Microfoundations of companies' dynamic capabilities for environmentally sustainable innovation: Case study insights from high-tech innovation in science-based companies

To achieve sustainable development, companies are increasingly putting an emphasis on the creation and the promotion of environmentally sustainable innovations. Environmentally sustainable innovation often involves a significant shift in a new strategic direction. This paper studies this shift from a dynamic capabilities perspective and aims to identify the microfoundations of science-based companies' dynamic capabilities for high-tech environmentally sustainable innovations. It investigates the development of high-tech environmentally sustainable innovations in two distinctive science-based companies. To scholars, this study provides an in-depth process analysis, over time, of how and why microfoundations of dynamic capabilities influence the development of a science-based company's high-tech environmentally sustainable innovations. To practitioners in science-based firms, this process study can function as a frame of reference, enabling the tailoring of a strategy for high-tech environmentally sustainable innovation.