| Abstract |
This idea of eco-innovation is fairly recent. One of the first appearances of the concept of eco-innovation in the literature is in the book by Fussler and James (1996). In a subsequent article, James (1997) defines eco-innovation as 'new products and processes which provide customer and business value but significantly decrease environmental impacts'. Eco-innovation boosts economic growth whilst protecting the environment and can be a source of competitive advantage for an established firm? We consider how the device of Participative innovation (Telgborg, 2010; Durieux, 2000; Everaere, 1996) interacts with the development of eco-innovations. This form of innovation emanates from a desire at the head of the company not to book innovation to a few specialists, but to spread it among all company employees. Our question is as follows: How the management of waste and sustainable development can be a source of innovation and performance? We consider here the case of the SNCF Company and more particularly the device of Participative Innovation (PI) which can lead innovativeness towards eco-innovations. Its aim is to involve all stakeholders of the company in search of innovations, both in terms of products and services. Our interest in this research is how the SNCF company can successfully meet the challenges ahead concerning the management of waste and sustainable development as a source of innovation and performance in a context of opening of its market and competition. In this single case study, we access all different sources of data: documentation, archival records, interviews, direct observation, participant observation, and physical and cultural artefacts. More recently, the concern of sustainable development stakes have impulsed innovativeness towards the management of waste and sustainable development. We will prove through the development of several innovations - for instance noise reduction, green technology concerning high speed train compressor - in the case of the SNCF company how the management of waste and sustainable development is a source of innovation and performance. |