAT) and the Gioia method to analyze interview data on how decisions on BLMIs are currently being made and how these innovations could be developed to accelerate their adoption. Our results suggest that BLMI decisions currently rely on identifying cost‐efficient approaches that sufficiently address the biodiversity‐related concerns, while merely hoping to also capture the more ambiguous but broader ecological value in economic terms. Moreover, our study suggests that in addition to introducing the BLMIs themselves, the measurement of the ecological value and its translation into economic customer value need to be developed to enhance the adoption of BLMIs. The paper contributes to literature on biodiversity innovations and customer value by identifying the core business challenges related to BLMI.