Foundational Considerations in Balancing Innovatory Processes and Sustainable Development Practices in Comparative Light

This book of expert and scholarly contributions on strategies for sustainable technologies and innovations is the byproduct of the threeday international conference (Multinational Enterprises and Sustainable Development – MESD’09) held at Nancy, France, in November 2009, jointly organized by the ICN Business School (France), the CEREFIGE research center of the Université de Lorraine (France), and the Georgia Tech Center for International Business Education and Research, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA. The conference brought together academics, researchoriented practitioners, experts, consultants and various professionals in the field of technology management for sustainable development with a view to refine our understanding of one of the major challenges of our environmental future: its innovation dimensions. Our conviction is that the form in which business operations are actually conducted around the world cannot be sustained, as momentous changes continue to characterize our planet. Scientific evidence points to the fact that human and organizational behaviors can result in critical damage to our natural systems. The quality of human existence continues to be strongly related to our ability to innovate and to conceive sustainable technological and productive systems. Radical sociotechnical changes are needed to slow and eventually reverse the deterioration of our environment, but also to develop available natural resources. Business firms are catalysts and agents of societal and economic change. Over the last decade, companies have faced social and environmental pressures to better integrate the challenges of sustainability. Scholars, policymakers and experts, among others, have argued that sustainable development is the perfect opportunity for businesses to strengthen the evolving notion of corporate social responsibility,