Sustainability-Oriented Low-Carbon Innovation in SOEs: A Case Study of Shanghai Metro

Guangyao Yu, Qinqin Zheng, Xueying Lin () and Kaiqi Yuan
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Guangyao Yu: Shanghai Shentong Metro Group Co., Ltd., Shanghai 201103, China
Qinqin Zheng: School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Xueying Lin: School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Kaiqi Yuan: School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 23, 1-23

Abstract: State-owned enterprises (SOEs) encounter various constraints on sustainability in low-carbon development due to institutional hybridity. This study aimed to examine how SOEs develop sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) toward low-carbon development. Drawing on a case study of Shanghai Metro, we developed a process model for sustainability-oriented low-carbon innovation (SLI) in SOEs. The model illustrated that implementing a national low-carbon strategy introduces environmental, social, and financial constraints on sustaining value pluralism for SOEs, triggering the actors to develop SLI involving sensing and idea generation, configuration, and transformation, resulting in innovative low-carbon operational processes, products/services, and business models which reconcile environmental benefits, financial returns, and social welfare. This paper enriches the emerging research on SOI and extends the existing understanding of low-carbon innovation. Beyond this, the findings also offer a new lens of SLI to the conventional research and managerial practices concerning SOEs’ hybridity and low-carbon development.

Keywords: sustainability-oriented innovation; low-carbon development; sustainable development perspective; innovation process; SOEs; case study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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