| Title |
Walking the Purpose-Talk Inside a Large Company: Sustainable Product Development as an Instance of Divergent Change |
| ID_Doc |
65845 |
| Authors |
Kimsey, M; Geradts, T; Battilana, J |
| Title |
Walking the Purpose-Talk Inside a Large Company: Sustainable Product Development as an Instance of Divergent Change |
| Year |
2023 |
| Published |
Strategy Science, 8.0, 2 |
| DOI |
10.1287/stsc.2023.0197 |
| Abstract |
There is a growing interest in large companies pursuing a new purpose-changing their core reason for being from a singular focus on financial gain to a renewed responsibility to people and the planet alongside profit. Yet knowledge of how a large company can walk that purpose-talk is still in its infancy. In this essay, we zoom in on the development of new sustainable products that embody a renewed responsibility to people and the planet. We conceptualize sustainable product development in a large company as an instance of divergent change and explore: How can sustainable products develop inside a large company in the face of the intense resistance that such a divergent change is likely to trigger? Building on our qualitative study from 2010 to 2019 of four products in a large fast-moving consumer goods company, we unpack two key leadership practices: (1) relaxing metrics for a product team, which (structurally) enables experimenting with a sustainable product separate from the mainstream business, and (2) advocating with gatekeepers, which (discursively) enables anchoring a sustainable product within the mainstream business. Overall, our findings suggest that sustainable product development will not do much to transform a large company if sustainable products remain merely tolerated exceptions. |
| Author Keywords |
sustainability; strategy implementation; innovation management; power and politics |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) |
| EID |
WOS:000996351100001 |
| WoS Category |
Management |
| Research Area |
Business & Economics |
| PDF |
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