Pelin Demirel

Although the value of design thinking (DT) in the innovation processes of large organisations is widely examined within the literature, its role and value for early‐stage start‐up innovation processes remains less well understood. This study investigates how start‐up founders implement DT practices in the early‐stage start‐up innovation processes in UK‐based MedTech/HealthTech start‐ups using 38 semi‐structured interviews with start‐up founders, DT experts and investors. The key findings shed light on the limited use of DT within the time‐pressured context of start‐up ecosystems and call for unique adaptations that can better support start‐up firms to benefit from DT. Furthermore, the study highlights the challenges in implementing DT in highly regulated contexts, like the MedTech/HealthTech sector, where stringent regulations limit user engagement of innovators during experimentation. The study contributes to the theoretical DT literature by extending insights on the barriers to the effective implementation of DT in different organisational and sectoral contexts. Additionally, it provides practitioner insights directed to entrepreneurship educators such as start‐up accelerators and incubators for better deployment of DT education for entrepreneurs.

Achieving net zero has become a key concern for firms to address climate change, yet growing evidence suggests that reducing reliance on fossil fuels for energy generation alone is insufficient. As material use is increasingly recognized as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, the circular economy has emerged as a potential pathway to support decarbonization. Despite the intuitive appeal of aligning circularity with net zero, their relationship remains conceptually underexplored and empirically ambiguous. To address this complexity, this article develops a framework conceptualizing the interaction between circular economy and net zero as a dynamic interplay of virtuous and vicious cycles. Drawing on paradox and capability perspectives, it explains when circular practices reinforce decarbonization and when they generate capability traps that undermine environmental performance. The framework contributes to corporate sustainability scholarship by identifying the capabilities that enable firms and their ecosystems to transform tensions into synergies, thereby supporting more coherent strategies and policy interventions at the intersection of circularity and net zero.

This paper explores eco-innovations as the key enabler of green transition and the main response to the climate change risks that firms increasingly face in all sectors. Taking a systems perspective and focusing on the barriers to eco-innovation, we discuss the most promising economic levers that could be engaged to accelerate eco-innovations and the green transition. We emphasise the complex and crucial roles in green transition played by policy-making and firm governance practices, firms’ sustainability-oriented and digitalisation capabilities as well as the need for extensive collaborations within and across firms. We bridge the literatures around climate change risks, firm capabilities and environmental policy to present a holistic reflection of what eco-innovations need to encompass in order to serve the green transition.

In this paper, we explore whether IT‐enabled organisational transformation (ITOT) moderates the relationship between eco‐innovation and the growth performance of microfirms. Our framework conceptualises ITOT in microfirms as a multistage process that includes: (i) setting a digitalisation strategy, (ii) adopting advanced information systems technology (IST) artefacts and (iii) developing in‐house digital resources and capabilities. The analysis of a sample of 5015 microfirms from 39 countries indicates that eco‐innovations boost firm growth when coupled with (i) a formalised digitalisation strategy, (ii) adoption of advanced IST artefacts (e.g., digital technologies that characterise Industry 4.0) and (iii) digital resources and capabilities in microfirms. These findings contribute to the growing digitalisation literature by highlighting the essential role that ITOT processes play in enabling sustainability‐led growth pathways for microfirms. The paper advocates for the viability and performance benefits of a twin digital and ecological transformation and showcases the potential of ITOT for an economically successful net‐zero transition that embraces microfirms.

Introduction: The healthcare sector is a major contributor to the climate crisis, and operating theatres (OTs) are one of the highest sources of emissions. To inform emissions reduction, this study aimed to (i) compare the outcomes of interventions targeting sustainable behaviours in OTs using the Triple Bottom Line framework, (ii) categorise the intervention strategies using the 5Rs (reduce, recycle, reuse, refuse, and renew) of circular economy, and (iii) examine Intervention Functions (IFs) using the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW). Methods: Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched until June 2023 using the concepts: sustainability and surgery. The review was conducted in line with the Cochrane and Joanna Briggs Institution’s recommendations and was registered on PROSPERO. The results were reported in line with PRISMA, Supplemental Digital Content 1, https://links.lww.com/JS9/D210 (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Results: Sixteen reviews encompassing 43 life-cycle analyses, 30 interventions, 5 IFs, and 9 BCW policy categories were included. 28/30 (93%) interventions successfully led to sustainability improvements; however, the environmental outcomes were not suitable for meaningful comparisons due to their using different metrics and dependence on local factors. The ‘reduce’ strategy was the most prolific and commonly achieved through ‘education’ and/or ‘environmental restructuring’. However, single-session educational interventions were ineffective. Improving recycling relied on ‘environmental restructuring’. More intensive strategies such as ‘reuse’ require multiple intervention functions to achieve, either through a sustainability committee or through an intervention package. Conclusion: Policymakers must examine interventions within the local context. Comparing the outcomes of different interventions is difficult and could potentially be misleading, highlighting the need for a tool integrating diverse outcomes and contextual factors. ‘Reduce’ strategy guarantees environmental and financial savings, and can be achieved through ‘Education’ and/or ‘environmental restructuring’.

Transition pathways for net zero encompass seemingly insurmountable innovation challenges for the scaling of less mature techno-logical solutions such as hydrogen, materials substitution, and electrification as well as societal challenges to increase the market acceptability of these solutions. In this article, we present a conceptual framework which provides a firm-level perspective on net-zero innovation which has four unique characteristics, i.e., it is complex, systemic, urgent, and directional. The framework shows that the input, process, and output constraints that incumbent firms face in the net-zero transition can be tackled through four firm-level innovation levers – i.e., recombinative, collaborative, integrative, and socio-cognitive capabilities – which, in concert, act as enablers for firms to address these net-zero constraints. We conclude the article by outlining the framework’s main insights for firms’ innovation strategies for net zero and the policy implications. We also propose avenues for future research on net-zero innovation.